it matters not W. T. If the Scriptures be corrupted they must be purged cleared and the true words and sense held forth and maintained which is the Churches Office 1 Tim. 3.15 T. S. Would not any man be ashamed but he that is past shame to offer this Scripture to prove that the Scripture must be purged and cleared by the Church when it 's corrupted Is the Scripture or the corruption purging or clearing of it mentioned or so much as intended in that Scripture This is just such a wild proof as you use to bring for the dead Doctrines you raise from Scripture in your Pulpit But the ground of faith you say may be corrupted nay you say further that faith may be lost T. S. Let all that fear the Lord judge whether you speak like a man acquainted with the faith of Gods elect Is the faith of Gods elect bottomed upon a corruptible foundation and may their faith be lost The Scripture saith that He that believeth shall never be confounded but if the ground of faith be corruptible shame and confusion will certainly cover the faces of those that believe When I tell you that the Scripture could not be the ground of Abel's Enoch's and Noah's faith because they were before the Scripture was c. You Answer W. T. Though they had not those Scriptures which now we have yet the word of God was made known to them then and that word of God is the ground and was the ground of their faith T. S. I hope you own no other Scriptures then those we now have and if they had not those then they could not be the ground of their faith And thus are you constrained to Answer and confute your self out of your own mouth for whereas you have spent much time and produced many blind Arguments to prove that the Scriptures are the ground of faith now you confesse that they were not the ground of Abel's Enoch's and Noah's faith and if they were not the ground of their faith then neither were they the ground of any of the Saints faith since them for that they and all the Saints since have the same foundation and are built on the same Rock which can never be removed nor corrupted as you doe most absurdly assert And whereas you say the word of God was made knowne to them then and was the ground of their faith what need you have said this for whoever denyed it was this the thing in controversie betwixt you and me or did ever any of those called Quakers say that the word of God was not the ground of Abrahams faith and still is of the faith of all Saints Did you not in your first Letter to me accuse them for denying the Scriptures because you said they denyed the Scriptures to be the ground of faith and now doe you confesse that before the Scriptures were there was a ground of faith Let all that are wise-hearted judge what horrible confusion you labour in for if there were something that was not the Scripture because it was before it which was the ground of Abells faith and Abrahams faith and still is the ground of faith then what more manifest then this that you doe most ignorantly accuse those called Quakers for denying the Scripture because they assert that which you your selfe doe here grant and acknowledge to be a truth You proceed hence to tell me of my Out-cryes and why Out-cryes because I tell you the plain truth without falttery I trust I shall never be ashamed to cry yet louder against all Idol Shepheards that eat the fat and drink the sweet and cloath with the wool but feed not the flock When you say that the word of God was ever the ground of faith even before it was written I ask did you by the word of God intend the Scripture or not If you did then that which I said to you thence doth justly fall upon you if not then to what end did you spend half a sheet of paper to prove the Scripture to be the ground of faith calling it all along the word of God And yet now to save your self out of the mire of confusion and contradiction you create an opposition betwixt the Scripture and the word of God Thus you write as you Preach say and unsay in the same houres discourse assert a thing and contradict it T. S. In what Scripture is it written that Christ directeth us to look for life in the Scripture W. T. In the present Scripture John 5.39 Search the Scriptures for in them you thinke you have Eternall life T. S. You will call it rayling if I say again that it 's a shame for one that pretendeth himself to be a Minister of Jesus Christ to be found with so notorious a lye in his mouth But esteem it as you will I must not forbear telling you plainly of so great a wickednesse To what a height of wickednesse are you arived who durst belye the Son of God who is truth it self in saying he saith that which never proceeded out of his lips Have not the dayes of * Jer. 6.15 Jeremiah overtaken us in which he complaineth that from the Prophet to the Priest every one dealeth falsly and when they had committed abomination they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush Because Christ saith to the Jewes that they though they had eternall life in the Scriptures did he therefore 〈◊〉 to look for life in them Christ telleth his Disciples that the time should come that whosoever killed them should think he did God service and will you thence gather this Doctrine which is as true as the former that Christ in that Scripture directeth men to kill his Disciples that so they might doe God service if you have not a conscience past feeling how can you consider of this injurious dealing with Christ and the Scriptures and not blush and bewaile your folly From your abuse of Christ and the forementioned Scripture you proceed to your reasonings and arguings such as they are but since they are all grounded on that which is fasly premised Viz. that Christ directeth us to look for life in the Scriptures I shall not spend time to examine their strength for that they fall of themselves having no better foundation then a grosse untruth of your own invention T. S. Is not eternall life to be had in Christ alone and is the Scripture Christ W. T. Eternall life is to be had in Christ alone and therefore in Scripture T. S. If you did not esteem your selfe licensed to blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ could you thus impudently derogate from his glory in saying that eternall life which is alone to be had in Christ may yet be had in that which is not Christ Can that which is alone to be had in him be yet had in another whence had you this rare peece of Logick that that which is alone to be had in one thing may yet be had in another
nay therefore in the second because it is alone to be had in the first Is not this as good reasoning to say That salvation is alone to be had freely by Jesus Christ and therefore by the works of the Law we must pray alone to the Lord that made us and therefore to graven Images Minde feriously if the Lord hath not given you up to a spirit of slumber that you should write such barbarous contradictions in stead of Doctrine whiles you fight against the truth The Reason you give for your bold assertion is this W. T. Because the Scripture setteth forth Christ alone as the person in whom life is to be had T. S. That the Scriptures doe testifie of Christ is true and that there is no other Jesus but that onely begotten of the Father of whom they testifie is as true But is life therefore to be had in them Is a declaration touching any thing the thing it selfe Old Jacobs sons made a declaration to their Father of the great plenty of corne in Egypt to keep them alive and will you therefore say that food and sustenance were to be had in their declaration Many Philosophers have given a description in their writings of the nature of bread and doth it thence follow that bread is to be had in their writings Plinny and others since him have declared the nature of that sweetnesse which is in honey and was ever any man so ignorant to conclude that therefore honey with its sweetnesse is to be had in the declarations of Plinny For shame doe not assume to your selfe the name of a Divine nor undertake to teach others the way to life whilest you are not able to put a difference betwixt a declaration touching a thing and the thing it selfe and so put the Scripture for Christ and the letter for the life In the next place you speak of men that cannot or will not put a difference between word and word between the Essentiall word and the Enuntiative word and so accommodate themselves for the shaking off of Scripture as if nothing were the word but Christ T. S. Must he presently be sentenced for a shaker off of the Scripture who cannot adore every School distinction as an Oracle from Heaven Where doe the Scripture make mention of the Essentiall word and the Enuntiative word and if the Scripture knoweth not any such termes pray tell us when you received your commission from Heaven to coyne distinctions and father them on the Scripture and then accuse men for shaking off the Scripture because they shake off the vaine imaginations of your own brain W. T. I would ask you this one question whereupon must I believe that Christ is the true light that lightens every man that comes into the world c. T. S. I ask you againe whether that all the holy men of God from Abel to John who spake those words did believe that Christ was the true light If they did then I demand on what ground did they beleeve it and on what ground did John himselfe who spake the words beleeve the truth of them W T. Suffer the Scripture then to be the ground of faith T. S. I say to you and the rest of those that call themselves Teachers in the Nation doe you suffer the Scripture to abide pure as it was spoken and doe not darken it by your corrupt glosses nor raise imaginations of your own upon it which you call Comments and so make the Scripture to swell into so many volumes that a great part of a mans life time must be spent in perusing them suffer the Scripture to be that which it declareth it selfe to be and speak not that of it falsly which it never spake of it selfe You proceed hence in your Papers to descant on my testimony that I gave touching the Scriptures and because you can therein finde no matter of quarrell taking my words in that plainesse they were spoken therefore you fly to making of meanings on them and say if I mean so by this and that expression then there is truth in it but if so then there is danger in it T. S. Are you troubled because my words were so plaine and so spend time to seek a knot in a bull-rush what would you have would you make me speak what I intended not Let it suffice that I tell you that I spake as I mean't and did mean as I spake Therefore you may forbear to impose your drousie Interpretations on what I declared in words sufficiently intelligible by any man whose minde is not darkned with ignorance or passion What Lordly spirit is that which lodgeth within your brest that your Probatum est must serve for a stamp under which my testimony must passe for truth and without which it must be of necessity erronious Much more stirre you make about meanings and sences in your discourse but I shall not trace you in all your wilde divinations but leave them to be burn't up as stnbble with the fire of truth W. T. But such words as these will serve a turne being very taking with poor mistaken and seduced soules T. S. You told me but even now of deceit and danger that were in my words but it seemeth there is no great danger in them if they are like to take with none but those who are already seduced for there is little danger of hurting them that are already under deceit and seduction When as in my last I declared my disowning of any mans testimony that was found contradictory to Scripture You answer W. T. For ought I know then you must leave the most or all of your new Religion which is upheld by a pretended inward light that will never abide the tryall c. T. S. For ought I know unlesse you prove me to have taken up some new Religion you may expect your portion among those that are shut out of the new Jerusalem for lyars and false Prophets I own no Religion but that which teacheth a man to fear the Lord and work righteousnesse to visit the fatherlesse and widowes in their affliction and to keep himselfe unspotted of the world Christ is the light of the world which I own as the foundation of my Religion who is within me unlesse I am a Reprobate and dare you be so impudent as to call him a pretended light You would be very angry if I should disown you for a Minister of Jesus Christ but did he ever make such Ministers or did ever any of the Apostles that were sent forth by him in scorn call him a pretended light If false Prophets may be known by their fruits then let all that know the Lord and walk in his fear judge what you are who doe bring forth such sowre Grapes as these And whereas you say my new Religion will never abide the tryall as may appear in part by what hath been already said I answer If wresting and belying the Scripture if contradictions and confusion be that
Hosanna to the mutable directions of the Pulpit W. T. I confesse I have been something put to it to determine whether I should say any thing to you or no. T. S. Truly as good you had said nothing as to no purpose neither were you more put to it then I have been what to make my reply to in your last Papers so full are they of confusion falshood contradictions impertinences and grosse absurdities as herein after will be made manifest to any that are sober minded And had I not received them signed with your name I should rather have judged them compiled by some old superstitious Episcopall Priest then by one that professeth himselfe a Minister of the Gospel and an emminent Doctor of the times W. T. I shall say something to the matter of your Letter the rather because in some parts of it you pretend to reason though much of it be stufft with that clamor which is the character of that company with which you close T. S. To tell a Clergy-man of his wickednesse in plainnesse of speech is clamor Were not Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel and Micha clamorous fellowes that durst cry out against the abominations of the false Prophets and wicked Priests of their times If this be such a black character that rendreth my Companions unlovely in your eyes I shall yet choose those who are more unlovely As the fear of God and working of righteousnes are the character of such whom he accepteth so are they of those with whom I close But as for those that cry the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord and yet have their hands full of unrighteousnesse that Preach to others the things that themselves contradict in their practice with such I desire to have no fellowship W. T. In defence of whom you bring the examples of Moses and Ezekiel but though such men quaked occasionally now and then as Gods servants still doe yet you doe not finde that they received a denomination from it or made a trade of it T. S. I brought nothing in defence of those whom you intend I onely quoted my own practice and the reason of it viz. that I did close with such as from a principle of holy fear did tremble before the great God of Heaven and Earth such as were Moses Ezekiel and other holy men of God mentioned in Scripture And was this that which needed a defence Are you so fierce an Antagonist against such as tremble at the word of the Lord as Moses and Ezekiel did that they need be defended against your rage I doubt not but if Moses and Ezekiel were now living they would finde the same measure at your hands as they did at the hands of the false Prophets of old since they that walk in their steps need a defence against your fury It sufficeth for me that you grant the thing that I intended viz That the servants of God of old did and still occasionally doe quake and tremble before the Lord. But you say they received no denomination from it nor made a trade of it T. S. Did I ever assert either of these things if not whom doe you contradict to what end doe you produce such pittifull stuffe as this for my part I cannot imagine what you could intend by it unlesse it were to fill up paper and keep your pen in action What would you conclude thence unlesse you would reason thus Because they that now tremble at the word of the Lord as Moses and Ezekiel did are by the world in scorne called Quakers therefore trembling at the word of the Lord is a hatefull thing Because we read that the Disciples from their faith in Christ and profession of his name received the denomination of Christians can that be brought as an argument against faith in Christ and a serious profession of his name And as for making a trade of trembling or quaking I never mentioned any such thing neither doe I understand what you intend by this impertinency of speech unlesse to reproach those that dayly walk low in the fear of the Lord and if so I say to you let the scorner cease to scorne lest the dreadfull day of the Lord overtake him unawares and give him his portion with scorners in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Sure I am that you never read that the holy men of God of old made a trade of Preaching as you and other men doe who just as the handicrafts man maketh his wares and exposeth them to sale in the Market so you doe compile your Sermons gathering a shread out of one Author and a shread out of another and thereunto add your own inventions and then sell them unto the people for money some for one hundred some for two hundred others for three hundred pound per annum according as you can make your Market So much of the Proem to your Papers Now to your reasonings and arguings And first you begin with the Scriptures quoting this as one of the detestable Doctrines of those called Quakers that they say that the Scriptures are not the Saints rule contrary you say to these Scriptures Gal. 6.16 James 2.8 Deut. 5.32 33. 2 Pet. 1.19 to which you say I make answer that no Scripture that I remember saith so in terminis and therefore it s a false charge T. S. That which I said was that I did not finde the Scripture in terminis so called in either of those you quoted and therefore you charged them falsly in saying they reject the Scriptures because they deny that which the Scriptures never said In which I said truth for he that chargeth another man with the denyall of Scripture because he denyeth that which the Scripture no where faith I say he chargeth him falsly Now let any man of a sober understanding judge whether any of those Scriptures you produce doe speak any such thing as you would have them to speak and consequently whether you are not found bearing false witnesse of which you accuse others But you reply three things to salve this mistake W. T. That is Scripture which is necessarily deduced from it though it be not in so many words contained in it to prove which you produce the example of Christ who proved the Resurrection of the dead from that Scripture I am the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob. T. S. So then you grant the thing that I said viz. that the Scripture in words doe not say any such thing and therefore you appeal from the expresse Scripture to your own consequences and deductions thence which you make the lame shift when the Scripture will not help you any longer by which to patronize all your miscarriages and deviations from the truth Here is the refuge that all the blinde guides of the Nation make to themselves when as they are driven by plaine Scripture from their strong holds and cannot stand before that which they pretend to be their rule they fly to their own meanings
and interpretations and whoso durst not own them for infallible rules are presently sentenced to be Hereticks and deceivers and denyers of Scripture But will you indeed stand to what you have said viz. that that is Scripture which is necessarily deduced from it though it be not in so many words contained in it Then let me ask you and many others in this Nation who have been Teachers some tenne some twenty some thirty years were those things that you have taught so many years together necessarily deduced from Scriptures if not then by your own confession you have taught falshood if they were then all that you have so taught is infallible for you say it is Scripture and the Scripture is infallible and dare you say that what hath been so Preached by them and you for these twenty years past hath been infallible why doe you not then adjoyne all your Sermons to the Scripture for if necessarily deduced thence they are Scripture and a part of the Saints rule But what a sad condition would many poor soules be in whose small estates would not amount to the purchase of a Bible so voluminous would it be by that time all the necessary deductions that you and others have made from the Scripture these many years past were added to it they must sit down in despaire of ever obtaining that which is their rule and if they could what have they but a pack of confusion and contradictions And whereas you quote Christ his proving the Resurrection of the dead c. I answer that what Christ spake was infallible he neither did nor could erre in what he said and were you as infallible in those meanings and interpretations which you force upon the Scriptures as he was in what he spake from the Spirit of the Lord I should readily close with them as the Oracles of God but till then think it not much that I embrace his interpretations and disowne yours But how long will you deal thus fraudulently with the world in crying out against such as deny your meanings as if they denyed the Scriptures and yet dare not say you are infallible in the meanings you give of them Either say to the people plainly that you are infallible if you so esteem your selves that so they may minde so great a concernment of their soules as is the receiving of your deductions from Scripture for true Doctrine nay for Scripture it selfe or else say you are what indeed you are sufficiently fallible that so they may take liberty of proving both your actions and your Doctrine and not be damned as Hereticks if they condemn that in you which the Scriptures of truth doe condemn Suffer therefore them that must die for themselves and account to the Lord for themselves to interpret for themselves and believe for themselves and not tell them they must credit your deductions from Scripture as the Scripture it self when as you that call your selves Divines doe so much disagree in your own deductions Take six of you that esteem your selves the most able Doctors and a portion of Scripture being given you to interpret shut your selves up in six severall roomes and after some time give your interpretations thereof to one that shall receive them from each of you apart from the rest and perhaps not two of the six shall agree in the same interpretation and would you have poor people adventure their soules on the truth of such mens deductions from Scripture who dwell in such vast confusion and difference in their deductions Next you urge that Scripture Deut. 5.32 33. viz. You shall not turne aside to the right hand or to the left T. S. And doth this Scripture say that the Scripture is the Saints rule or can you without blushing produce it to prove any such thing could Moses intend this in relation to the Scripture the greatest part of which was not then written was all or any of those things that were said and done by the Prophets Jesus Christ and the severall Apostles then recorded if not what a manifest wresting is it of Moses words to say that by them he mea'nt that which was not written till severall hundreds of years after unlesse you exclude all the Prophesies the sayings of Jesus Christ and the Epistles of the severall Apostles from being part of the rule which I suppose you dare not doe in word though you doe in a great measure in your practice W. T. Add here unto that Gal. 6.16 the word rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is expressed T. S. Because the word rule is expressed in Pauls Epistle to the Galathians therefore the Scripture is the Saints rule Is this reasoning like to such as should come from a Minister of the Gospel May not a Heathen Philosopher reason as logically thus the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anglice a Rule is used in Aristotles polliticks therefore Aristotles polliticks are the Saints rule If you did indeed live by that rule the Apostle there speaketh of viz. the new Creature you would not write and act so irregularly as you doe W. T. Saints must walk by one rule or another I ask then what rule is there if Scripture be not the rule c. T. S. I know no new rule nor own none but the same that Abel Encch Noah Abraham Moses David Paul and the rest of the holy men of God walked by to which I much fear you are a great stranger for if the tree may be known by its fruit your fruits declare a great deal of ignorance thereof And by the same touchsone that those holy men proved the light they walked by whether it were of God or no the same and no other doe I own still Next you spend time in taking exceptions against a word inserted in a Querie I put you which was this Because they deny them to be the Saints rule doth it follow they wholly reject them To which you answer W. T. That wholly was not my word it 's of your own putting in and therefore if you doe not like it you must thank your selfe That that I said was that the Quakers in this and their other Doctrins though they doe not professedly reject the Scriptures yet really they doe T. S. I did not say it was your word I only put it in a question to you And therefore by way of just retortion I may say to you you have made work for your self and please your self with descanting upon it when you have done yet let any sober understanding judge whether your speech can intend any lesse then I asked you for when you say indefinitely they reject the Scriptures not quoting any particulars whether can it be any other way taken but that they throw them off in generall Besides that you did intend their rejection of the whole Scripture I prove thus The Scripture as the Saints rule you say they reject now whether is a part of Scripture or the whole the Saints rule If the whole Scripture
the Ministers of Jesus Christ preach't for Tithes or sprinkled Infants The next thing that I asked you in my last was this Where is it written that the Scriptures are the ground of Faith W. T. That the Scriptures are the ground of faith is necessarily deduced from the ensuing Scriptures John 3.33 34. T. S. If the Lord hath not given you up wholly to disingenuity and blindnesse I appeale to that of God in your conscience whether this be an Answer to the Question propounded and whether it be not manifest huxtering and falsifying the Scripture to offer your own deductions for Scripture What shifting and shuffling is here to support the vain imaginations of your own heart Either it is written that the Scriptures are the ground of faith or it is not if it be written why had you not quoted the particular Scripture in which it is written If it be not written why had you not given a plain Answer to my Question and have confessed that it is no where so written However taking your Answer as you have laid it you thereby grant that which I said Viz. That it is no where written that the Scriptures are the ground of faith Notwithstanding which you labour much with your dead deductions and dark reasonings and all to force the Scripture to speak that which it never spake in which paths of cloudy confusion and horrible absurdities I shall not spend time to follow you for the folly and ignorance of your lines will be sufficiently discovered to any enlightned eye by the bare reading of them I shall only point at some of your most monstrous abuses offred to the Scripture and horrible blasphemies against the Lord Jesus Christ by your setting up the letter of Scripture above him and the testimony of his Spirit How wretchedly doe you abuse that place 1 John 5.10 in saying that the record witness there spoken of is the Scripture when as the very Scripture it self giveth you the lye saying that the witness and record there spoken of is within the Saints which record the very next verse there expresseth to be eternall life which God hath given to the Saints And is paper and Ink within the Saints or are they eternall life To this you add W. T. I must first believe and ground my faith on that written word and I must first believe and rest upon that written word and I must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because the written word tells me so T. S. If your conscience be not seared with a hot iron can you read over these lines again and not see the blasphemy that is in them stare in your face Was there not faith and was not Jesus Christ before the written word and yet must that be first believed on and be the ground of faith Is rest only to be found in Jesus Christ the eternall Son of God and yet the written word must be rested on first Did not Abel Enoch Abraham and other holy men of God believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God long before the written word was and could they then believe it because that told them so What starved soules have those Sheep whose Shepheard handeth to them no better food then this Doth not the witnesse of God in your conscience condemne you for horrible iniquity for receiving so much money yearly of your Parishioners and give them in exchange nought but such unsavoury husks as these From this you proceed to put another Scripture upon the Rack to make it confesse that which is neither expressed nor was ever intended in it Ephes 2.20 Yee are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone W. T. There it is said in terminis that the Scripture is a foundation T. S. Was the fear of the Lord before your eyes when you pen'd this Assertion so manifestly contradictory to the truth Is the Scripture so much as mentioned in that whole Chapter and yet is it in so many tearms called there a foundation Is not the foundation there spoken of that same Jesus which was both preach't and believed on by the Prophets and Apostles and had you the impudence to say that it 's the Scripture Could you so confidently give Paul the lye who saith expresly that other foundation then Jesus Christ none can lay and yet you would make Paul himself to lay another Doth not Calvin * Intelligit Jesum Christum cui Testimoniū tulêre Apostoli Prophetae Cal. in locum one of your Comentators with whom you trade for matter to sell to the people as manifestly conclude you to be a lyar who saith in terminis That the Apostle doth in that Scripture intend Jesus Christ to whom the Prophets and Apostles did bear witnesse Nay which is more see the heighth of your deceit doe not you your self say but a few lines after that the foundation on which the Prophets and Apostles built and we build is Christ You tell me in your last papers of my Out-cryes But let me say to you That I shall never cease to cry aloud against such horrible falshood and deceit as this Can you without a blushing conscience accuse others for denying the Scripture and yet you your self in the mean while thus trample it under foot by averring that it saith that in terms which it doth not once mention You proceed labouring in the dark seeking by a coyned distinction which the Scripture knoweth not to prove your own conceptions You say W. T. There 's a double foundation 1 Personall or reall that is Christ 2 Doctrinall or declarative that is the Scripture T. S. If the Scripture be no reall foundation is it then imaginary for that which is not reall is imaginary Is not the Scripture beholding to you for calling it a foundation and yet opposing it to that which is a reall foundation Is the Scripture acquainted with this distinction when you shew it me there I shall speak more to it W T. Now enquire again whether I have made the Scriptures assert that which they no where doe T. S. I am not now to make enquiry touching that a little enquiry will serve the turn to find you a notorious falsifyer of the Scripture in saying it is written so and so when as no such thing is written And I doe still say that were you not past blushing you would cover your face through shame when you reflect on your wresting of the Scripture endeavouring to produce it as a testimony to your false assertions You goe on to distinguish between Gods Testimony and Gods Truth T. S. Have you at once lost your honesty as well as your understanding that you should create an opposition betwixt Gods testimony and Gods truth Is not his testimony truth Thus you jumble things together to fill up your papers just as you multiply words to fill up your houre in the Pulpit whether you speak things true or false
of Christ or is this to discerne the Lords body After this having spoken something touching the Lords Supper you tell me W. T. Your modesty is good in regard of the mystery but the full answering of your Queries requires more leisure then I have and more willingnesse to be informed then you have T. S. What a pittifull lame shift have you found to cover over your ignorance withall had you not better have ingenuously confessed you knew not what to say to the Queries then offer that for an Apology for your silence which will never gaine credit from any that doe examine the truth of things before they receive them will any sober minded man beleeve that you that had leisure to write me three large sheets of paper had not then or have not had since so much spare time as to answer six short Queries And as for your assigning my unwillingnesse to be informed as another cause of your not answering them this is as manifest a pretence as the former for if my unwillingnesse to be informed were a sufficient bar against your answering of my Queries why did you answer severall other of my Queries proposed to you before and after these since I have manifested as much unwillingnesse to be informed in those as in these and that 's just none at all You glance at one of my Queries and say W. T. All Saints witnesse Christ to come though not come T. S. Did not Paul and other Saints witnesse Jesus Christ come when as he lived in them and was in them their hope of glory their strength their-life and their peace From hence you proceed to speak to what I said in my last touching Ministers My declaration touching whom beginneth thus T. S. The Ministers of Jesus Christ who have received their Ministry from him as the holy men of God of old did I own c. W. T. It were some comfort if you would tell us who they be that you judge to be made Ministers according to the will of God in Scripture and that are so pretious to you T. S. By what I have said before touching Idoll Shepheards you might well understand whom I judge to be the true Shepheards But since it will be matter of comfort to you to know more of my mind in this particular I shall be plain in making a discovery thereof unto you I judge those Ministers of Christ who run not before they are sent of him and doe abide in the doctrine of Christ who have received that gift not by expence of money in a University but freely from the Lord by which they are made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the letter but of the Spirit who preach him in words and owne him by their works But I doe not judge those Ministers of Jesus Christ who abide not in his doctrine who instead of being found carefull Shepheards to guard the Sheep are themselves found Wolves persecuting and devouring the sheep who make gaine their godlinesse who covet other mens silver and gold catching those by the throats who put not into their mouths who maintaine themselves and families in pride by the sweat of other mens browes who sue those at the Law that refuse to pay them the tenth of all their labours who take Christs words and the Saints words to gaine a livelihood bypreaching to others what they themselves practise not who tell the people that a heap of stones is the Church and call those things the Ordinances and that the worship of Jesus Christ which never were of his institution These I say I judge and that according to the Scripture to be such as have not received their Ministry from Jesus Christ but are Ministers of Antichrist builders of Babylon but enemies to the glory of Zion and the new Jerusalem T. S. Where is it written that one was made a Minister by ordinary Call and another by an extraordinary W. T. The thing is written Gal. 1.1 Acts 14.23 T. S. Is there so much as mention made in either of those Scriptures of a Call ordinary or extraordinary and have you notwithstanding the confidence positively to assert that it is so written in those Scriptures Must your dreams and drowsie meanings passe for Scripture and then dare you falsly say that it is so written You told me ere while it would be some comfort if I would tell you who they were that I judged Ministers of Jesus Christ Truly not such as belye the Spirit of truth that spake forth the Scriptures by the mouths of the Saints wresting them any way to serve their owne ends and to patronize such practises as have not truth for their bottome Which thing if you did well weigh would be to you no great ground of comfort And whereas you bid me consult my own reason touching the tearms of ordinary and extraordinary Call I answer My reason is not the Scripture nor judge thereof and withall let me tell you that to fly from the Scripture which you would be thought zealously to assert when no foundation can therein be found for notions of mens creatings and instead thereof to advise me to consult with my own reason is plain shuffling Further you say that this distinction of ordinary and extraordinary Call doth not make two doores but two wayes of entring in by the same doore In answer to which I ask you Doth the Scripture know two wayes of entrance into the Sheep-fold Doth that testifie of any more then one way and that the same that is the way is also the doore even Jesus Christ the Righteous And although you passionately deny that distinction to be of your own creating but say that it hath ever been of use in the Churches of God I answer That forasmuch as the spirit of truth hath no where made mention thereof throughout the Scriptures it is but just that you should be charged as the creator of it And if to use your own language you knew and cared what you said you would not proceed in your wonted boldnesse to say that it hath ever been of use in the Churches of God when as it was never used among any of the Churches mentioned in the Scriptures Neither are the words so much as to be found through all the writings of Christ or the Apostles But it doth behoove those that dare not pretend to that Call which they had who were sent by Christ of old to tell the people they have yet another as authentick as that that so though they enter not in by the one true doore yet they may save themselves from the sentence of Thieves and Robbers by erecting a back-door which the Scripture never knew and then stile it with the name of another way through the same doore Hence you proceed on labouring by many words to prove your Call but all to little purpose for when you have said all the Tree will still be known by his fruits and they that are not found doing Christs will
sheeps cloathing but are within ravening Wolves who are such as their Predecessors the Scribes and Pharisees were Painted Sepulchres all glorious without but within full of rottennesse With those that witnesse against such doe I close yea and am ready with thousands more in the Nation to bear my testimony against them even unto bonds and unto death But why doe you not come where these false-witnesse-bearers are as you all them and manifest them to be such that so the People may beware of them You and your brethren of the Clergy have a rare faculty of conquering men in the Pulpits with whom you never spake and riding triumphant over those who never had liberty or opportunity to return you an Answer You are very excellent at confuting men at the greatest distance and damning things and persons for errors and Hereticks in the absence of the concerned And so you meet worse measure to many that are innocent then Pilate and the Jewes did unto Christ viz. by condemning them not only without a cause but before they are heard T. S. I ask did you receive that gift by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery which Timothy did or did you only imitate c. W. T. If Timothy received extraordinary gifts in that way to that we doe not pretend as being proper to those times c. T. S. The gift that I asked you whether you had received was that which Timothy received by the laying on of hands which he was exhorted to stir up which the Scripture doth no where call extraordinary And if this be the gift you pretend not to I thinke in that you doe well not to pretend to that which you never received But why doe you then pretend to Timothy's Ministry if you pretend not to his gift And as for your distinction betwixt that laying on of hands that did confer extraordinary gifts and that which did promote ordinary I disown it as that which the Scripture knoweth not but is a distinction of your own creating It 's usuall with those that call themselves Ministers in the Nation when they practice that which the Scripture alloweth not to help themselves by some groundlesse distinction or other and if they are demanded touching the qualifications of the Ministers of Jesus Christ in Scripture then to disclaime any pretence to them as such as were proper to those times and were not the holinesse patience sobriety meeknesse freedome from the love of filthy lucre and coveteousnesse found in the Ministers of Jesus Christ mentioned in Scripture also proper to those times If you lay claime to them it were well if you would shevv that they are indeed vvithin you by bringing forth more of the fruits of them in your conversations then at this day you doe You call the ceremony of laying on of hands a fit signe of your being appropriated unto God T. S. Many amongst you that received this ceremony are found vvalking in the paths of the Devil being svvearers drunkards revilers and openly prophane and are you not ashamed to say that that ceremony is a signe of their being appropriated unto God And as for the most of the rest of you you are hardly come to so high a pitch of holinesse as the Scribes and Pharisees who drew the blood of Christ in witnessing the outside of the Pot cleansed Is there among the most ignorant any eye so blind to whom your spots of pride coveteousnesse envy oppression are not visible And are you yet such as are appropriated unto God They that are appropriated unto God are found doing the will of God and working the works of God but so are not most of you who set up your owne wills in opposition to the will of God and whose works are not such as were wrought by the holy men of God mentioned in the Scripture You say further touching Imposition of hands that you own it as a very antient ceremony and signe of consecration and of the blessing of God setling on them so consecrated T. S. Doe the Scriptures any where call that Imposition of hands of which we were speaking used on those that were made Deacons a signe of consecration And is it also a signe of the blessing of God setling on them that receive it Hath not imposition of hands been used on those that are enemies to God and goodnesse such as are before mentioned And doth the blessing of God settle on such Is the blessing of God or the woe and the curse to the Idol Shepheard and slothfull Hireling that maketh it his businesse to feed himselfe and to persecute the poor flock of Christ You cannot avoid giving these the blessing also who are for the curse for these also had that mock-shew and empty imitation of laying on of hands by the Bishops and their Presbyters used on them Next you spend some time to prove that laying on of hands is not the foundation of your call To which I shall only say That you esteem it so much the foundation of your call that you judge him no Minister that hath not received it and whoso hath received it you presently esteem him a Minister After this having demanded of you an example in Scripture where any of the Saints or Ministers of Jesus Christ did persecute any man for conscience sake You Answer W. T. That bad Ministers should persecute is no wonder c. T. S. Then from your owne lips we may conclude that they that doe persecute are bad Ministers And then how few are there to be found that are good Is not the blood-thirsty spirit of Saul manifestly seen in the generality of those that call themselves Ministers in the Nation Have not they who conscientiously refused to join with them in their will-worship for severall years past yea and at this day been the objects of their wrath and violence And what have been the obstacle to their execution of as great cruelty on the Saints in these dayes as Saul did on them in those save that as his commission was of equall extent with his will these have had their wills to persecute larger then their commissions And whereas you say that divers who assume to themselves the name of Saints doe persecute the generall company of ordinary Ministers and doe in their scolding Books cast all the reproach they can upon them I Answer They who were Saints of old mentioned in the Scripture did call an Idol Shepheard by his name and a greedy dumb Dog by his name and if any that are called Saints doe at this day call the same persons by the same names I know no reason why you should call it persecution unlesse it were persecution in the Prophets of the Lord mentioned in Scripture who did the same If any there be who charge those with that of which they are not guilty I am no Patron of them but doe judge them Revilers When I ask you in the next place for an Example in Scripture where any of
the Beast in the Nation have onely changed their task-masters and whereas of old they had but one in many miles now they feel the scourge of one almost in every Parish And if the Devil did play his part in these changes he acted like himselfe viz. very subtilly in making a great noyse about the taking away of names and offices but leaving the things and power still standing Neither need you fear the Devils designing the rooting up your Ministry for he was never found lesse then a friend to that which is a support to his own Kingdome and whilest that the works of the flesh are practised and patronized his work is not hindred Certainly the Devil will contribute the help of both his hands to the upholding of that Ministry that can cover over the filthiest lusts both in themselves and others of pride envy coveteousnesse and bitter persecution with the spetious vaile of humane infirmity W. T. I shall wish you so far a Quaker as to fear and tremble to act this designe T. S. Doe you wish me evill or good in wishing me a Quaker if evill you break the law of Christ in wishing that to another you would not have him wish to you if good then it 's a good thing to be a Quaker by your own confession to fear and tremble to act that which is evill And how much doe you contradict your selfe in striving to make it matter of reproach to me that I close with those called Quakers when as I close with no other then those that fear and tremble before the mighty God of Jacob which you cannot but own as a good thing But what is the designe I must fear and tremble to act is it to endeavour the rooting out of your Ministry And why fear and tremble at it Is your Ministry such a precious plant that it may not be pluckt up under the same penalty as was in eating the forbidden fruit are you such holy things that you may not be toucht but it must be esteemed a prophanation This is a fine scar-crow to affright ignorant soules from taking up the skirt of your covering and viewing your hidden abominations that lye under But as for my selfe know that my trust is on the Lord for power to be made able and willing to seal my testimony with my blood against the horrible wickednesse of those that calls themselves the Ministers of Christ but are not who under their faire vizards are full of filthinesse and polution who Preach in words against what they approve by their works and whose hearts are full of blood and violence which they manifest by their bitter persecution of Christ in his innocent lambs W. T. And let me tell you further that if God love this Nation and intend to shew us mercy you shall finde that he will hold these stars in his right hand c. T. S. Stars full of filth and polution that shine not with the pure light of the Lord that serve rather to set the Nation on fire then to lead it to peace and rest the Lord holdeth not in his right hand for he is of purer hands then to touch such unclean things Neither can it be esteemed the fruit of his love and mercy to this or any other Nation but of his sore displeasure that such stars are and doe multiply in the midst thereof And let me also tell you that were not the fals Prophets held faster in the hand of the beast then in the hand of the Lord they would soon drop down from the firmament of this worlds pomp and glory into the bottomlesse pit out of which they did at first arise From hence you proceed to mention five Queries proposed to you in my last to which you returne no direct Answer but instead thereof you offer a heap of impertinent words and many groundles distinctions to which being not to the things spoken to I shall not spend time to make Reply onely by the way I shall note two things with which you falsly accuse me 1. The first is that I inveigh against humane learning To which I answer that I neither did nor doe inveigh against humane learning Let it stand where it should and I am very well content If any man say a tile-stone is not fit for to make a foundation stone for a building must it presently be concluded that he denyeth the use of tile-stones The greatest measure of humane Learning cannot render the carnall man spirituall which you your self are constrained to acknowledge but doe leave him still carnall who is shut out for ever from discerning the things of God The Mysteries of the Kingdome of God are hid from the wise and prudent and revealed unto Babes Paul with all his learning persecuted Jesus Christ as many doe at this day neither did all that which he had gotten at the feet of Gamaliell advance him one step nearer to the knowledge of the Son of God of whom he was as ignorant as the most unlearned person under heaven untill the Lord revealed him unto him The knowledge of the father and the Son to know whom is eternall life can never be gained by study For no man knoweth the Son but the father neither knoweth any man the father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveale him There is nothing more manifest then this that many in this and the by-past Ages which have pretended to seek Christ by much study have and doe imprison and crucifie him where they find him 2 You accuse me with seeking to justifie absurd Tenents To which I shall only say That I seek to justifie no Tenents but such as also the Scripture doth justifie And if you call such absurd Tenents I doe then indeed seek to justifie Tenents that are absurd It 's no rare thing with you that pretend your selves Leaders to the people to esteem any thing an absurd Tenent though never so clearly owned by the Scripture that crosseth your gain or your glory And therefore untill you can prove that whereof you accuse me I shall passe it over as a scandal that you have ready to throw upon any man that hath so much honesty and courage as to bear Testimony against all your false wayes and worships Many more expressions you add touching Learning which doe not at all Answer my Queries repeating again that distinction of an ordinary and extraordinary Call to which the Scripture being wholly a stranger I shall passe it over as that which deserveth no other Answer but to be disowned After this you come to speak of the light within its leading to Justification those that are taught by it upon which you come to suppose a meaning and say That the light they speake of they make to be a light enlightning every one that comes into the world To which I Answer That if they make no more of that light then the Scripture maketh of it they are not therein found erring from the truth Now
patronizing of your sond and unwarrantable practises Your Argument runneth thus If we ought to render to all their dues Custome to whom Custome c. Then Infants ought to be baptized But we ought to render to all their dues Ergo. Which Argument amounteth to as much as this Children ought to be baptized because they ought to be baptized And this is your Scripture by which you throw water on the faces of Infants and call it an Ordinance of Jesus Christ You said before That necessary deductions from Scripture are Scripture and consequently this deduction of yours is Scripture When the letter of Scripture is against you in any of your will-worships then you strive to avoid the stroak of it by giving your own imaginations for an Interpretation and where the Scripture is silent there you make it to speak what will serve your own turns and all the while cry out against such as own the Scripture but disown your corrupt interpretations of it as Hereticks Let me tell you the Lord is now discovering the deceit and hypocrisie of all such as say they speak the word of the Lord when he hath not spoken to them and of all those blind guides that have for many years caused the people to erre You proceed to prove Baptism to be an Infants due but you attempt it by a heap of such lame confounded Arguments that there is neither order nor reason to be found in them First you begin with Infants indefinitely and doe endeavour to prove that they ought to be sprinkled then you change that tearm and put in the Infant of a believing parent and so as you list you fill up your Arguments with such stuffe as you use to bring forth to your people whether such language as the Scripture knoweth or not I perceive is all one to you W. T. The Infant of a believing parent is a holy Child as soon as it is born T. S. Paul saith that he with others were by nature the Children of wrath Ephes 2.3 But he that is holy is no child of wrath and consequently no believers Infant is born a child of wrath Christ saith That which is born of the flesh is flesh You say that which is born of the flesh is holy your proof is 1 Cor. 7.14 To which I answer If the holinesse there mentioned be the foundation on which you build the sprinkling of Infants faces and call it baptism then may a declared unbeliever be baptized also for the same holinesse that the Child had the unbelieving parent had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the same Greek word that is used for sanctifying the unbelieving parent is used for the holinesse of the Child which you might have considered before you had so rashly asserted the holinesse there spoken of to be a sufficient ground for Infant-baptism And will you say that the declared unbelieving parent had a right to baptism being holy with the same sanctification the Child had Therefore either grant that the holinesse there spoken of doth not render the Child capable of baptism or else doe not barbarously with-hold the same from the unbelieving Parent who might justly claim the same priviledge as you call it by virtue of the same holinesse You goe on and call Baptism W. T. That mark by which Gods people are outwardly distingished from heathens and the initiating seale of the Covenant which declareth an Infant to be one of Gods and solemnly putteth him into the number of Gods people T. S. Many that are Drunkards Swearers and Whoremasters and professed Enemies of the Lord have received this mark and call you these Gods people If so who are the Heathen they are distinguished from by this mark Is a drunken swearing covetous prophane English-man by this mark distinguished as one of the people of God from a drunken swearing covetous prophane Indian in America as a heathen Dare you rank all the wicked of the Land who are the people of the Curse and who are by expresse Scripture shut out from the Kingdome of God among the number of Gods people This is the saplesse chaffe with which you feed your poor blind people who it seemeth doe seldome seriously scan what you confidently assert to them in the Pulpit for truth if they did surely you would blush and tremble to expose such pittifull ware to sale to them as this is This is that Orthodox doctrine which whosoever doth not professe subjection to must presently be damned as an Heretick Doth the Scripture any where say that the sprinkling water on the face of an Infant is the initiating seale of the Covenant But you are priviledged to put the stamp of Divine authority upon your own irrationall deductions and sottish inventions and call them Scripture W. T. Could the poor Infant that is barbarously kept from baptism and left like a Heathen but plead its right no believing parent would ever be able to answer the with-holding of that Ordinance and priviledge from it T. S. Could the Infant plead his own right no better then you doe for him his Plea would soon be answered And could the poor Babe speak as well with his tongue as his tears he would impeach him for a barbarous Priest who durst cruelly throw cold water on his face in the frosty weather sometime to the hazard of his life and call it his priviledge And as for your calling this sottish invention an Ordinance either produce that Scripture which calleth it so or else be not angry if I say That it 's a shame for one that calleth himself a Minister of the Gospel to be found with a lye in his mouth W. T. While therefore you would fasten this upon Ministers that they practically deny the Scripture either you must bring better grounds or else fear the ninth Commandement T. S. If to practice that which the Scripture requireth not be to deny the Scripture then I doe still say That you and others that would be esteemed Ministers of Jesus Christ doe deny it for that you doe practice many things which the Scripture owneth not against which your deceit and hypocrisie I doe and ever shall bear my testimony and not fear the ninth Commandement They ought to fear that Commandement who make Paul and Peter and other the Saints in Scripture to speak that which they never intended and wrest their words to Patronize those things they never practised Thus have I made my Reply to that which concerneth your practice in preaching for Tithes and sprinkling Infants Which Reply you may if you think good shew to your Disciples in the Country to whom I am very credibly informed you have falsly and very wickedly suggested That I deny the Scriptures And let them or as many of them as are sober-hearted judge whether you or I deny the Scripture and let your shame and folly be laid open before them in that you cry The Scripture The Scripture and yet are not able to produce one Scripture to prove that ever