agrees with the saying of Christ Matth. 6. 6. Matth 6. 6. vindicated when thou prayest enter into thy Closet c. as if the publique ordinance may not stand with the private for the most retired and secret duties are to fit and make ready for the publique onely 't is our Lords scope there to confine a private prayer to a private place as it is the Apostles order from the Lord 1 Cor. 14. 14 15 16. when 1 Cor. 14. 14 15 cleared vindicated we pray publiquely in Church-conventions all which have a publiqueness in them to pray so as others may be edified thereby who are Saints and those who occupy the room of the unlearned may testifie their consents by saying Amen which they could not do if either the person praying spoke onely to his own hearing or in the heart not with an audible voyce to others or when they heard him they could not understand him because he exprest himself in an unknown tongue All that I drive at with the Apostles and our Saviours scope is that every ordinance and outward part of worship be owned in its place and that this of publique prayer may not be disowned ere the more because of these mens crying up their praying by the Spirit in opposition to the Churches publique prayers which the Primitive Church at Jerusalem Act. 2. 42. attended and continued in and which the present Saints and Churches in these nations hold up according to president and precept R. F. in another Pamphlet of his * Truth cleared of Scandals pag. 2. saith they are led by the Spirit and he maketh intercession for them according to the minde and will of God But their practise shews they are not in this led by the Spirit when they cross the minde and will of God by refusing to joyn with the Saints in a publique prayer we acknowledge that no wicked mans prayer is accepted publiquely or privately made by him It is their duty to pray but not their priviledge who are destitute of the Spirit and out of Christ But to profess prayer from the second birth while yet they know not how to pray as they ought but as the Spirit maketh intercession with sighs and groans which are J. Parnells words * Shield of truth p. 14 15 is to contradict their doctrine of perfection And to give a dash at all our publique prayer as the long prayer of the Pharisees is to strike at the Spirit and contradict the Scripture allowance of the publiqueness and length of prayer upon occasion while we give no allowance to Pharisaical ends and pretences but can approve our persons and hearts to God in Jesus Christ our persons in Christs righteousness reckoned to us by faith our hearts so far as renewed by the grace and power of his in-dwelling Spirit James Nayler hath expressions one would think of this tendency that complies with our doctrine in his common place of Worship * Love to the Lost p. 8 9. wherein he instanceth in no part of worship but prayer he acknowledgeth as we teach The worship of the true and living God stands out of mans will and before any man can rightly worship God he must wait to know the Spirit But now let the lost soul beware of his counsel where should they wait you must saith he know the light and in it wait till therein you finde the Spirits leading acting and ordering This counsel if followed keeps men off from the positive parts of worship revealed in the Scripture The light that every man hath as he comes into the world which is the light they nourish up people in in opposition to Scripture-light makes known nothing of publique ministery Church officers therein of water-Baptism Lords Supper publique order of prayer c. nor of Christ mediator nor of the The Spirit of Prayer to be found in the publâ—que ministery Spirit of promise nor of one promise of grace or gracious acceptation in Christ Had not the lost soul better counsel while he was under publique ministery to attend there for the coming of the Spirit the Spirit of faith and prayer where God useth to give it Acts 10. 44. and promiseth to pour it out Prov. 1. 22 23. with 20. 21. verses How true is that which J. Nayler hath in the same place according to our Scripture-doctrine when a man hath been doing evil neglecting good and then he runs to act a worship to get peace the prayer becomes abomination for he that regards impurity the Lord will not hear his prayers nor accept his worships that 's Cains sacrifice and Esaus prayers but either must your worship be performed in one that never sinned or it cannot be accepted with the pure God Yet here is his mis-guidance of lost souls 1. That he would lead them off from joyning with him that makes long prayers such a one he seems to speak of who hides his wickedness with pretence of godliness but he makes no difference of any that serve Christ and his people publiquely in the nation as if they were all such to be separated from 2. He directs to the commands in Spirit in opposition to the Scripture-Letter for thus he delivers himself * Page 11. All the Saints have their commands in Spirit but yours is in the letter and so of another ministration for the literal ministration is done away in the spiritual As if the Spirit did not give out his commands by the written letter or the Scripture and his power also by the reading and hearing of it and by praying according to the rules and patterns of prayer therein contained But something O ye lost souls you will finde when the great Shepherd seeks up his lost ones and brings back that which is gone astray Ezek. 34. 16 ever and anon that alienated your hearts from the Scripture by the spirit of Contradiction that is in these mens Teachings and Writings 15. Head of their Scripture-contradiction Concerning Singing Section 42. I Gave account of their express words We are against all your Davids Praises and Prophecies in meeter contrary to Ephes 5. 19. Col. 3. 16. and other Scriptures R. F. * Page 21. makes me this return Singing of Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs we are not against but own but your Poetry we deny Rep. He might as well say your translation of them into English meeter we deny But if Psalms Hymns and spiritual Songs be owned they are either Davids and other of the Saints penning and the Spirits inditing in the Scripture or of their own composing if they own none but of their own composing they reject Davids and what was left for Psalms cannot be sung without meeter or due measures of speech our use in Scripture contradicting both it by that rejection and themselves also by owning Psalms Hymns and Songs and dis-owning meeter or Poetry for never was there Song Hymn or Psalm sung forth as it ought to be but it had
sometimes uttered First The Apostles sense 2 Cor. 4. 6. is by allusion to 2 Cor. 4. 6. vindicated Gods work in the old creation to witness his power in the new In the old he commanded light to shine out of darkness He said Let there be light and there was light creating it of nothing There was a pre-existent subject before light was created viz. darkness of the air but no pre-existent matter which light was made of much less was light there before within the darkness for though God commanded the light to shine out of darkness it doth not follow that light was there before So God working by his Almighty power in the new creation he hath saith the Apostle shined in our hearts to give the light which was not there before of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ The faculty of the natural understanding was there as the pre-existing subject but there was no fore-existing matter out of which this light is produced The Apostles sense again in Gal. 1. 16. is not to Gal 1. 16. vindicated favor these mens opinion as if Christ had been in Paul vailed over before conversion and then revealed in him as being there but Paul did not know it till his conversion But God revealed his Son in Paul when he did immediately effectually and experimentally shine into his heart and gave him the knowledge of the glorious mysteries of the Gospel in the clear knowledge of Christ given for him given to him and now dwelling in him and he doth reveal his Son in others ordinarily when after he hath knockt at their hearts he opens the door by his Spirit gives faith to consent that Christ shall come in and dwell there Ephes 3. 17. Before faith Christ is kept out of the heart but when a soul believes and his faith worketh by love and love by obedience as Christ came in and took possession from first believing so in his good time he doth manifest himself unto the soul John 14. 21. The Apostles sense Col. 1. 27. Col. 1. 27. vindicated is not as if the light of Christ for salvation had been in the Gentiles hearts in a mystery before their effectual calling The mystery of salvation by Christ was wrapt up in the Scriptures of the old Testament and in Types and Figures among the Jews not in the least hinted to the Gentiles mindes before the Gospel came But when the Apostles When and how Christ is in the soul came to preach Christ crucified to their ears through grace they believed the report for themselves at Coloss as elsewhere and knew the grace of God in truth had Christ his image stampt upon their hearts and the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them This was not light breaking forth from their hearts as having been there before their union with Christ and Christs taking up their hearts as his Temple but the light of the glorious Gospel breaking into their hearts which 1. Is called the riches of the glory and the Pronoun which before is Christ in you refers not to mystery for that is of the Neuter and the Pronoun * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Masculine Gender but to riches * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same Gender with which in the Greek The glorious treasure and substance of the mystery which rich glorious treasure is Christ in you the light in every man is a poor base beggerly scrap to this Gospel-pearl and treasure 2. This riches summ'd up in Christ and Christ the substance of the Mystery is confined to the Saints ver 26. and is onely in them ever after their closing with Christ reigning and prevailing to the purity peace and joy of their souls and evidential hope of their future glory Secondly The assertion of Christs being within men before conversion contradicts themselves as I discovered in my former piece who say In the Ages past Christ was not revealed every man had not that light The Son of God is not revealed as Christ but as he is Mediator in the Ages past Christ was not so revealed they had not say they that light viz. as he is Mediator therefore Christ as Mediator was not within men by the light given to every man And here I leave them R. F. among them as I found them and discovered them in this Section in their own darkness of Confusion and Self-contradiction till the Lord shall convince them thereof and bring them out of it Section 12. ANother Contradiction of themselves concerning the Light in every man I noted in this Section viz. That they magnifie it and vilifie it in the same respect as it is the light of the first nature and of every man in his first state since the fall R. F. * Page 26. takes up two of the passages to answer but takes not off their Self-contradiction The first They magnifie every mans light to be a Law written in the heart to judge and condemn all sin and therefore they say the day of judgement is come and anon they vilifie the light of natural men who are a part of mankinde as filthy waters and every man in his first state is a beast To this all that R. F. hath to say is Where judgement is brought forth into victory sin is condemned in the flesh and there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. and such have boldness in the day of judgement for as some mens deeds goes before-hand to judgement others they come after and therefore a day of judgement is to come Rep. If these men would disparage every mans light in respect of the Saints light they would be something ingenuous and if they did not put every mans light in the place of Christ the Spirit and his writing in the heart and then call them waters of Babylon nor sometimes say upon Adams fall pure reason was destroyed c. and anon call every mans light pure light they would not be so Scripture and self-contradictious as they are nor would they confound what they ought to distinguish as R. F. confounds the judgement of a natural conscience and the Spirits Gospel-conviction of sin Righteousness and Judgement together Justification he confounds with Sanctification and a day of Judgement present with the day of Judgement which is to come Scripture-expressions he useth here as elsewhere but not with the Scripture-scope and meaning The passage I quoted out of Ben. Nicholson his Returns to a Letter Page 13. speaks of the Law written in the heart of The Spirits conviction of judgement beyond the judgement of a natural conscience every man which they say doth judge and condemn all sin R. F. tells us of a Judgement brought forth into victory and when that is done sin is condemned in the flesh but say I according to Scripture the Law written in the heart of every man neither condemns all sin nor discovers either the root of
this is Chap. 6. 1. Therefore we are not to continue in sin c. Another Point floweth from the former viz. of the necessity of Sanctification and the inseparable connexion of it with a justified state though it is no ingredient to constitute a justified person Chap. 6. and 7. are full of spiritual Reason in the asserting of the necessary presence of holiness in every believer although sin be present in the same heart warring and fighting the believer must abide the conflict Of both the Points viz. of Justification and Sanctification the Apostle makes singular Vse Chap. 8. for consolation of believers both against sin and sufferings Against sin in respect of the guilt that is condemned and abolished in respect of in-dwelling corruption that reigns not though it remains against sufferings and afflictions they shall all work to good shall not separate from the love of Christ c. A third main Point is touching Election and Rejection in Chapters 9 10 11. of whom the Lord pleased before good or evil was in them to chuse or pass by as a Potter who hath power over his clay c. leaving it as a depth not to be far waded into but swim over it we may with the arms of faith and admiration And of all this Gospel-doctrine and what dependeth thereupon he makes the Vses from Chap. 12. to the end of the Epistle exhorting unto Holiness toward God Righteousness toward men Chap. 13. Love to the Saints and to all men Chap. 14. and 15. calling c. for the practice of all the duties of the Moral Law and that by way of Motive Chap. 12. 1. By the mercies of God justifying sanctifying mercy the mercy of God in calling and glorifying according to eternal predestination I beseech you c. And by way of Tryal Chap. 15. 14. I am perswaded of you my brethren that ye also are full of goodness c. Chap. 16. 17. I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them If this suffice not let R. F. who must be tryed and judged by the Scripture read any of Pauls Sermons mentioned in the Acts or pitch upon that Chap. 13. ver 15. The Apostle he will finde after the reading of the Law and the Prophets was desired to say on The Scripture Text was laid as the foundation the Jews expect as all their true Prophets and Teachers since God gave his written word were wont he should build upon that foundation and say on neither do his work beside it nor without it but say on as if they had thus exprest themselves We have the whole Scripture and every part of it as the Doctrine improve it now give us a word of Exhortation for our use and improvement Paul doth both he preacheth upon the Point of Gods dispensation to his people Israel of old and of the promise made to David of a seed and of Christs death and resurrection the accomplishment of that promise he proves Christs resurrection by Reason as by Scripture because Christ saw no corruption in the grave ver 37. and was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem c. ver 31. He preacheth the Doctrine of Justification by remission of sins to all that believe ver 38. and from all makes Vse to call them to faith in Christ and ver 40. to caution and warn them who did not believe lest that come upon them which is written in the Prophets a Motive from the Scripture Behold ye despisers and wonder c. Such an Vse I wish R. F. and his followers and leaders may make of all this discovery of Scripture-warrant which himself called for for raising Points Reasons Vses c. Let him beware of despising such a way of teaching by which God hath wrought wonders upon the mindes and consciences of men to their conviction conversion consolation c. If R. F. had ever known experimentally and savingly the power of Sermons by Doctrines Reasons and Vses from Scripture or had felt the force of Gospel as Legal Motives and soul-searching Tryals would he have put me or any man upon justifying this practice surely his own heart and conscience might have been a witness for the truth and not his pen a scoffer against it I pity such men in the North as South who either have not heard or regard not to hear some Boanerges or other some plain powerful Perkins Rogers Hooker Price Preston Bolton or other to pronounce the word Damnation in their ears that it may echo in their consciences Let R. F. and his brethren attend to what I say He that believeth not our Points soundly raised from Scripture I must tell him from Christ he shall be damned He that stands not convinced by our Reasons from Scripture will lose his reasonable soul and perish He that despiseth our Vses deduced from Scripture doctrine and Scripture reason will inevitably be ruined He that is not moved by Scripture motives is a man of a cauterized conscience and will be shut up in the lowest prison He that declineth Scripture tryals shall will he nill he be judged and condemned according to the Scripture What will become then of R. F. his bold daring words that follow Therefore against you and such deceivers as profess Scriptures to be your rule and act contrary to them we declare and against you testifie but as words of wind that vanish like smoke out of the bottomless pit no fruits of the Spirit can I finde in all this their Self-justification with their Scripture and Self-contradiction Section 28. HVmility and Love are precious fruits of the Spirit which they pretend to own as I noted but this I desired might be observed withal they deny common courtesie to equals and due outward respect to superiors and I may adde while they call for it to be given to inferiors such as themselves most of them are And if they say they honor all in their hearts who will believe them till it hath power to express it self outwardly in words and gestures of honor and of love which doing nothing unseemly will do what is comely and honorable With an Exhortation to love the Apostle stirs up to humility and common courtesie 1 Pet. 5. 5. and Chap. 3. 8. Be subject one to another be clothed with humility i. e. in minde and conversation as in apparel Love as brethren c. be courteous Peter learnt this of his Master who was loving and lowly in spirit and carriage bowed to the feet of his servants even to wash them John 13. and spake with words of entreaty where he might have commanded Luke 5. 3. entring into Simons ship he prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land R. F. hath nothing to salve their Contradiction unless it be this * Page 29. for a flourish to skin it over not to cure the wound As for your forms
inherent Graces who put off the Saints or believing sinners best robe I see not The Setters and Abettors of this Sect would be more narrowly watched and according to their crimes stigmatized There is one * This for each Parliament man by George Fox page ult hath suggested to the Right Honorable Parliament after this maner All that have a word from the Lord seek not to stop them and limit them from speaking it by the counsel of those Teachers which are made by the will of man and have not the word of the Lord according to the word of the Lord they are to be stopt and to be silent And after the same measure shall it not be meted out to them But whereas he concludeth with an Interrogation that hath a sting in the tayl Is there any law or limit to be made to limit the Spirit of God I shall close with Christ his own charge for the purity and peace of the Churches which some * Brightman Cotton of no mean account do conceive was partly fulfilled by the Edict of Darius Ezra 6. 11 13. * Cant. 2. 15. Take us the Foxes the little Foxes that spoil the Vines for our Vines have tender grapes Now that Your Highness and Your Honors may be all as Angels of God discerning the false spirits and the true such as proceed out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast and out of the mouth of the false Prophet from Him that proceedeth from the Father and from the Son that Ye may be established in the old and present Truth that Ye may be preserved blameless that all men may acknowledge their Mercies under Your Government that Your Graces may be heightned yet to farther Service of the Lord and his peoples Interest in the three Nations And that Ye may be prospered in all Your high undertakings at home and abroad for Glory to the Highest is and shall be the Prayer of Your HIGHNES and Your HONORS Meanest Servant in the Gospel JOHN STALMAM TO THE CHURCH of CHRIST Which is at TERLING Grace be with you mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in Truth and Love Beloved in our Lord JESUS AS you were obedient in my absence while I was removed from you for a season so I have endeavored since my return that the Truth of the Gospel might continue with you and therefore have I not given place by subjection no not for an hour to any that have attempted to bring another Gospel among you though there is not another but there be some that have troubled others and would by perverting the Gospel have troubled you also Yet blessed and praised be God who hath kept you in the hour of temptation and helped you to keep the Word of his Patience and not deny his Name That you and yours may ever be preserved when this my earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved I have drawn up this REPLY and do commend it to your diligent perusal charging you in the Lord that you redeem some time for the reading of it especially such of you as have allowed spare hours for the reading of the Adversaries Pamphlets It is above a year since the first of the Sect called Quakers came into the Town and scattered his opinions You had then cautions given you from the Lord. Remember them I beseech you lest you be carried about as the stubble whisked and Heb. 13. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whirl'd about here and there in a circle with the wind of diverse and strange doctrines diverse in colour from the truth and strange to the Scripture-language or meaning of the Spirit speaking in the Scripture Beware of wheeling to the right hand or to the left Take heed what you hear and how you hear Beware of the leaven of the Quaking Pharisees and Sadduces It argues weakness at the best and childishness in the best if they be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine Children will run after a bubble in the wind or on the water a feather on the ground or froth upon the waves Be not like them or as giddy hearers that have no mould but what the next Novellist casts them into Diverse and strange doctrines such as these men I deal with especially open out of their packs tend much to the unsetling of the judgement and disquiet John 10. 5. of the conscience It is a Character of Christs sheep to keep the ear close to his voice they know not the voice of strangers whereas goats will receive those that come in their own name and they whose names are not written in the Lambs John 5. 43. Booke of Life will wonder and wander after thâ— beast and the Rev. 13. 8. false prophet the Doctors and Doctrines of Antichrist But it is a good thing * Heb. 13. 9. saith the Holy Spirit that the heart be established with grace It is eminently benâ—ficial against all distracting opinions to have your souls and consciences established with the doctrine faith and sense of Gods free Favor in Christ and with the experimental exercise of Grace in Gospel-worship 1. The doctrine of his redeeming purchasing grace his pardoning of sinners and reconciling them to himself according to his free electing love establisheth against the thoughts of our greatest unworthiness for the free gift of Christ and his righteousness for justification of life reigneth over all your guilt and the design of Grace is to bring all that obey the doctrine of Grace into a kingdom of Grace and to settle a crown of Life and Glory upon the poor unworthy sinner Hold fast to this as not onely it is free but full The Gospel of our salvation is so full as it answereth all the souls necessities partly from the fulness of the person the Son of God our Savior God and man in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily If there be all-sufficiency of power love will faithfulness in God to save 't is in Christ yea the fulness of Gods vindicative Justice is satisfied and glorified in him This we teach for your heart-satisfaction and settlement partly from the fulness of the covenant whereby God makes over Christ and Life to us which is heart-establishing as 't is founded in the blood of Christ as it is the efflux and issue of Gods everlasting love as all the promises are Yea and Amen in Christ and as the Covenant is of the nature of a Testament which is more absolute then ordinary contracts in full force Heb 9. 16. by the death of the Testator written not onely in the Scriptures the Old Copy and the New but in the hearts of Believers Heb. 8. 10. God begins with promises and writes them and then his Commands are all inlayed and inamel'd with the promises This Heb. 6. 17. Covenant is confirmed by an Oath to shew the immutability of his counsel and
to settle the hearts and hopes of them that flee thither for refuge with strong consolation In a word the Covenant of Grace excludes works as any condition of life for it is the declaration of Gods way of saving by Grace according to the Election of Grace which if it be of Grace as it is then Rom. 11. 6. is it not at all of works These meditations are heart-establishing you will say in wavering times and all Doctrines agreeable to the fulness of Christ and his Covenant are so David found it so so may you It was a soft pillow to David God 2 Sam. 23 5. hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure on his Death-bed whereon to rest his head so it will be to all that take hold on it and mix it with faith For secondly it is not the Doctrine of the Gospel abstractly considered but as believed that will establish you Faith establisheth Col. 1. 23. by its object acts reflections and fruits Continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which ye have heard Consider brethren what you believe and in whom ye have believed Christ and his righteousness without you is a sure foundation for your Faith to Isaiah 28. 18. build upon He that believeth on him shall not be ashamed unsetled beaten off Faith gives you an evidence of things not seen and makes things absent present Every act of Faith tends to your establishment having some certainty in its bosom and bowels and so much as strives against doubting and that shall not miscarry in the issue and event But reflections of Faith help on yet more to stedfastness When you know you do 1 Pet. 3. 21. believe then you have the answer of a good conscience wherewith comes peace and liberty Peace with God is discerned and peace with Conscience is setled hereby in much serenity with liberty of access to the Throne of Grace and of making your Appeals to God by vertue of Christs blood sprinkled on the Conscience and by reason of the Acquittance which Christ received for the Believer at his resurrection His discharge is ours and hence the other benefits which Faith brings along with it of Vnion with Christ Communion with God Justification Redemption Adoption and Sanctification But if with the Doctrine and Faith of the Gospel there comes thirdly the Grace of sense or the sense of Gods grace and love in all that is taught and believed how is the heart established by the holy Rom. 5. 5. Spirit that is given us This Spirit is both the seal of what is past the witness of what is present and the earnest of what is to come making all that is in reversion as sure to us as that which is already in our possession Adde unto this fourthly Experimental exercise of grace in all Gospel-institutions and what establishment shall your hearts want now or hereafter Communion with God in Gospel-Ordinances gives rest and satisfaction when we finde the effect of Water-baptism and of Infant-baptism in Christs blood and the Spirits regeneration when we discern the effect of Bread and Wine-Lords-supper in Christs presence at his Table and the quicknings of his Spirit in our singing Davids Psalms and Scripture-spiritual songs use of publique as private Prayer ministery of the Word c. Your souls brethren cannot but finde it eminently helpful to be established with this Gospel-grace First you have hereby an Antidote against all poison of diverse and strange Doctrines Your hearts are as ships well-ballasted against all contrary winds The Doctrine of Free-grace rightly understood believed and adhered to doth at once dispel and scatter all Popish and Arminian fogs The fulness of Christ believed lays open the emptiness of Quakerism The Covenant and Promises grasped by Faith are as the little stone which they say the Bee takes up to flie with in a high wind so as the biggest blasts shall not dash you to the ground Let who will say that Christ doth not justifie by a righteousness without us the Scripture saith We are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. and the Grace of Faith carries out the Soul for righteousness and life in another viz. Christ of this the Spirit with the Conscience and Experience of Believers beareth witness Let the poor Quakers say that the Scriptures are not the word of God the heart that believeth and experienceth the power of the Scripture changing and transforming will finde him a liar and blasphemer Let them say that will they have no sin dwelling in them and their warfare is at an end a gracious heart will slight and despise these Contradictions to all the Experiences of the Saints held forth in Scripture Let them say there is no Baptism of water or let them call the Lords Supper as used by the Churches a humane Invention because they have found no comfort in it or by it the heart established in the faith of the Institution will give them the lie and although he findes not these seals always alike efficacious yet he knows and believeth them always to be the Lords Ordinances and to have a promise of efficacy annexed to them which God will make good at his day and hour and not at our season Secondly The fears which false doctrine terrifieth the Conscience withal are removed and made to vanish Fears of non-acceptance by reason of daily failings in duties fears of falling away totally and finally are expelled by the pure doctrine of faith and of justification by grace alone and by nothing inherent in us as a habit or adherent to us as an act c. Thirdly There is this advantage all pretended Revelations are cast off dreams are not hearkned unto leading from the Scriptures The faith of a Promise makes things as sure to your souls as if God had spoken immediately from the Clouds The sense of Gods Love is as sweet as a rapture into the third Heavens Moses and the Prophets are as sure to a gracious heart as if one arose from the dead for he could not bring up greater Truths or stronger Arguments of perswasion then are found in the Scriptures he could not speak more pathetically with higher strains and stronger lines with more majesty of stile and elegancy of phrase or sweeter floods of eloquence or with more plainness and godly simplicity then the Spirit expresseth himself in the Scripture holding forth all along an evidence and demonstration of himself with holy harmony and efficacy Fourthly When your hearts are established with Gospelgracious Doctrine Faith Sense and Experience thereof you are fortified against all powerful temptations Sometime the soul is tempted to forsake Ordinances but faith of that promise that the house of Jacob shall not seek God in vain keeps Isaiah 45. 19. the heart close to means of Gods appointment Sometime the Christian is tempted to go to a second Baptism or to
deny Water-baptism altogether but the Experience of Christs blessing Infant-Baptism and the un-warrantableness of Rebaptization keeps him from these extremities If you be tempted to absent your selves from the Lords Table or leave Church-fellowship the Promise and Experience of the Love of God in the use of these Ordinances aws and keeps you in order When Christ until his second Coming in the clouds and visible Glory is lookt at as spiritually present with his own Institutions they are neither trusted to nor neglected Sometime you have been tempted to go hear known Seducers but an establisht heart will not step out of doors unless he hath the more special call to bear witness against them and to strengthen others Lastly Let your hearts be establisht with Gospel-grace and it will produce a well-ordered conversation to the end of your days it will make patient in affliction joyful in suffering even under darkness and in desertion the heart is willing to wait and is made ready for Heaven for it stirs up to watchfulness to have grace in exercise and the soul in preparation for death and then it cannot want boldness at the day of Christs appearing Why then my Brethren dearly Beloved and longed after my joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord my dearly Beloved see that none of you fail of the grace of God Be not as reeds shaken with the wind but as unshaken rocks and pillars in your profession Prize and press after more of heart-establishing grace to this end Hold fast the purity of Doctrine about Justification Election Redemption the Covenant of Grace and the whole pattern of sound and wholesom words in the Scriptures and in the Churches Confessions of Faith consonant to the Scriptures Be active in faith upon the Author and Finisher of your Salvation Be obedient to the Spirit who witnesseth and sealeth the Truth and sheds abroad the Love of God in your hearts Make much of your Experiences built upon and backt with promises cry not woe unto them as some upon their revolting to Quakerism have done Set before you the example of stable Christians as so many Jerome's standing like old well-rooted Oaks and breaking the winds of Doctrines and Oppositions which assault them on every side Decline infectious company cease to hear the instruction that causeth to erre from the words of knowledge Beware of a blinde-zealousaffecting of any man Take heed of curiosity and a itching desire of Novelty or of knowing any new way to Christ and Heaven Stand in the paths and enquire for the old and the good way that ye may walk therein Maintain a humble spirit daily abased in the sight and sense of heart sinfulness and instability The Lord will teach and root the humble Exercise a clear Conscience in profession and communion with the Saints and Churches The mystery of Faith is held in a pure Conscience when men put away a good Conscience or prefer a natural Conscience before a Conscience purified by Faith they make shipwrack of the doctrine of Faith Let Gods power be lookt after in and with Gods own Form The Kingdom of God may be among men when 't is not within their hearts so Luke 17. 21. Christ speaketh to the Pharisees enemies of his Gospel The kingdom of God is among 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in medio vestri Bez. you i. e. was preached in the midst of his enemies and working upon others hearts while they were not aware of it They madly wrest the reading of the words within you who apply it to a Kingdom of Grace begun in the enemies of Christ by the light in every man and would thereupon have all Christs outward Forms and positive Institutions laid aside But what God hath joyned together power and form where and to whom he pleaseth do not you separate You have not hitherto been like these sheep which eat no grass more greedily then that which rots them If our new Teachers and their disciples boast of an astonishing Power coming along with their doctrine remember 2 Cor. 6. 7. The word of Truth and the Power of God whereby Christs Ministers are approved do go together If power goes forth with a word of falshood 't is Antichrists power which is after the working of Satan not the Lords It will be sad with any Church-member under Gods institution and form to fall short of his 2 Thes 2. 9. power But while you use his Ordinances in Faith of a promise of Christs power annexed to them you are and shall be more wrought up to and brought under the power promised And that I may be partaker of the Gospel-power as Priviledges with you yea that this Reply as weak as it is may be accompanied according to the truth of it with the mighty power of the Lord Let it be your prayer as it is and shall be mine who am through grace Your Loving Brother and Faithful Pastor JOHN STALHAM To all Honest Godly Conscientious and Judicious Readers BELOVED AS Honest Godly and Conscientious you are invited by Richard Farnworth in his Epistle before his pretended Vindication of the Scriptures in Answer to a piece I put forth in Scotland to the reading of all the Quakers Pamphlets with mine which I referred to in the Margent and of his Answer thereunto if any of you can finde the leisure Now it is my request that such as have met with his reviling Vindication would in honesty do me the favor yea the right so far as to bestow a few spare hours in the perusal of this my Reply and attending Truth as it is after godliness exercise in your reading a good conscience according to a renewed principle joyned with the diligent search of the Scriptures And As you are judicious and grown up to mature and manly knowledge I speak as to wise men judge ye what I wrote before and now write again Many Charges my adversary casteth upon me in his Epistle as so many fiery darts I list not to recriminate but have undertaken to make good my Collection of the Contradictions at first found among this sort and Sect of men Judge ye whether I have wronged any mans books or mixed my deceit with them Judge ye whether I have violated any of Gods Precepts or Truths and taught men so Judge ye which of us twain is given over to lie slander and falsly accuse Judge ye whether I have discovered a spirit of envy against them and the Truth I know the Scripture saith the spirit that dwelleth in us i. e. Believers so far as unregenerate lusteth to envy yet I can appeal to the Searcher of hearts that I found none of this stirring in my bearing witness against these mens doctrine What I see of the truth and of Christ in any I love I wish there was not to be seen in this Sect that which is to be pitied not envied Judge ye who is the Antichrist the Deceiver whether I deserve his Anathema
the want of a righteousness without them to hide their personal failings the defilements of their fairest and holyest performances Again as persons were considered in Christs death so they are to be considered when they come to be justified Christ dying for men and women considered them not as Saints but as sinners Herein God commendeth his love to us Rom. 5. 8. that while we were yet sinners and ungodly Christ died for us Yet further Law and Justice findes us and leaves us sinners Gospel and mercy declareth and pronounceth us righteous and continueth us such as it accounteth us If the Gospel did not pronounce sinners righteous that is in the righteousness of another till they had a righteousness in themselves and of their own it would do no more for us then the Law Gospel would become Law And therefore R. F. in denying that God justifieth a sinner denyeth the Gospel and would turn it into strict Law a covenant of Works 2. God justifieth a sinner not continuing in his unbelief God justifieth the believing sinner though some unbelief continueth in him not as he loveth God or overcometh the world by faith c. but as he believeth on Christ dying and on God raising Christ from How justified by faith the dead Rom. 4. 24. Believers as believers are justified that is 1. Without the help of other graces though not without their presence therefore our justifying righteousness is called the righteousness of Faith not the righteousness of Love of Patience c. Rom. 9. 30. 2. Instrumentally the believer as a believer receiveth Christ and his Righteousness to Justification Hence the phrases of being justified by Faith and through Faith The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Preposition in the Greek construed with a Genitive Case signifying the instrumental cause means or way at least faiths passive capacity or that service it doth the soul in reception of Christ and his righteousness is held forth thereby Philip. 3. 9. Rom. 3. 25. 3. Relatively and improperly faith is said to justifie and to be counted for righteousness it is not properly faith but that which faith apprehendeth Christs personal obedience in our nature made meritorious by his God-head which justifieth it is not faith as our act or as an act that is our justifying righteousness but the object without a soul which faith carrieth the eye of the soul to look upon and the hand or heart of the soul the will to rest upon even Christs righteousness inherent in him alone as in the subject that justifieth the person of a believer so believing So believing respects the truth of faith not the measure A weak believer is perfectly justified as is the strong believer There is no ingredient qualification of ours or of a work in us that doth cast the ballance nor doth the Apostle Paul put in the ingredient of the new-birth for Justification in that place where R. F. seems to shelter himself and his Popish opinion Heresie I might call it Act. 13. 39. And by him Act. 13. 39. vindicated all that believe are justified from all things from which ye Jews who did more then the Gentiles could not be justified by the law of Moses R. F. his gloss upon allusion to this Scripture * Page 13. is By Christ such as are so born and believe are justified from all sins and such like things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Rep. 1. By Christ such as are new born are justified but they are not justified because so born nor for their believing The new birth and true faith go together but the infusion of new qualities or the qualities infused at the new birth take them all in the lump are not concerned in justification have no causality nor any maner of efficiency towards it 2. Christ doth not justifie us by his own Righteousness and by our Faith as a quality habit or act together but he singleth out the grace of Faith from the rest of the newcreature-work to apply what himself hath done and suffered as a surety undertaking and paying the whole debt and to rely upon him for the Fathers gracious and just sentence of absolution and acceptation for his righteousness alone made ours in a way of imputation 3. Believers in the new Testament times are not onely justified from all sins as to the guilt and curse but from all the Ceremonies of Moses Law which are not called such like things as R. F. expresseth it as if they had the appearance of sin upon them but understood with sins under the general phrase which the Apostle useth from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses For the Moral Law considered strictly as Law once broken could not cannot absolve first from Guilt nor secondly from Punishment nor thirdly from Obligation to the whole by the payment of a part which part is either according to what was written at first fully after but in shreds and pieces left in mans heart or to what was positively given in command for trial of mans obedience and strength before or since the fall and therefore the new creature in us a beginning of that image of God which was lost by the first Transgression is no ingredient in our justification for by Christ they who believe in him and him alone are justified from all Legal obligations and conditions of their own workings within them or without them Christs Righteousness without them makes them compleat Rom. 3. 22. 2. Cor. 5. 23. Col. 2. 10. To assert this way of justification is not pleading for sin as R. F. * Page 13. objecteth For 1. Suppose I or any should abuse the doctrine of Free-Grace and of justification which is by a righteousness without us and inherent in Christ alone Answ 1 thereby to take liberty to sin the doctrine is not to be blamed nor Christ to be charged with the fault of the person as the Apostle preoccupieth such an objection with this answer Gal. 2. Gal. 2 17 18 opened 17 18. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ we our selves also are found sinners we our selves Jews also is therefore Christ by his way of justification the minister of sin God forbid For if I build again the things which I destroyed I make my self a transgressor I can make Christ none the fault is not Christs but mine Answ 2 2. They that plead for true Gospel-justification truly and sincerely in its proper place do also plead for Gospel-sanctification in its due place Their enlightnings into the Law teacheth them somewhat for as the Apostle reasoneth ver 19. I through the Law am dead to the Law I Gâ—l 2 19. opened have as if he should say a sufficient lesson from the clear sight of the Laws rigor to teach me never more to seek my justification from my own conformity to the Law that I might live in the
and may be so called a covering of sin is warrantable by Scripture Psalm 32. 1. with Rom. 4. 7 24. but to say it is a covering for sin and for the man of sin is to speak blasphemy against God and to say our pleading for Gods not imputing of iniquity or for his covering our sins is to make a covering for sin is with Antichrist the man of sin * Rev. 13. 6. to blaspheme the Tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven In this Doctrine of Justification they call evil good by attributing that unto outward and inward acts of a Believers holiness in all which there is some mixed evil which properly and onely belongeth unto the personal acts of Christs own finless obedience and sufferings in the nature which himself assumed to perform the work of Mediatorship J. Nayler speaks plainly enough for them all and for all the children of the man of sin * Discovery c pag. 27. â— Our walking with God in his righteousness is our covering from wrath you know not the covering of Christs righteousness and holiness in which whoever walk with God are covered from wrath Which walking with God he meaneth not of our living by faith in Christs personal actings and sufferings for us to our perfect justification from wrath and from the guilt of sin binding over to wrath but of our personal acts of righteousness and holiness wrought in us by Christ and his Spirit which although they be good as wrought by the Lord in us yet meeting with mixtures of defilement in the hearts of Saints as they are their acts are but filthy rags and no covering at all to hide our nakedness from appearing in the eye of Gods strict Law and Justice This J. Nayler or some in his coat hath much for discovery of the rottenness of their judgement in this case in a piece lately come forth * Love to the lost pag. 4. With him Christ his righteousness is freely imputed or put into the creature Again This righteousness is wrought into the creature in that obedience which is contrary to the will of the flesh Imputing here is all one with infusing to him Justifying righteousness and sanctifying righteousness is the same individual obedience which is pure Popery or impure Babylonish Doctrine More yet * Page 5. Your faith without his works will be little worth to salvation Christs works for us are onely of worth with the Father for our salvation Christs workings in us are not to be joyned with our faith in Christs works or obedience for us in the business of our Justification This latter is intended by him who by his Title pretendeth Love to the lost but by his baits and snares would hold fast some and carry others back into the wilderness witness his confounding of Justification Sanctification and Mortification * Page 15. The living Faith is never without works which works are Love Meekness Patience Mortification Sanctification Justification c. We grant a presence of works the fruits of the Spirit in the subject or person that is justified and these works are evidences of the life and truth of our faith the fruits are evidences of the tree but to put Justification in us with the fruits of the Spirit and to say as afterward * Page 51. he doth men are so justified as they are sanctified and mortified and no further is to deny Protestant Doctrine which is according to Scripture that who so is justified is justified semel simul once and together perfectly and for ever Heb. 10. 1 14. And to revive the old Popish Tenet of degrees of our Justification according to the degrees of our Sanctification and no further whereas we say and say truly men are not at all justified as they are sanctified Two Arguments against Sanctification as the matter of our Justification when we speak of the thing it self and not of its declaration For 1. That which is the price of our Redemption is the matter of our Justification or that thing which justifieth us before God and reconcileth our persons to God Now put all the degrees of all the Saints holiness together these are no part of the price of our Redemption but the blood and obedience of Christ alone is the whole and sole price and ransom Rom. 3. 24. Rom. 5. 19. 1 Pet. 1. 19. 2. That which is the immaculate Sacrifice for sin is that which is the matter and merit of our Justification But the Sanctification and Mortification in Believers is not the immaculate Sacrifice for sin Christ is the sole and entire Sacrifice for sin that is to expiate and take away the guilt and curse of sin by his perfect obedience and sufferings in his own natural body And therefore as that onely merited our Justification so it is the onely thing that properly and for its worth is imputed to our Justification Rep. 2. For R. F. to all it my policy to go about to make Christ a sinner is pitiful weakness in him For it was no How Christ was made sin or a sinner 2 Cor. 5. 21. cleared man or Angel-invention but the master-piece of Gods infinite wisdom to have his Son who knew no sin be made sin i. e. a sinner by imputation and a sacrifice for sin in and by his sufferings in the room and stead of sinners which could not have been if their sins had not been imputed to him but seeing their sins were imputed to him they are in that way of imputation made or reckoned righteous in Christ 2 Cor. 5. 21. What foolishness soever there seems to be in this way of our Justification Christ crucified as a sinner and for sinners bearing their guilt and curse is the wisdom and the power of God and a poor sinner justified this way is the object of the eternal unsearchable riches of Gods wisdom and grace or freest choicest favor As for that contradiction to Scripture which R. F. * Page 14. saith is seen in this our doctrine because it is said He was made like unto us sin excepted it is but in his imagination and something he must say to color over and hide his own gainsayings for that place Heb. 4. 15. and 2. Cor. 5. 21. are Heb. 4. 15. vindicated no ways at variance Christ was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin so are the words to the Hebrews He yielded to no temptation He had no inherent sin to comply with a temptation He knew no sin as in the other Scripture yet was he made sin reckoned as a sinner tempted like a sinner deserted like a sinner yea accursed as a sinner the feelings and experiences whereof make him experimentally a sympathizing High priest and moves him to succor them that are tempted And his being free from sin of his own while he was tempted to sin as others and while he was charged with the sin of others frees us or justifies us from our sin
better by many degrees or as the * word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth we have an overplus of conquest It is enough for men after worldly encounters to go out conquerors at the end of their Battels but as we conquer while we fight so we are sure of the victory i. e. have sure grounds of expecting the last victory when we strike the first stroke which conquerors of the world are not assured of To sense we may seem to be overcome between times but to faith the victory is sure on our side This is a Paradox to R. F. but let him know we are not beaten out of the field by all his and other oppositions but keep our ground what 's that Gods love to us in Christ which is the cause of the beginning and end of the conquest It is that and not inherent grace or our love to Christ onely or chiefly which strengthneth us to combate and conquer also Our grace is weak and gives back many times but Christ our Captain never starteth and the love of God to us abideth and union with him who giveth the victory holdeth R. F. had best keep to that lest his inherent perfection fail him altogether It is granted by R. F. according to 1 John 4. 4. That greater 1 John 4. 4. vindâ—cated is he that is in the Saints then he that is in the world which is brought in by the Apostle as another ground of their present victory over the seducing antichristian part of the world the strength is not ours but the Lords whereby we go on conquering and to conquer and are enabled to keep up our warfare and assured we shall have the day of whole troops of perfect and imperfect Quakers because as the word of God abideth in them that have overcome in the Apostles sense 1 John at 14. so it doth not abide in them who say they have no sin abiding in them and will not be known to abide in the warfare such were either never in it or are run from their colors Let R. F. * Page 18. prate or print what he will carnally minded as thou art and speaking of his conquests which thou art ignorant of and knowest not that plead for sin and so for the devil therefore his servant thou art expect his reward for doing his work none of these fiery darts shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus nor from the service of my generation in this or any other way which the Lord calls me unto 10. Head of Contradiction to Scripture Concerning Repentance Section 36. IMet with a question in one of their Books which implyed a denyal of Repentance in the godly viz. what remorse can there be in him that doth not commit sin now taking remorse for godly sorrow as they phrase it this is as I shewed contrary to 2 Cor. 7. 10 11. where godly sorrow wrought in the Corinthians with the effects of it although they committed not sin in Johns sense i. e. they made no trade of it R. F. bids me take heed c. for we know that the goodness of God loadeth to repentance Rom. 2. 4. Rom. 2. 4. cleared Rep. The Apostle there speaketh of the unconverted but the question is about the Saints As for the unconverted Gods goodness in providential ways is a motive and inducement to repentance but no Physical means energetical and operative to give what it leads or directs unto We witness saith he obseurely the gift from the godness Rep. 1. That God gives aim for repentance by his providential goodness of which the Apostle speaks is plain but that he giveth the thing thereby is denyed Ver. 5. shewing what abuse is made of it by impenitent hearts and such who by providence have the Gospel preached unto them Repentance is not given to all where Christ is preached 2. That which I charged was their disclaiming a godly remorse or sorrow viz. in the godly Remorse properly Remorse what and strictly is the biting and sting of conscience by upbraiding guilt this believers are freed from Heb. 10. 1. and 22. And Francis Howgill in the account he gives of his dark condition * The inheritance of Jacob c. by F. Howgtll page 8. will hardly finde a sound Protestant Preacher who ever told him sin was taken away by Christ but the guilt should remain while he lived and brought him the Saints conditions who were in the warfare to confirm it for such a remorse is for them that are unpardoned and unsanctified and shall so continue while they live and the warfare of justified sanctified believers as such is onely with the sin that deserves guilt and hell not with guilt it self Because sin is pardoned and the reigning power removed the Saints are to rejoyce and give thanks but that sin remaineth and the roots of all their old pranks and wickednesses now brought to remembrance are not perfectly mortified this is matter of repentance and godly sorrow all their days R. F. tells me I have uttered another lye in saying they disclaim godly sorrow Rep. 1. Where was the first lye or one to which another was added Hitherto the honest godly conscientious Reader who is also judicious I trust will finde none 2. That my charge was true will further thus appear They that all along disclaim in-dwelling sin in the godly which is the chief matter of their grief disclaim Godly How Repentance is decryed sorrow R. F. and others disclaim in-dwelling sin in the godly what follows but the truth of my charge Again They that cry down the doctrine and practice of continual sighing and groaning under the roots and remnants of sin they disclaim godly sorrow But R. F. and his associates de-cry the doctrine and practice of sighing and groaning all our days under the burden of sins remainders as Section 20. was evidenced and elsewhere Therefore they do disclaim godly sorrow If R. F. his simple hearted Reader say but we must believe him he saith they do not so and so I ask then what meaneth he by godly sorrow which I never called remorse but seeing they used the term I called the sorrow of the godly a godly remorse or sorrow using the word at large for no other but grief in the affection not for gripes in the conscience and in whom doth he not disclaim it Haply the simple heart will say he meaneth sorrow for sin as sin past and present past defilements present stirrings and inclinations to sin Doth he so then he must deny his doctrine of present perfection true of some Saints you will say but then he disclaimeth godly sorrow in the rest that are already perfect and free from the matter of sorrow as I said above and so he will put them if not himself and some imperfect ones among the ninety nine that need no Repentance which yet is not so with them in reality but in supposition If you say
natural and bodily food He was the weaker who confined himself to some particulars as onely lawful viz. Herbs c. This Scripture of the Apostles preferring righteousness c. before meats and drinks is impertinently and sinfully alledged to contradict the observation of the Lords Supper wherein he will be remembred by the use of natural bread and wine till his second coming 1 Cor. 11. 26. As oft as ye eat of this bread 1 Cor. 11. 26 cleared and drink of this cup for natural substance the same with other bread and wine but for signification and assurance different ye do shew by such a use and participation the Lords death till he come That clause till he come and others of his coming are usual in the New Testament to denote his second and glorious coming visibly in our nature If I will that he tarry till I come c. John 21. 22. So shall also the coming of the Son of man be Mat. 24. 37 39. Even so come Lord Jesus the voice of the Bride and of John echoing to Christs Surely I come quickly Rev. 22. 20. 2. Although wheat-bread and red wine be not souls food alone and by themselves yet stampt with the Lords Institution his word of promise This is my body This is my blood with his word of command Do this c. and this done in faith accordingly in and by them Christ doth feed our souls If the sacred signs of the Old Testament had this significancy and excellency that in respect of what was represented by them they are called spiritual meat and spiritual drink 1 Cor. 10. 3 4. Manna was appointed to feed the faith of the Fathers and Water out of the rock to refresh their soul-faith surely the blessed signs of the New Testament come not short of such spiritual significancy and excellency which they have not from themselves but from Christ the institutor and ordainer of them who will and doth make them souls food instrumentally because he thereby and therewith gives forth himself to be their assured food and nourishment But saith R. F. * Page 20. for a close He is my meat and drink and food for my soul to feed on and for such as are in him John 6. who is the bread of life Rep. But how he doth not tell us onely he saith it is so and I wish it be so and that he doth not feed upon ashes nor that a deceived heart doth lead him aside nor that a lye be found in his right hand I 'm sure it is in his tongue or pen who shall say or write Christ feeds not souls by wheat-bread and red wine 1. It is a true exposition of John 6. which we hold up against the Papists that all along that Chapter Christ speaks not of the Sacrament called the Lords Supper consisting of sign and thing signified outward and inward matter but onely of his natural flesh and blood given and shed for all that eat and drink him spiritually or by faith which daily they may and ought to do Believe and thou hast eaten as was Augustines counsel and encouragement of old to the Christians in his time 2. It is a proud and disdainful practice altogether to reject the use of wheat-bread and red wine or any fruit of the vine frequently as a help to memory faith love and all the graces of the inner man especially by fresh remembrance of Christs death in the application of the signs to be strengthned in believing our interest and propriety in him that we may feed the more strongly upon him and live chearfully by faith every day and hour By this time me thinks I hear James Nayler crying out of divisions about the form * Love to the lost pag. 43. of the Lords Supper which the worlds Teachers and Professors are all out of and have lost and the power also and then spreading his new cloth that I hinted at before as some wet napkin over a Corpse so he over his new Communion Table and then sets on his new-transformed Supper and what 's that Hear if you can and read without their trembling but in true fear take notice of his horrible delusion For the sake saith he * Pagâ— 45. of such who are lost in this thing and troubled in minde concerning it what I have James Naylers transmutation of the Lords Supper received of the Lord that I shall declare unto you which all shall witness to who come to partake thereof as the truth is in Jesus Christ If you intend to sup with the Lord or shew the Lords death till he come let your eating and drinking so oft as you do it be in remembrance of him and in his fear that at death you may witness to the lust and excess c. If this man were not lost himself could he write thus wildely falsly impudently or minister such a miserable comfort to a troubled minde Why where will the poor lost simple soul say is the fallacy wildeness impudence The fallacy in this that by eating and drinking as oft as you do it he meaneth your ordinary meals of Breakfast Dinner or Supper for so he expresseth it Page 43. This was to be done at all seasons when they eat and drank The wildeness in this For the sake of such as are lost and that at death you may witness to the lust and excess The impudence in this that he saith He received it of the Lord and to avoid excess and of becoming reprobates in the faith it was * Page 44. that the Lord Jesus commanded his Disciples in eating and drinking to shew forth his death till he came And this was that the Apostles received of the Lord and so practised till he was come to them and then * Page 46. they continued it for their sakes who were weak in the faith to whom he was not yet appeared What His colourable Reasons dis-colouâ—ed colour will the lost simple soul say hath he for all this He hath something surely to set forth his new dish First He thinketh * Page 43. this Lords Supper was done and instituted by Christ as they sate at meat and did eat Mat. 26. 26. Mark 14. 22. But must it therefore be confounded with every ones common ordinary meal That Supper which he instituted a new was if Luke 22. 20. be consulted after the Paschal Supper and Paul saith 1 Cor. 11. 25. after he the Lord had supped yea after he had risen at the end of the Paschal Supper John 13. 2. he took a towel washt his Disciples feet sate down again ver 12. and had given the dipped sop to the Traitor who upon the receiving of it went immediately out ver 30. and came in no more But now Christ and his chosen ones are alone they not having removed the Table the Lord enters his Sermon John 13. latter end with Chap. 14. 15 16. and having taken bread and then the cup he either prayed
allowance and maintenance three ways 1. When it is preached with a free and cheerful Spirit as it should be always by all the Preachers of the Gospel not by constraint but willingly 1 Pet. 5. 2. 2. When 't is preached not for filthy lucre that neither being the first nor last end of the Preachers service for then the wages they take becomes to them filthy lucre 3. When it is upon free-cost in respect of some such as 2 Cor. 11 7. cleared we preach unto They give they contribute nothing nothing is demanded of them but supplies are given and received from other persons or places This was the Apostles case in reference to the Corinthians he preached all upon free-cost to them took nothing of them but took he nothing of others Did he live upon the Air It 's fit for Ministers to live by Faith but wanted other Churches their Love or did he refuse supplies from elsewhere No ver 9. That which was lacking to me at Corinth the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied Secondly From the Apostles working with his hands Acts 20. 30. cannot be collected either that Ministers are Acts 20 34. vindicated bound to follow a trade for 't is ordained of the Lord they should live of the Gospel i. e. of the Allowance due to them for preaching the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 14. and not of a trade 1 Cor. 9. 14. opened or that Paul and consequently others might not have forborn working for expresly he tells the Corinthians and others by them what was the minde of God and is to this day 1 Cor. 9. 6. Or I onely and Barnabas have we not power or liberty to forbear working Observe it Or I onely and Barnabas it seemeth other Apostles used their liberty every where Peter James and John had left their nets as to a trade of fishing thereby to get their livelihood long before as Matthew his Custom-house and Paul and Barnabas might have left their work of Tent-making as they had left off the trade But at Corinth because Section 44 Paul met so providentially with Aquila and Priscilla who by their occupation were Tent-makers and he had the skill he practised it with them Acts 18. 3. and at Ephesus and at Thessalonica 1 Thes 2. 9. he labored with his hands to minister to his necessities but there was no necessity from any direct precept that he must so labor or Sylvanus or Timotheus but saith he ver 6. we might have been burthensom as the Apostles of Christ Thirdly Although the Apostles example and what followeth Acts 20. 35. may stand as a witness against all Acts 20. 35. vindicated loyterers in the ministerial work and against all covetous self-seeking hireling Preachers in every place who make hire and gain the end of their preaching yet doth it not so much as once appear for witness against them who do what Paul himself did by rule viz. At some times and in some places take more allowance then otherwhile or where nor against them that live meerly upon the allowance of Providence for the preaching of the Gospel not having learnt a trade to help themselves withal and if they had may use or not use their skill and take pains as it may be a furtherance or hinderance to their Gospel-work And these things well pondered henceforth let not R. F. or others go about to binde up Ministers where God hath left them free nor envy or reproach their Calling with the names of Hirelings and Priests c. without distinction or difference as if all were such who have their outward livelihood according to Gods ordinance upon the account of preaching-work and labor unto which who is sufficient Let not J. Nayler send abroad his invectives against Town-teachers his common place concerning the ministery of Christ * Love to the lost pag. 60 6. is little better The Lord rebuke him with his fellow R. F. 18. Head of their Scripture-contradiction Concerning Immediate Calling Section 45. THey pretend as I noted to an infallible judgement and to a calling not by man but Immediate Whom God sends he sends forth immediately This spoken indefinitely and meant universally of all that God sendeth is contrary as I hinted to Gal. 1. 1. where Call to the Ministery either 1. Vnlawful of man meerly 2. Lawful and of God Paul speaks of a sending of man and by man and by Jesus Christ The sending of man is unlawful when one man sends another who hath no power to send or the man runs of his own head upon his own errand and either knows he is a deceiver or is deluded by Satan and thinks himself immediately called when 't is onely the voice of his Fancy and Imagination The sending of God is two-fold either mediate 1. By man 2. Immediate Gal. 1. 1. cleared or immediate both lawful God sends by mans ministery that is mediate or he sends at least at first without it Now Pauls call as it was not of man so at the first it was not of God by man but immediately by Jesus Christ Acts 9. R. F. * Page 22. is not herewith pleased but thinketh Gal. 1. Chap. will witness against what I say and why so because He that was immediately called and sent doth there witness the same Rep. I affirm that Paul at the first was immediately called so was he immediately converted were R. F. Ed. Burroughs J. Nayler J. Parnel and others therefore immediately sent because Paul was We have a Proverb I would not have it offend if I remember and mention it aptly seasonably and justly As the Bell tinketh so the Fool thinketh As for pretences we do not pretend to be immediately called saith R. F. and sent but we witness that we are Rep. But who will believe them that witness of themselves and have not the signs of such a Calling upon them but clash and interfere with the Prophets and Apostles Doctrine at every turn almost This is our present instance all mediate calls are cryed down and the immediate onely cryed up and mis-represented mis-applyed when as the Apostles who had the most immediate calls were not against the other way of Gods calling men by the Church and their own assistance of the Church in that work But the holy Ghost hath left their practice with his Rule obligatory to us 1 Tim. 5. 22. and 6. 14. with Titus 1. 5. yet will R. F. proceed to say * Page 22. We witness with him that thou accusest and that is Ed. Burroughs whose words in my former piece I onely hinted at now take them as largely though he hath much more to the same purpose as is needful * Warning to Underbarrow by E. B. p. 16. The Ministery called by the earthly powers by earthly Magistrates or at Oxford Cambridge or Newcastle all this Ministery who is here called is by man and their Gospel is of man which the true Gospel is not and he that hath the
not yet emptied unless God restrain and stop his mouth and dry up his pen and inkhorn terms 2. As to his and his fellows denying such Questions as are What Questiona are of the Devil of the Devil I wish they would make good this denial But since I heard in Scotland that Questions were of the Devil I have read of many Questions of theirs which come from no better spirit then the old Serpent and Satan The Question is whether R. F. will own them as of God or deny them as being of the devil I read in one * A Declaration against Popery Quere 6. of their Pamphlets to this purpose Whether you that say bread and wine i. e. in our Lords Supper is the body and blood of Christ be not they that minde earthly things and are carnal and natural In my poor judgement this Question is from ignorance of the Lords purpose in his instituted Supper which calls upon us to minde spiritual and heavenly things by what are earthly and natural i. e. bread and wine in their substance but spiritual in their signification and use during the celebration and unsavory this Question is to such as truly own the remembrance of Christ in that Ordinance Again they Quere * Quere 10. Whether every one may not purchase bread and wine and whether any can purchase the body and blood of Christ for money Now if ignorant unsavory vain needless and unprofitable Questions come of the Devil and R. F. denieth such will he deny this to be any other If he saith he yields it to be vain c. his fellows do not he must then herein at least deny them if he maintains it for good he must so prove it I judge it to be as the former ignorant and unsavory in that it ariseth from the not distinguishing between the inward and outward part of the Lords Supper and needless vain and unprofitable because not tending to edification but meerly to strife and vain jangling Another tempting and upbraiding Question * Quere 21. there is Whether ever any of you received the substance since that which you called the sign was practised by you and so bear witness to the substance and deny the sign yea or nay The scope of this indeed is diabolical to throw off the sign of Christs appointment when they come to feel the substance whereas the true method of Christians is first to receive the substance Christ in the promise before they joyn with the Church to receive the sign because the Ordinance of the Supper is not a converting Ordinance if we speak of the true initial work for confirming and carrying on of the work of faith and love holiness c. And if none should receive the sign and memorial of Christs death after they have by faith in the Gospel-promise received the substance they should orderly never receive the sign at all How insolent and ignorant a Question is that * Quere 27. Whether do you wait and believe to be made heirs with Christ yea or nay and to have the same minde which was also in Jesus Christ who thought it no robbery to be equal with God whether you witness this yea or nay Will R. F. acknowledge the subtilty and wickedness of this Quere say I yea or nay For the blessed Apostle Phil. 2. 5 6 7. presseth to the same Phil 12. 5. c vindicated humble minde that was in Jesus Christ who being in the form of God that is left out in the Question thought it no robbery c. But made himself of no reputation c. all that in ver 7 and 8. should have been added if the Question had not been snarling and contradictious to the Apostles scope which is far from teaching Christians as is the intent of the Question to aspire after any such thought as to be equal with God we may know and believe our heir-ship and coheir-ship with Christ in glory and yet stoop to mean estates and conditions with low mindes here on earth and carry no such proud thought to heaven as the Question doth insolently dictate Is this the perfection these men talk of to harbor proud thoughts in their bosoms of being equal with God because Christ thought it no robbery so to be Oh ye deceived professors lift not up your horns on high speak not with a stiff neck beyond the Donatists of old or as the Familists of later times but remember those who were nick-named Puritans in Queen Elizabeths days and since for their sincere endeavors after Purity be humble in the midst of failings as they were and forsake the tents of these Corahs Dathans and Abirams or worse who not onely think themselves as perfect as Saints in heaven but hope hereafter if they be not here to be equal in perfection and glory with God Lord rebuke this Blasphemy in all thine and convince all obstinate gain-saying Questionists which is not in our power to do but instrumentally we desire to be subservient in the work according to thy word Titus 1. 9. To proceed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall instance but in another Pamphlet for their Questions are endless and to attend the Answers would be a needless endless work As R. F. denies Questions that are of the Devil I hope he will not deny most ignorant and proud Questions to be of the Devil as from old Adam also as that for one * Fruits of a Fast pag. 19. What rule have you in Scripture for putting off the Hat That this Question ariseth from pride appeareth by another Quest 20. in the same Book Page 20. Whether is it for the Lords sake that a man would have his fellow-creature stand with his Hat off before him or for his self-sake Fellow-creatures they think must be all alike in honor This might be the thought of those creatures that are now Devils which made them Devils and by the 21. Quest He that for the Lords sake c. cannot bow to a creature whether ought he to be imprison'd for mis-behavior or a contemner of Authority yea or nay The first Question bewrayeth ignorance which if R. F. justifies he must be sent to the Catechism out of Exod. 20. 12. and asked what is the fifth Commandment and what it meaneth and what Rom. 13. 7. Render honor to whom honor is due I hope R. F. will grant that quarrelling Questions are of the Devil as was that Job 1. 9. Doth Job serve God for nought such is that in the fore-mentioned Pamphlet * page 22. Whether is your Gospel free and without charge as the Apostles was yea or nay For 1. To clear God He will not let his servants serve him for nought 2. To clear his servants This I say again as before Sect. 44. they may serve with a free spirit yet take wages whereof the Laborer is worthy for they serve not the Lord in the ministery for wages It is one thing as I have said
to civil honor required in Scripture R. F. * Page 2â— answereth Civility and Honor we own and knows to whom honor is due to whom it is not Rep. But who will believe him if none make it out by Argument better then he doth and if his practise be no better then his doctrine it is like to prove but poor honor and not such as the Scripture requireth 1. Saith he If I honor a proud man for his pride I dishonor God in so doing c. Rep. Who calls that calls from Scripture for honor to any for their pride and covetousness and oppression This is but a shift of R. F. Is not the ordinance of superiority in State Church Family set up among men to be honored and cannot men set up by that ordinance be honored but Civil Honor due to superiors they must be honored for their sins Sin we all know is a reproach to any person as to any nation But the relation wherein God hath set them above others is an honor to them put upon them by God himself and are not they to be honored as and so far as he hath honored them viz. as Magistrates as Ministers as Parents as Masters considered abstractly from their bad qualities and onely lookt upon in their place of superiority representing God and bearing his image of authority which though lost by the fall yet God hath given back in some respect to all men Hence the Rule 1 Pet. 2. 17. Honor all men all men as men not Beasts and some men as preferred by the Lord before other But saith R. F. 2 All men that are joyned to the Lord and walk in union with him and his seed I honor and love and this I speak in sincerity Rep. This is no demonstration of giving civil honor or knowing what belongs to it which was-by him at first professed Did R. F. not onely speak but act this in sincerity yet there is an ignorant simplicity mixed with his sincerity while he thinketh that love to Saints must exclude his love to other men and if he can love his enemies as he saith To all as men civil honor is a branch of love to be given to them that are not joyned to the Lord and walk with him though they be his enemies which of the martyrs refused to give civil honor to their persecuting enemies when called before them But saith R. F. again 3. To follow foolish idle fancies to worship men with cap and knee and flatteries as the Serpents seed do and which thou pleads for we do that deny and against it testifie Rep. Here he still mingleth the corruption of the act with the act as if they could not be separated If onely he denies foolish idle complements for insinuation sake and in a way of flattery that we deny also but to judge the honor of cap and knee taken by it self and given to men of place as inseparable from folly fancy flattery is to deny a part of that civility and honor which himself seemed in general to allow 4. How can ye believe that seek honor one of another and seek not the honor that comes of God alone Joh. 5. 44. Rep. As 't is a sin to be ambitious of honor among men and a compound sin to be careless of Gods honor while we hunt after our own and that by indirect means so 't is a duty to go one before another in giving honor Rom. 12. 10. yea 't is a duty and no sin to take the honor that God hath given to the place and relation wherein he hath set us Preferring of creature and self honor and to hold up that with neglect of Christ rather then take that honor which God gives to every man upon receiving of Christ is that which our Lord condemns in that place of John But suppose John 5 44. vindicated a Magistrate Master Parent hath not received Christ that Scripture doth not interfere with the fifth Commandment nor simply forbid receiving honor one of another but onely such as the worlds friends give and take upon a worldly account and not with respect to the ordinance of God who hath stated and ordered it where how by whom and to whom it is to be given and of whom it is to be received R. F. addeth 5. What the Scriptures do allow we do know without thy ranking together Rep. I had mentioned some Scriptures concerning civil Titles of honor given to Magistrates Ministers Fathers Masters which this man denies not but that the Scriptures do allow and he and others know but he doth not say he alloweth what he knoweth Now to him that knoweth what is good and approveth it not and makes not confession of it when called to it to him it is sin with greater aggravation I shall now unto the rank of Titles bring in a File of Scriptures for civil gestures of Reverence and due deportment of the body to know whether they will allow them or no and practise accordingly if not the whole File shall discharge against them another day for their pride negligence and contempt In Scripture we shall finde bowings of the knee and body of several kindes some from base fears as Sauls to the devil 1 Sam. 28. 14. some Gestures of honor some bad base and Idolatrous of base flattery as Joabs to David 2 Sam. 14. 22. Cushies to Joab 2 Sam. 18. 21. of Davids subjects to Absalom and Absaloms to them 2 Sam. 15. 5. Some of Idolatry such as Amaziah acted when he bowed himself to the gods of the Edomites 2 Chron. 25. 14. all these kindes we know if R. F. doth not and we disallow the practise upon such reasons though we approve of the history of the Scripture as true because they were against a Rule of Scripture but how by the way will these rise up in judgement against those that deny what is required by a Rule If some have bowed for wicked ends some to Idols some to devils how will they condemn the stiff knees and stout stomachs that will not afford it for the ends and to the persons which the Lord hath designed and marked out as honorable There Some civil and good maners are bowings of the knee and body which the Scripture makes mention of with approbation being agreeable to the Law and Rule of the fifth Commandment Such as that of Abrahams bowing to the heathenish children of Heth Gen. 23. 7. in a civil neighborly way And bowings to Rulers and Magistrates as Jacobs sons to Joseph Gen. 43. 26. 28. according to Josephs two dreams of their sheaves bowing to his and of the Sun Moon and stars making obeysance to him Davids bowing to Saul though a wicked man 1 Sam. 24. 8. as well as Mephibosâ—eths Abigails 2 Sam. 9. 8. 1 Sam. 25. 23. 2 Sam. 24. 20. 1 King 1. 23. Araunahs and Nathans bowing to David a good man and pious Prince Again there want not instances of respect and honor
is no necessity then of immediate teachings setting Scripture aside nor ought we to receive any against the Scripture 2. Why may not fulness be in Christ and in the Letter How fulness is in Christ how in the Scripture conjoyned still with the sense of Scripture also The fuller the fountain is the more full is the conduit and its pipes The more full the heart is the fuller the mouth out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and the pen writeth what is good or bad truth or error In Christ is the fulness of the fountain in the Scriptures is the fulness of the stream flowing from and carrying to the fountain and and abiding inexhausted as a well fed by a continual spring Sect. 21 22 23. Christ having all fulness superabundantly in himself he doth abundantly and sufficiently fill the Scriptures with the savor and sweetness of his good oyntments which make the virgins and the upright love him and seek after him in these footsteps of the flocks the good and old ways of Scripture-teaching 8. Head of Self-contradiction Concerning Perfection Sections 21 22. IN the former of these Sections I noted their profession of Perfection and of Quaking after Moses example at the foot of mount Sinai to cross-shins one with the other R. F. returns me nothing in answer as if convinced it is no better then I judged it a Self-contradiction and one of his own In the latter the contradiction to themselves is as gross they speak of perfection in holiness here attained before death and yet acknowledge sin dwelleth in them though not in act R. F. hath nothing to say to this also and so it must stand as a testimony against them with the rest when he and all his fraternity have said what they can their self-justifications will end in self-confusion 9. Head of Self-contradiction Concerning Quaking and Trembling Section 23. HEre I had noted the Contradiction between their profession of Quaking and trembling and prosessed boldness never having observed more daring creatures to open their lips or put pen to paper It fell out that R. F. his Reply to the Priests about Beverley was quoted for an instance he is therefore the more concerned in vindication but how doth he take off the self-contradiction even as along the Book by persisting in his evil cause * Page 28. The same power that made Moses c. to quake shake and tremble the same power we witness Rep. But Moses was under a Legal administration and at Legal what that time when he said I exceedingly fear and quake he was under a type of that Legal bondage which believers are freed from The false Apostles indeed by their corrupting the Doctrine of Justification carried Christians as much as laid in their power under the Law again for which the true Apostle Paul blames the Galatians Chap. 4. 21. Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law c. So these pretenders to a new Apostleship are discovered by their Doctrine of a Righteousness within them that is their Justification to lead people the same way as the ring-leaders among the Jews and Galatians did and would make them children of the bond-woman whom Christ hath made children of the free-woman yet boldly they will profess they are come from mount Sinai to mount Zion while their Doctrine of Justification hath no other tendency then to carry back to bondage R. F. yet seems to bleat more like a sheep then bark like a wolf in this passage We witness working out our salvation with fear and trembling Rep. 1. The fear and trembling which Paul speaks of Phil 2 12. vindicated Phil. 2. 12. as proper to believers is not that which Moses did typically represent at the foot of mount Sinai for the Apostle to the Hebrews Chap. 12. 18. to 21 denies that believers are under that state or that Legal administration with the effects of it 2. The fear and trembling wherewith believers are to Evangelical trembling what work out their salvation issueth from faith and love and Gospel-humility and is not the fruit of Legal humiliation 3. The Gospel-fear and trembling is not to be found visible or legibly to be discerned in all R. F. his vindication hitherto But he rounds me in the ear with this Thou speaks against the power of God that worketh effectually in his people as it did in Moses Habakkuk David Paul and other witnessed in Scripture thou there in contradicts the Scripture Rep. 1. To contradict the Scripture is worse then to contradict a mans self and therefore I desire the first part of this Reply may be minded by R. F. before the latter Yet there is scarce a Self-contradiction which I have mentioned and charged upon these men but the Reader will finde in it one contradiction or other to the Scripture If I should deny that Moses quaked or that Habakkuk or Paul trembled I should deny the Scripture and the Power of God but I deny that such a quaking as Moses Habakkuk or Paul when fallen to the earth Act. 9. 5 6. were taken with is the fear and trembling believers are to work out their salvation withal as for Davids it coming from the power of piety I desire we all had his measure of love to the word of God then should we tremble as he did Psal 119. 120. at the footstool of the Lord at the threatnings and judgements written and executed even upon Nations and the wicked ones and at the fatherly righteous chastenings upon our selves or his own people 2. When Gods power of majesty in visible manifestations to the eye of the body discovers it self to any as to Moses or to Paul or in visions as to Habakkuks spirit such a bodily trembling becomes them and they will not be able to avoid it but the power of Gods Majesty in visible manifestations to body or minde is not that power which worketh effectually to salvation in his people take it alone for Balaam had such a work but the Power of his love and grace in Christ which in the majesty of the Gospel is made known to us from the efficacy of our high Priest sat down Heb. 8. 1. at the right hand of the Majesty of God in the heavens is that power whereby he worketh in us and whereon he commands us humbly to rest and depend for the finishing of our salvation the same way as it was begun according to Gods good pleasure 3. How contradictious these men are to the profession of trembling I instanced for demonstration in their standing in an evil cause before magistrates without Quaking or fear R. F. * Page 29. in answer hereunto makes good the former branch of demonstration which I mentioned the boldness of his pen This is a fallacy of thine where thou hast shot out thy sting in thy tail herein thou art taught thy gradations methodically in old Antichrists school to lye slander accuse falsly and jeer and
him also even of strong Paul and of weak Paul strong in the Lord weak yet in and of himself and willing to glory in this that he knew himself to be weak and nothing As he * M. Nicholas Price of Lyn-Regis that said when he had attained to no small measure of mortification in the eyes of others I thank God I know my self to be a sinner while these proud up-starts think many of them have reached to the highest pitch of Perfection 3. It is Pride that hath bred and doth feed and nourish their opinions and practises What makes them level Legal and Gospel-light but Pride The light which every man hath saith William Deusbery i Christ exalted page 26 is not common to man by nature it is the great gift of God the Grace that hath appeared c. The truth is Every mans light where the Gospel comes not is neither for degree nor kinde the same with Gospel-light it is but a shimmering of the Laws light a gift of God indeed but no such great Gift as the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ or as the doctrine of that Grace Every man writes E. B. k True faith of the Gospel of peace p. 18. hath that which is one in Vnion and like the Spirit of Christ even as good as the Spirit of Christ according to its measure A proud elevation of the fallen posterity of Adam either exalting the gifts of the Spirit as high as the person of the Spirit or levelling the high and peculiar Grace of the Spirit in true Saints with the low and common work in every man Weigh but what J. Nayler hath in his Answer to Math. Cuffin l Light of Christ and word of life page 19. and see if there be not wicked Pride God is at liberty to speak to his people by them viz. the Scriptures if he please and where they are given by inspiration he doth so And so he is at liberty to speak by any other created thing as to Balaam by his Ass As if God did not speak constantly by the Scriptures the voices of the Prophets * Acts 13. 27 and Apostles though his people are not always alike affected with and by them nor doth the Lord give the same impression from the same Text at one time as at another or as if all the Scripture at all times were not of divine Inspiration and as if he would have his disciples with himself ascribe no more authority to the Scriptures then to Balaams Ass 4. Unbelief begets and procreates all their Errors and their love of Error with their derisions of the Truth How come they to slight the Scriptures and the Ordinances of Christ They have lost that first faith or never 1 Tim. 5. had any concerning their Institution and Authority or the efficacy of the Spirit put forth by them Would they else judge it Blasphemy m To all that would know the way p. 4. for any to say the Letter or Scripture is the Word of God when as 't is that which the Spirit dictated and hath ever blessed and prospered to his own purposes Would they else scribble and quibble as they do n Ibid page 8. Thou that sayest thou had not come to repentance if thou had not known the Letter thou deniest Christ The Scripture is say they A Declaration of the Spirit but the Spirit is not in it A Declaration of Power but the Power is not in it And why is not the Spirit and Power in it this is nothing but the voice and spirit of unbelief which makes them so to judge How like a Pelagi-Arminian doth J. Nayler speak o Answer to Quakers Catechism p. 24. Who hath the Spirit hath an infallible guide in matter and maner if he keep to it And I know that so far as any are led by the Spirit it guides into all truth if it be not erred from Whence come these ifs but from unbelief What Luther said of his Popish Devotions is true here We always prayed in Colloq mens Popedom conditionaliter with condition uncertainly and at hap-hazard And upon such a hazard do these ifs run mens salvation beside the pride of such ifs determining all Grace the Spirits infallible guidance and what not upon the will of man and his improvements Whence is it that they speak with such disparagement of Christ dying at Jerusalem but from unbelief Had Ed. Burrough a Faith working by love when he sounded his Trumpet p A Trumpet of the Lord sounded out of Sion by E. B. page 17. and upbraided all that are called Presbyterians and Independents with their feeding upon the report of a thing done many hundred years ago They that believe not that word John 6. 53. will not tremble at it Did those called Presbyterians and Independents more heartily feed upon Christ who dyed and as he dyed above sixteen hundred years ago by faith every day and meet ofter at the Lords Table in faith and love they would be more strengthned in one against their common enemies 5. They do subtilly couch many Errors under specious words of Truth or terms that are ambiguous and of a doubtful sense q The inheritance of Jacob page 24. The Righteousness saith Francis Howgil whereby the Saints of old pleased God and was accepted was wrought in them the same that is now wrought in the Saints by Christ As if God were not pleased with them as clothed with the imputed righteousness of Christ or they would have that which is within the Saints to be that which is imputed to their pardon and acceptance whereas God is more pleased with that which Christ wrought for them then with what he worketh in them Yea that which Christ wrought in his own person and in that flesh which he assumed is that alone which the Father accepteth and imputeth to their Justification Not but he is pleased with his own work in us in a way of Sanctification and Service That seems very fair which Alexander Parker hath r Testimony of God p. 4. It is an inward work that every one must know and witness if ever they know true peace and rest But let all know that the work within is not the ground and purchase of their peace but the blood of Christ alone and his obedience although it is a witness and an evidence and yet every inward work is not an evidence or witness of peace with God but that alone which is the New-birth or true Sanctification and the parts of it flowing from and inseparably attending and accompanying the Believers union with the Lord Jesus Light saith Tho Lawson Å¿ Lip of truth c. page 45 and 47. is the same in him that hates it and in him that loves it And again Grace is the same in him that turns it into lasciviousness as in him that is taught by it The same seed as fell on the good ground fell on the high way
stony and thorny ground The Talent hid in the earth quoth Alexander Parker t Testimony of God p. 12. is the same with those improved Now true it is the same Doctrine of Grace called sometime Light sometime Grace sometime Seed and that which is a piece of that one Talent is the same in them that love it and in them that hate it But as hating and loving cannot be the same so the cause why one loves the Light entertains the Seed improves the Talent is from a higher Light and from a new Eye to see and affect it and from a second Talent given with or after the first and from the goodness of the heart made good by Grace or Gods free favor and turned into the nature of the seed that falls into it The outward doctrine written in the book of God and preached according to it becoming an ingraffed word in the soul of a meek Believer James Nayler in shew of words confesseth thus much v Light of Christ and word of life page 13. While man is in darkness the best of Gods gifts are perverted to a wrong end but being enlightned from the word the gift is seen and sanctified to its right end without which it cannot for God hath placed the blessing and right use of all his Mercies in his Son One Talent then with all the pieces and ingredients that a man out of Christ is endowed withal is not sufficient for any man to make a good and sanctified improvement of what he hath he must have two Christ must be given him for special enlightning for sanctification blessing and right use of outward mercies and of spiritual gifts given in common where the Gospel comes as the doctrine of Grace Ordinances and such like yea Christ must be his Surety and Satisfaction his Wisdom Righteousness and his All and in all for all benefits without interest in Christ a Mediator amount but to one Talent Let every soul beg for two Talents for that one Talent which he that hath no more hides in the earth is not the same with the Grace improving though it be the lump of common gifts outward or inward to be improved A fine quirk hath Alexander Parker w Testimony of God p. 13. Paul was sent to open the blinde eyes not to bring them eyes but to open the eye which the god of this world hath blinded It is true as sin destroyed not the substance of the soul and minde so grace brings not a new substance but by his leave though Paul could not bring i. e. give a new eye yet by the ministery of Paul God gave it with a new light A light that every man hath not and an eye i. e. a spiritual discerning power and principle which none have but such as are new born whereby they not only see new things but after a new maner The Church of God saith E. B. x The true faith of the Gospel of peace p. 26. is redeemed by Christ Jesus which is revealed within all that believe So we may say the Church of God is redeemed by Christ Jesus who made the heavens and the earth yet as it followeth not because Christ Jesus made the heavens and the earth therefore that Creation is our Redemption so neither doth it follow because Christ Jesus is revealed within all that believe that such a Revelation is all our Redemption or that Christ redeemeth his Church by that onely which is revealed within all that believe The person that redeemeth is but one and the same Christ Jesus but the way of his redeeming of them admits of distinction The Church is redeemed by a price without them as well as by a power within them the former purchaseth the latter None have Christ revealed within them in the Apostles sense Gal. 1. 16. Col. 1. 27. for whom Christ gave not himself a Ransom upon the cross It is a small matter that E. B. yieldeth The man Christ Jesus hanged upon the Cross because they wickedly judged him to be a Blasphemer c. This saith he is one ground at least but this say I from Scripture is not the chief but that which the Apostle hath given forth Gal. 3. 13 14. A curse he was made to purchase our Redemption from the curse that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through him and that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith James Nayler puts the lye upon them that say they deny imputed Righteousness of Christ I do not finde it in the very terms but in what is equivalent I do and that in the same Scripturient for he y Love to the lost page 4. upbraids us with our Covering wherein consists our Blessedness Psal 32. 1. and he makes imputing of Christs righteousness and putting of it into the creature all one yea z Ib. page 51. he states it That the Just are justified as they are sanctified and mortified and no further From one error viz. that righteousness wrought within us justifieth followeth the other that it is more or less imputed as they are more or less holy But what is this all the while but to deny Gods imputing reckoning or accounting of Christs sole and most perfect obedience and sufferings to the believing sinner for his justification 6. Some passages savour of meer ignorance or of wilful blindness about the Covenant of Grace the state of Grace and the Mysteries of Salvation As that of James Nayler a Publike discoveries of open blindness by James Nayler page 2 Where sin is acted it must needs have dominion Doth not the Scripture expresly exempt them that are under Grace or a Covenant of Grace from Sins dominion Rom. 6. 14. And yet doth not Paul describe the present state of the Saints to be in the warfare and combat and sin present when they would do good even to pull them back from it and to put them on to outward acting of what is evil in a warring captivating way Rom. 7. 14. to the end of the chapter And is not this the inward act of sins hostility even where Grace reigns in the habit and by a contrary act of the renewed will while flesh is haling another way doth oppose the rebellion and tyranny of sin If some could shake off the actings of in-dwelling sin in practice as they attempt it in their doctrine they had been raised to a higher form of perfection then yet they have attained But the ignorance of a contrariety of willing and of acting in the same subject and faculty shews rather their un-experiencedness in the Fencers school and that they cry out of victory not believed hoped for that we grant but compleated before they have engaged in the main battel Fresh-water soldiers think the war is at an end when they are past the first skirmish of a forlorn hope That of E. B. b True faith c. page 19. By what is the new birth wrought if not by