not actually doing some work looks liker the objection of a man sleeping who knows not what he saith than of one awake for by the same way it might be said that Faith is not necessary since men do no more actually believe than do good works when they are sleeping My argument deduced from Heb. 12 14. Matth. 7 21. Iohn 13 17. 1 Cor. 7 19. Revel 22 14. he sayes proves the necessity of Works unto final Salvation but not to Iustification and if it do so it doth the business unles he will say that full and perfect justification is not sufficient to Salvation My answer to their first objection he observs but replies not to the second answering what they urge from Rom. 3 20. by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified which I shew is to be understood of works don and not by the Grace of God he answers that such are no good works at all But may not a man do some of the works which even the Moral Law commands such as not to committ murder theft or adultery without the Grace of God Hath not he confessed as much of some Heathens whom he judgeth not to have had the Grace of God and will he say these works are not materially good albeit not formally with a respect to any advantage as to Salvation they receive by them And though it should be confessed that all is not always requisite to be antecedent to justification which falls-out to be antecedent to Salvation yet the question is Whether there be any thing absolutly requisit to be antecedent to salvation which is not also absolutly requisit to be antecedent to justification If not then if works be absolutly necessary or so far as they are absolutly necessary to Salvation they must also be so to justification If he say other ways then as I observed before full and perfect justification according to him must not be esteemed sufficient to Salvation Pag 322. n. 42. He comes to prove the best works even those wrought by the Spirit in the Saints to be impure which before also he had affirmed pag. 307 there he would infer we say the same of good works because I affirm that works done by man's own strength are polluted but it will not thence follow we believe Works done by the Grace of God to be such But for this impurity of good works he marks Psal. 143 2. 130 3. Iob 9 16. none of which speak one word of good works thus understood then he mentions Esai 64 6 all our righteousness is as filthy rags but silently passeth over how I shew their own Authors as Calvin and Musculus c. affirm this not to be understood of Evangelical righteousness and himself overturns what he urges from this affirming that we ought not to call the work of the Spirit of God in his People filthy rags but if they were so they might be so called and yet he overturns it further by confessing some works wrought by the Apostles were undefiled then all the works wrought by the Spirit in the Saints can not be said to be impure which is their assertion And the instance of clean water passing through an unclean pipe doth not hold which is their great probation He will not contend with what I say about the word Merit neither hath he much against my conclusion in this matter yet that he may end this chapter like himself he concludeth it with a gross lye and railing saying I affirm a man may be regenerated without the least help of the Grace of God which as I wholly abhorr so there can not be a greater falshood alledged upon me Section Ninth Wherein his Fourteenth Chapter Of PERFECTION is considered ¶ 1. I come now to his XIV Chapter Of Perfection where after he has repeated my eighth Proposition he reckons it confidence in me to accuse their answer in their larger Catechism of speaking against the power of Divine Grace which saith that man is not able by any Grace of God received in this life to keep the commands of God But in stead of justifying this assertion he saith they are not ashamed of it then he recurreth a little to his Author Hicks according to his custom and falls a railing where among other great charges he accuseth the Quakers of Reproaching Revileing Calumnies Scolding and the like also pag. 329. speaking of bridling the tongue But he of all men should have been silent in this who is such a Railer in the Superlative degree that some of his own faith who have bad enough thoughts of the Quakers have said that he not only equals them but exceeds them in railing of his Railing in this chapter the Reader may further observe pag. 332. 345-349 Here as in his former chapter to enervat the perfection asserted by me he brings forth his old and often repeated Calumny as if I asserted this perfection to proceed meerly from the Light of Nature affirming the Light pleaded for by me p. 327. to be such as never came from the Grace of God to be flesh blindness enmity to God natural sensual c. affirming that I say Man is regenerated sanctified justified though not one ray of Divine Illumination hath shined into his Soul nor one act of Grace has reached either his intellect will or affection to cause this change the like p. 331. all which is most abominably false and never either believed or asserted by me and therefore all he concludes upon this malitious assertion falls to the ground and needs no further answer Next he bestows much pains p. 328 329. to shew from the Hebrew and Greek word that perfection is sometimes understood of sincerity and integrity and Perfection in these respects he thus defines in regeneration the whole man is changed so that he is now born a new creatur sanctified wholly in mind heart spirit affections Conscience memory and body though but in a small measur or degree and again yeelding impartial obedience through the Grace of God unto all God's precepts waving none But if he will stand by what he here asserts I will desire no more albeit he falsly say in the following page that all this will not satisfie us for I would desire the next time he would reconcile this with breaking the commands daily in thought word and deed To prove this he insists in contradiction to what he said before p. 330. n. 7. and his proofs are 1. because in Christ's house there are diverse syzes and degrees of persons as babes or little children young men old men and this is not denied but the thing he should have proved is that none of those degrees can be without daily breaking God's commands His second proof is yet more rare Christians are exhorted to grow in Grace to put-off the old man which is corrupt to put-on the New Man to mortifie their members Very good but is to break the commands daily in thought word and deed the way to grow
plead so tenaciously for the other Let him give a reason for this next and by the same we shall answer what he urges from this but he must remember it is not enough for him barely to say these were extraordinary and are ceased and the other ordinary and remain but he must prove it by plain Scriptur or else be justly rejected as but begging the question as he doth pag. 394. where he supposeth there were only 13 Apostles or perhaps 14 if Barnabas be accounted one since he confesseth the word signifies one sent and therefore whoever is sent is properly an Apostle Thus also will his other argument return upon his own head for since such as he saith were settled and ordained in the Church by Christ and his Apostles how come they to walk so contrary to Christ's Order as to want yea and to judge such unnecessary in their Church And as for all the Scripturs cited by him to shew the distinction of such Church Officers from other Members they are not to the purpose against me who deny not but Members were to be distinguished but yet that proves not that any Member was barred from these exercises when called by the Spirit thereto which is the thing in question As for his saying that the Apostle is speaking of the Church 1 Cor. 12. as an Organical body if he means the Apostle is comparing the Church to a Body to which it answers in many respects I deny not but if he say that it answers in all I leave him to prove it however then if we make application of it as the Apostle illustrateth it their Church will prove a very lame one for in this Body as I. B. himself observs the Apostle names Apostles and Prophets and if we may suppose that these as being the most eminent are the chiefest Members as the eyes and ears of the Body their Church that wanteth these must be blind and deaf And whereas he would make my saying that the Apostle meaned here different operations ridiculous he but sheweth his own folly for if the Apostle point at different Offices they will not only want Apostles Prophets and Evangelists but a great many more for the Apostle nameth also verse 28. miracles gifts of healing helps governments diversitys of tongues c. these then must all be distinct Offices also how come they to want them in their Church or how can they plead for these they have more than for such as are placed nothing less by way of distinct Officers than they Yea all the several titles enumerated by him pag. 390. will prove the same way distinct Officers and how came they to cashier all these and reduce them to so few a number By what authority and Scriptur warrant do they this But I would enquire at him what an Office is if it be not an operation of the Spirit more particularly working in some persons under such a designation And this is proved by the coincidency of these Offices in one person which he confesseth that some are thence more particularly called to the work of the Ministery I acknowledge and he observs it That God will move none to violat the Order established in his house I deny not but that to move some at times to speak is a violation of that Order I deny since the Apostle saith the contrary 1 Cor. 14 31. we may all prophesy In answer to which he supposeth this is restricted to Prophets but the Text saith all not all Prophets albeit it were no absurdity to suppose all the Lord's People to be Prophets in this sense as wel as they are said to be Kings and Priests and the words following shew it that all may learn and all may be comforted for it were non-sense to understand this with a restriction And therefore his bare asserting that this contradicts the plain scop of the place is no argument for men of reason who resolve not to build their faith upon his meer say so pag. 395. he thinketh my acknowledging that some are more particularly called to the work of the Ministery than others is not enough because they are not to exhort but when moved by the Spirit and others when moved may as wel as they so there is no difference That Ministers ought not to preach or exhort without the Spirit 's motion or assistance will come afterwards to be proved and to suppose God can not or will not move any but Ministers by his Spirit to exhort were to limit him which is presumptuous in us to do but in this appeareth the difference that we confess many may and know thousands among us whom we acknowledge to be good men and sufficiently endued with the Spirit towards the work of regeneration in themselvs and brotherly love and care to their brethren who never find themselvs moved to speak a word in publike and there are others whom God calleth to make teaching and the oversight of the Church so their constant business that they are less engaged in worldly affairs than the generality of those called Clergy-men even among I. B's Brethren and therefore are owned and honoured and so far as need requires maintained by the Church But to say that no man ought without he be thus particularly called at any time speak in a publik assembly since we say that they ought not but when moved by the Spirit is not only to accuse us but imperiously bind up God from moving with his Spirit whom and when he pleaseth and this being applied will answer his querys pag. 369. where n. 14. he affirms that to suppose Ministers may use an honest trade is to account the work of the Ministery a light business But this is to account it no more a light business than the Apostle did who recommended working with their hands for a livelyhood to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Act. 20 34 35. giving them his own example in so doing But they indeed must have small experience of a true Ministery who do not know a man may be better qualified to discharge it by being inwardly exercised in the Spirit and instructed thereby than by all the labour and study they can derive from their books and perhaps it may be true which he after affirms that such who bring their preaching always out of books will find little time to follow another trade but it seems such Preachers are uncapable to follow the Apostle's exhortation above mentioned and therefore we will justly conclude them to be no true Gospel-Ministers ¶ 5. That he may be like himself he begins his 20 chapter of Woman-Peachers with railing saying the Quakers are against all the appointments and ordinances of Christ then he goeth-on at a high rate enveighing against the liberty of Womens speaking from Paul's words 1 Cor. 14 34. as being against the Law as being contrary to modesty and shamefacedness urging pag. 398. the Apostle's authority in writing that epistle which we deny not and then he urgeth against us
but removing of the filth as wel as of the guilt is the act of God's Mercy and Grace as saith the Apostle Tit. 3 5 6. and yet we are saved and consequently justified according to his Mercy by the washing of Regeneration since this is the fruit of the Grace and Spirit of God freely given us And therefore it is not enough for him pag. 302. to affirm that I pervert the Apostle's words 2 Cor. 5 19 20. God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself upon this bare supposition that this World is only understood of the Elect for if this reconciliation had been absolute and not in part only that is a readyness on God's part to be reconciled with them if they repent which I affirm to what purpose should the Apostle as an Embassadour intreat them to be reconciled there needed no intreaty to that which was already done neither are his meer assertions to this p. 303. any answer It is strange that to prove that all for whom Christ dyed are certainly made alive one time or other he brings these words And that he dyed for all that they which live should not hence forth live unto themselvs but unto him which dyed for them c. for he doth not say here that all he dyed for are made alive but that they that are made alive should so live neither doth the saying Christ has born the sins of all in his own body on the tree import any being actually freed of the guilt of sin untill they receive the condition as above be ye therefore reconciled unto God But he overturns what he earnestly pleaded for before p 310. n. 23. where he saith they owne not that reconciliation was so perfected by Christ on earth that there is nothing to be done by man in order to his actual justification if so then no man is actually justified untill something be done by him and this doing imports a work so here a work of man is necessary for justification and this is rather more than I say And if something be to be don on man's part ere actual justification be obtained then that which is don by Christ before must be only a potential justification and what is this more than a capacity of being justified which yet he batters against in me and yet he must confess this to distinguish himself from the Antinomians whose opinions albeit he divers times disclaims yet he shews not how he can liberat himself from it and therefore in contradiction to what is here observed both his assertions and proofs resolve in the Antinomian doctrin and concludes for it as much as for him which I might therefore pass all as impertinent But for instance his great example of a Cautioner or Surety used often as pag. 299. 310 311. for when a Cautioner pays a man's debt for him so soon as he lays down the money which is a sufficient intimation to him to whom the debt is due the person for whom it is paid is really acquited albeit he have done no act yea know not of it and this as I observed before himself acknowledgeth in the application saying p. 304. that some who are united to Christ by Grace and surely such are justified can neither see it nor acknowledge it So then if this example of his Surety hold true men are justified before they believe as say the Antinomians and therefore all the Scripturs brought by him p. 308. to prove that Christ made a proper real and full satisfaction in the behalf of men will conclude for the Antinomians as much as for him whereas p. 314. he looks upon it as a calumny to say they speak not of a real justification for he concludes p. 312. that imputative justification is real He argues for the Antinomians also since he accounts this imputation to be only of righteousness wrought without men by Christ in his own person for if by this imputation men be really justified then they are as much or at lest as really justified before they believe as after since faith is an act of man's will and no such thing according to him can have place in Justification and yet to go round he saith p. 308. that they say not that God justifieth any remaining in their sins But do they not say so since taking his opinion the safest way and furthest from Antinomians he concludeth a man justified in the act of conversion and such he supposes to have been great sinners yea and that they may not be purged from them many years after yea and how can they if they must sin daily as they say in thought word and deed of which more hereafter are not such then remaining in their sins according to them justified Pag. 306. N. 16. he would infer a contradiction upon me from saying good works are necessary as causa sino qua non for this he saith contradicts my saying We are justified by the inward birth and not by our works seing works being but the consequence of that birth is but the effect even a causa sine qua non must be before the effect on which he also insists p. 319. n. 38. But this contradiction is founded upon the supposition that this birth is brought forth without good works which I deny seing regeneration is a work of the Spirit in us by which we are justified that is really made just and the works which proceed therefrom are but a consequence of it And now as to his proofs and also his examining of mine they are inserted pag. 204. n. 13. where he saith that the redemption of Christ is a far other thing and hath far other effects than to make men capable of salvation even remission of sins But I never denied but that it brought remission of sins to such as embrace and receive it neither do the Scripturs cited by him prove more 2 Cor. 5 19. Dan. 9 24-26 Col. 1 19 20. Ephes. 1 11-15 Ioh. 17 2. Heb. 9 12 13. 2 Cor. 1 v. 20. none of which speak of the reconciliation made by Christ to be in itself more than procuring a capacity of Salvation other ways than as received and laid hold-on by believers and when it is spoken of with respect to such I never denied but it was more for the capacity is brought unto action he addeth the very texts cited by my self make against me Eph. 2. 15. he dyed to make in himself of twain one new man so making peace ver 13. but now in Christ Iesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ asking was this only a capacity of coming near but the Apostle here speaks of those who had received and not resisted the benefit of that capacity And whereas he saith 1 Joh. 4 10. the Son of God's being said to be a propitiation for our sins is more than a meer possibility of friendship But doth not the same Apostle say he is a propitiation for the whole World yet
led by a spirit of error Then the Quakers err in affirming inward and immediat Revelation to be the ground and foundation of true faith But the Quakers are led by a spirit of Error Therefore c. Which is just as if I should argue thus If I. B. be a Knave a manifest Lyar and Calumniator Then he is not a true Minister of Christ nor fit to write in Religious matters But I. B. is such Therefore c. Is not this a notable way of arguing and a quick way to dispatch controversies What saith Rob. Macquair Doth not this wel become his singularly acute solidly learned and truely gracious Author Postscript pag. 559. ¶ 3. The next thing to be considered is his stating the controversy where according to his custom he all along beggs the question for having writ down his opinion and taken it for granted without offering to prove it he goes on and builds thereon without more difficulty as if it were not to be further questioned This appears in pag. 20. 28. 29. 30. 34. 35. 36. 37. 40. 43. 44. in which places he states his opinion of the Immediat Revelation of the Spirit as not being such as presents any Truths to be believed objectively but only in removing the Vail of the Eye of the Understanding and spiritually Illuminating the Mind and Working effectually upon the Heart to embrace and receive the Truth already revealed and proposed in the Scripturs Now for not using this distinction and holding revelation in this his sense he greatly blames me as jumbling things together and darkning and prejudging the Reader and bestows upon me ever and anon many railing words with the repetition of which I will not trouble the Reader And yet notwithstanding this accusation in contradiction of himself he cites me pag. 42 28 taking notice of this very distinction as used by some and also refuting it Surely the man must have miserably forgot himself and will verifie the Proverb Lyars should have good memorys Next since he judges I err in not holding this manner of Revelation and that he builds all his superstructur upon it as the Truth he should have offer'd to prove it to be such for since he saith they willingly grant to these Scripturs noted by me as many as are led by the Spirit of God c. Rom. 8 9-14 together with 1 Joh. 2 27. Joh. 6 45. Joh. 14 16 17. By which Scripturs he can not deny but the manner of the Apostles being led as wel as of all Christians is included since some of them were directed to the Apostles particularly in all which there is no ground for his distinction and assertion It is not said The Comforter that I will send shall lead you the Apostles immediatly by proposing Truth to be believed objectively to you and this shall be accounted extraordinary but after you it shall only lead other Christians by illuminating their Understandings and that shall be the ordinary leading And since then it is a rule granted by all that we must hold to the plain words of Scriptur unless an urgent necessity force us to the contrary he should shew us where this necessity lies and prove his assertion to be the true and genuin meaning of the words and that we ought not to take them as we do according to their plain and naked signification and import For I would willingly hear any ground from Scriptur of this natur of Extraordinary and Ordinary Revelations as pertinent to this debate for albeit things extraordinary may be reveal'd to some and not to others that only respects the things revealed not the manner of Revelation For a man telling me extraordinary things and ordinary albeit the things may differ in their natur yet neither my manner of hearing nor his of speaking do thence necessarily differ ¶ But perhaps the man doth apprehend that what he saith pag. 20. 30. 31. 40. 44. 45. is some proof of his assertion which if he do the Reader may easily observe his mistake where he would insinuat as if the manner of Immediat Revelation by the Spirit asserted by me rendred all other means even those of Teaching and Exhorting which are appoynted by God useless and took away all obligations of obeying the commands of God conveighed by others And yet he taketh notice pag. 23. that I acknowledge other means of Knowledge as profitable neither has he ever heard me deny but men are obliged to obey the commands of God through one another as wel as in themselves as the children of Israel were those of Moses and the Prophets and the Christians those of Christ and his Apostles But I suppose he will affirm with me that no man's Obedience to any command will avail him any thing unless upon inward belief and conviction that the thing commanded is of God since Whatsoever is not of Faith is sin If he say that albeit I do not deny such an obligation yet it necessarily follows from my Principle That this is untruely alleged will easily appear since I suppose he will not deny but the rest of the Apostles who were alive when Paul's Epistls were writen were obliged to receive them and obey them as the dictats of the Spirit yea and were benefited by them and so the Apostle Paul by others albeit on both sides he will acknowledge them to have had such revelations as he accounts Immediat and Extraordinary And so we see that to have such revelations and yet to be mediatly instructed are not inconsistent nor do they render one another useless and indeed to affirm they do so is rather a presumptuous accusing of God who has appynted both in their order for the edification of his Church than a refuting of such as assert them Such are his reasonings pag. 45. Besides that this objection may be easily refuted for since I. B. affirms as particularly pag. 42. that the Scriptur is a compleat Rule in all things concerning Faith and manners in reference to Salvation might it not be said that this takes away the use of all Commentarys and expositions and other books especially since he and his Brethren do with all affirm that it is clear and intelligible to all in things essential to Salvation let him shew how this is weaker as to him than the other as to me With the like presumption he blasphemously asserteth that even these revelations which he himself calleth and acknowledgeth to be inward immediat and extraordinary are uncertain for this reason because many men have been deluded by the Devil on which he also insists in the following page And pag. 34. 48. where he sums up his matter in this question How comes that others pretending to Revelation as much as I have been deceived But as I said before How comes that others pretending to be led by the Scriptur as the Rule as much as I. B. have been deceived since the Scriptur declares nothing but Truth But how silly this is I have above shewn and
he prove that he saith nothing But his mistake here is greater than he is aware of for the Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies intus within and I desire him to shew me in the New Testament where it signifies among All the Scripturs brought by him are impertinent none of which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in this place but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He confesseth p. 280. the Calvinists make Grace an irresistible power but saith that they have reason so to do because the Scriptur speaketh of Grace as a drawing and teaching for that may draw which draweth not irresistibly And because I say the Papists Socinians and Arminians deny this little seed and manifestation of Light to be that supernatural and Saving Grace of God given to all to Salvation he bringeth two passages of the Arminians wherein they confess the Spirit of God works immediatly upon the will giving it strength to believe desiring me then to tell him wherein I differ from Arminians but will my agreeing with Arminians in this prove I differ not from them doth not himself agree with the Arminians in saying as he affirms they do that the power of believing is conferred by irresistible grace And if he agree with them as wel as I may not I ask him the question as pertinently as he doth me wherein differs he from them Has not he himself affirmed that as to our doctrin of the Saving Substantial Seed being in all pag. 226. neither Arminians nor Socinians ever spake of it what then needs he ask me wherein we differ from them But it seems he that phancyeth men can dream waking as he sometimes speaks of the Quakers has been in that postur when he wrot this which helped him to conclude this chapter with railing ¶ 9. Now I come to his XII chap entituled by him Of the Salvation of Heathens without hearing the Gospel he should have added outwardly that is the thing in debate but as in the title so in the chapter he beggs the question and that he may begin with railing as he ends it with a flood of it p. 292. he faith to say men may be saved without the outward preaching must be true with this Quaker though the Apostle saith the contrary for this citing Rom. 10 14. Eph. 2 12. 1 Cor. 1 20 21 22. all which say nothing contrary to my assertion unless by the hearing there he prove is meaned only outward hearing And what though the Apostle say to the Gentiles that they are aliens to the common-wealth of Israel and that by wisdom they knew not God and that the preaching of the Gospel was foolishness to them All this may be faid of some living in and esteemed members of the Visible Church who have the advantage of the outward preaching and therefore it can not prove that the want of this takes-away the possibility of Salvation To that of Peter I agree Act. 4 12. that there is not Salvation in any other c. but it follows not therefore that none can partake of this Salvation without the outward knowledge himself overturns this conclusion by granting infants and deaf persons may Pag. 287. To my argument that since the Gospel is preached to every creatur they may be saved by it he saith a may be will not evince a shall be but I said only may be saved not shall be saved and if it evince that it doth my business That some have been saved without it himself acknowledges in the example of Iob. Pag. 288. To overturn my using of the Gospel's being preached to every creatur he refers to his former answer to this place and so do I to my reply Beza's sense to whom he refers me movs me no more than his doth but when it is agreable to Truth Next he comes to answer my argument drawn from Tit. 2 11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeard to all men and for answer he will have all here not to be understood universally but with a restriction alledging it is my part to prove it but that needs no more proof than to prove that Iohn Brown signifies Iohn Brown and for all his pretended skill in the rule of disput he is under a mistake To take it universally is to take it as the common and proper signification of it so by the rule of all Commentators we are to hold the words of Scriptur so untill by solid reasons we be moved to the contrary and therefore it is his part that denies it to give the reason that all sometimes is taken with a restriction I deny not that therefore it s so taken here doth not follow That the Gospel is said to be preached by men outwardly I deny not but that therefore it is only so and never preached but when outwardly by the ministery of men is no conclusion himself acknowledges in the examples of Iob who he saith was taught by God without Scriptur His other explications upon this place are his meer assertions not to the business he calleth it upon the credit of his own affirmation false and childish pedantry to say they take all for the lesser part because they take it indefinitly while yet they understand that indefinit number to be the lesser part but do they not take the Whole World 1 Iob. 2 2. for the far lesser part of the world which is yet more absurd To my argument taken from Rom. 5 18. where it is said as something came upon all to condemnation so something is come upon all to justification which shews the last all to be of as large extent as the first which they confess is universally taken he saith this will prove more viz that all men are and shall be saved because judgment came actually upon all to condemnation by Adam's fall but this is only his own assertion the word judgment is not in the text and Beza's putting in reatus or guilt proveth not it ought to be so whatever he do we account not Beza infallible and therefore reject his sense untill he prove it agreable to Scriptur nor yet his enlargements afterwards upon the place because alledged without probation Pag. 285. n. 5. He accounteth my citing Esai 49 6. where Christ is said to be given for a Light to the Gentiles impertinent because albeit the Gentiles are not excluded from the dispensation of the Gospel it will not follow that such as hear not of Christ can be saved as wel as such as are brought within the Church But this answer is founded upon the supposition that I affirm that any are saved which are not within the Church Catholik or universal which is false And how men may be of the Church who want outward preaching will after appear I think no sober man will deny supposing Salvation possible to the Gentiles without outward preaching that it were blind charity to judge some of them have been saved for upon that
is through the Light of Christ or Grace of God that is by Christ which he acknowledged did lead men not to murder not to steal not to commit adultery which he confessed also was just holy and good And so it seems according to him that which is holy just and good not to murder not to steal not to commit adultery is no part of true holiness yea is anti-evangelik and contrary to the Gospel Now if I would insist after his method having much more reason than he I might at large shew what a Pagan-Gospel to purpose his must be that is contrary to honesty chastity and innocency albeit I deny not but the true Gospel teacheth more than the height of meer Morality ¶ 2. He beginneth his 17 chapter entituled of a Ministerial Call after the repetition of some part of my 10. Thesis with his old reiterated calumny and false supposition that I affirme men to be called and qualified to the Ministery by the Light of Nature and to this purpose to help him to fill up the paper he insisteth pag. 369 370 371. which being false all that is built upon it falls to the ground In this chapter also he is very liberal of his Railing Take one instance pag. 372. where he saith That the Quakers are Pagan Preachers who know not the Gospel but are sworn enemies to it and plain subverters of it and all the Ordinances thereof And pag. 378. he saith They are a company of the most desperat antichristian opposers of Christ and all his appointments that ever the Sun shined on More of this kind may be seen pag. 374 375 376. Pag. 366. n. 3. He saith when I speak of a true call to the Ministery I must suppose Ten things which he after enumerateth and albeit I judg not my self obliged to follow him in such excursions yet for the Reader 's satisfaction let it be observed That I deny not but what I speak here is with a relation to a visible Church which is his first supposition Secondly That I acknowledge that in it there must be a standing Ministery which is necessary and this is his second and third That I acknowledge this to be an Institution of Jesus Christ which is his fourth That None ought to take this upon him without being lawfully called thereunto which is his fifth That also None may take upon them that work but such as are called to the Ministery so as to exercise it constantly as exercised by Ministers yet a man may when particularly called by the Spirit thereunto do that which is the work of a Minister which his doing pro hic nunc maketh him not a Minister properly and this is his sixth That neither the Work nor Office is common to all the Members so that they may not do it simply as Members which is his seventh and eighth That a Call differeth from Gifts and Qualifications which is his ninth And lastly That there are some Rules in the Scriptur if he understand general Rules as I suppose he doth which difference a true Call from a false which is his tenth supposition Now wherein I here disagree from other Quakers or my self as he insinuateth he may be pleased next time to inform I might pass what he saith in the next paragraph pag. 368. concerning the several sorts of Calls to the Ministery as containing no answer to me were it not to shew that he there but begs the question and contradicts himself 1. He begs the question while he supposeth that the approbation and concurrence of men in a call hinders the cail from being immediat and that there is no immediat call now which he all affirms without proof 2. Of Mediat Calls he saith some are Rare and Singular when a Church is erecting and another Ordinary according to the Rules set down in the Word So it seems the Rare and Singular Call which is usually ascribed to that of the first Reformers was not according to the Rules prescribed in the Word But if such Rules be set down by what authority without the Word can he affirm they may be dispensed with if he contradict not his own Principles 3. He saith there must be an In ward Call which is the signification of God's mind of his calling and appointing him to the Ministery This is good and it is false that he saith pag. 372. that this will not satisfie us Yet he can not stand to this but contradicts it pag. 372. speaking of my words thus What meaneth he by this must be called by the Spirit Is this an inward Inspiration or Enthusiasme saying to the man he must go preach We reject all such phancies c. But is not an inward call signifying God's mind to a man of his calling him to the Ministery an inward inspiration telling him he must go preach Or can an inward call be without an inward inspiration The Reader may judg of these inconsistencys As to his question pag 369. Whether to be instructed by the inward Vertue and Power of God in the heart be so necessary to a Minister that he can not be without it I say it is and the Reader may observe how he is pinched while himself is loath to say otherwise pag. 370. yet at last he saith he dare not say it referring to his learned Mr Durham as he calls him and giving the example of Judas of which hereafter However we see according to him that not only one who wanteth holiness but even a Devil may and ought to be esteemed heard and obeyed as a Minister of Christ and that all they judge needfull in the Call and Qualification of a Gospel Minister may agree to the Devil himself nor can they be sure but their Ministers may be all Devils for ought they know It is false that he addeth in this page 370. that I agree with Socinians and Arminians in affirming that whoever understands the Truth of the Gospel and are able to instruct others may and have right to teach This I no-where affirmed and do wholly deny whatever knowledge or ability a man have to instruct by reason of his gifts either natural or acquired that he ought to take upon him to teach without being particularly called thereunto and therefore the Scripturs he brings against such as say so are not to the purpose against me To my first argument he confesseth that it proveth the necessity I speak of to make a man a real upright and sincere Minister before God but that any that are not real and upright are to be esteemed Ministers at all or heard as such I deny and remains for him to prove Why are we so often forbidden to hear false Teachers And that this is not only with respect to teaching false doctrin the Apostle shews 2 Tim. 3 v. 5. where he exhorts to turn away from such as have the form of godlyness only which can not consist with false doctrin To my second Argument mentioned pag. 372. he confesseth what
1 Tim. 2 11. alledging that its being said Adam was first formed and then Eva and Eva being first in the transgression infers that Womens preaching is against the Law of Nature and that this silence is imposed upon Women as a just judgment for Eva's transgression for this last inference we have nothing but his affirmation to the former I answered in my Apology shewing that these words of the Apostle can not be taken absolutely and without limitation since the same Apostle giveth rules how Women should behave themselvs in their praying and preaching in the Church But he reckons that this is for me to make the Apostle contradict himself while this is his own case who takes the Apostle's words without limitation else there is not the least contradiction yea his desiring them to ask their husbands at home shews that it can not be taken universally seing all women have not husbands And for his saying that what the Apostle saith chap. 11 v. 5. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered c. is not to be meant of their carriage when they are praying themselvs but when they are present at others doing of it this is his bare affirmation without proof contrary to the express words of the Text which saith every woman that prayeth c. not when she heareth another pray And by this way it might be as easily affirmed where the Apostle in the same place speaks of mens praying with their heads covered that it is not when they pray themselvs but when they hear others And that there must be a limitation he confesseth saying that the Lord made use of Prophetesses of old and that he is free to make use of whom be will If so then if the Lord do so now who dare plead against it Yea the practice of 1. B.'s brethren doth contradict this Scriptur if they will not admit a limitation for will he deny but heretofore at Presbyterian meetings where sometimes 20 and 30 and more have been together Women have both spoken and prayed yea been invited and urged to do so by eminent preachers there present And is not that properly a Church where Christians are met together to worship God and edify one another If he say this was only private I answer However Privat it was it was still a Church for it is not the greatness of the number that makes the Church since the fewer number may more properly sometimes be esteemed the Church than the greater And if he take the Apostle's words absolutely without limitation it will exclude Women from speaking in any assembly met for Religious worship and exercise unless he will be so superstitious as to ascribe the Church ship to the old Popish Mass-house walls and if so it will trouble him to prove there were any such in Corinth used by Christians when the Apostle wrot to them so as to think that if women speak not there they do not speak in the Church And yet how comes it that by the Acts of the General Assembly whoores are not only permitted but constrained to speak in the most publick Assemblys and that in a place allotted for them no less eminent than the Pulpit Sure if such Women may there speak of their sins and tell how they have been tempted of the Devil good Women moved by the Spirit of God may tell what God has done for them in preserving them from such evils Neither will it serve to say that it is not authoritative speaking for the Apostle's words are I permit not a Woman to speak not I permit her not to speak authoritatively for the words added nor to usurp authority over the man is a distinct precept Women may usurp authority over their men who never offer to preach in the Church as also some may speak there who may be very subject to their husbands Besides they permit women to sing publickly which is a speaking and actual part of God's worship Now there is not a word in the Text of these exceptions more than the other and let him prove them if he can from the Scriptur without making way for Womens preaching He confesseth pag. 400. that Women may be instrumental in conversion privatly but not publickly and for his saying he will suspect the conversion that way wrought rather to be a delusion he but telleth his own conjectur that so he may conclude this chapter according to his custom with Railing ¶ 7. Pag. 401. He begins his 21 chapter of Ministers Maintainance with a manifest perversion insinuating as if I were joyning with such who are against Ministers maintainance which is utterly false as by what I say upon that subject doth evidently appear But indeed the man contendeth here very warmly and with might and main and tooth and nail as they say albeit the thing he pleads for as to the substantial part of it be not denied but it will not satisfie him to grant as I do that the Ministers should receive temporal things from them to whom they minister Spiritual or that their necessitys should be supplied No he will have it to be an honorary as he calls it and that a large one too for so Pag. 405. he interprets 1 Tim. 5 17 18 as if double honour could not be given without large giving of money It seems poor folks with him can not give double honour nor fulfill this command of the Apostle it is only the rich folks honor who can give largely that he regards yea he reckons this giving liberally to Ministers a sowing to the Spirit for so he interpreteth Gal. 6 8. By all which it is manifest that to give liberally to Ministers goeth with him for a great article of Faith but the question only lieth betwixt us concerning a limited and forced maintainance for a sumptuous he can not for shame but seem to disclaim and a necessary yea what in any true sense can be so called I confess therefore as what he saith of our denying it is false so what he urgeth to prove it as to us is superfluous As for a constrained or forced Maintainance I desire him next time to prove it from Scriptur since he has not yet done it nor indeed can he by any thing there written since what is there said is only by way of such exhortation as liberality and charity is injoyned which albeit he saith confidently he has convicted of falshood but he hath said it and that is all for there were then no Christian Magistrats to limit or constrain such as would not give the conclusions and determinations of the Magistrat and People make it not lawfull in it self as all that hath been given either by Heathen or Popish Magistrats or People out of Superstition may be lawfull for Ministers to receive and indeed many of them begin to call that the Churches patrimony and reckon it sacrilege for others than Church-men as they call them to meddle with it He knows not how to turn-by Paul's
accuseth me p. 454. albeit falsly of saying Men may pray without the Grace of God which by this objection is his own faith since he will not deny but men may sleep eat without the Grace of God But to this objection I answered in my Apology shewing the difference betwixt these acts and acts of Worship which he grants pag. 461. and albeit I confess which he urgeth here that these profit not the man at all as with respect to God's favor when done without the Spirit yet they really fulfill the matter of the thing commanded in relation to our neighbours and to our selvs in eating drinking sleeping else it would be self-murder But in Prayer the matter is not fulfilled without the Spirit which relateth only to God to whom every prayer without the Spirit is an evil favour and not in any true and proper sense a Prayer for Prayer as to the material part can not be performed without the Spirit He confesseth according to their Catechism that the Spirit is needfull to know what to pray for which is the material part but the necessity of the Spirit as to these other things is only as to the formal part or right manner And this pleading for Praying from these natural acts shews how he contradicts himself in saying it is untrue that they are for Prayer without the Spirit for if they be not this argument were impertinent which is as these ought to be done without the Spirit so ought the other And yet he more manifestly contradicts this pag. 456. saying that God requireth not men to feel the influences of the Spirit as a preparation to Prayer yea that men ought to pray even when and because they feel they want them for if it be true that he said before that these influences are necessary to the right performance of Prayer either men ought to perform prayer wrong or this must be a manifest contradiction but since this manner of Prayer is owned really in their praying at set times whether they have the Spirit 's influence or not it shews I spake no untruth of them and that his saying so was untruely said by him And hence also the man's impudence may be seen pag. 460. in saying I am alyar in affirming they profess they may pray without the Spirit and have their set times But the thing I say is that they limit themselvs so as to lay a necessity upon themselvs to pray at set times as before and after Sermon and before and after meat and this he can not deny or if he should there universal practice would declare him a liar And if they pray at set times and that professedly without waiting for the Spirit 's influence yea when they are sensible they want it do not they profess to pray without the Spirit What he saith here and elsewhere that this was the opinion of Swenk feldius and the Familists is not to the purpose for what we believ in this we do it as being the Truth and not with respect to such of whose belief we take no notice so as to make it any ground for our faith And to shew how impertinent this classing us with others is to render us odious upon every occasion I may tell him here once for all that even as to this very thing of Prayer he agrees against us with Papists Socinians Pelagians Episcopalians Independents Anabaptists Lutherans Arminians Antinomians yea and with Pagans Turks and Jews all which affirm with him that men may and ought to pray at certain times and upon certain occasions albeit not having any present motions or influence of the Spirit of God so to do ¶ 5. What he saith here in several places of Introversion I refer to to what is said before to avoid repetition It might have been thought that in this chapter of Prayer and where he urges it so much from the general command that he would have minded it would have been more suteable to pray for such as he may account his enemies and even heretiks than rail at them But the treating upon this subject has had no such inference with him and therefore he is sure to keep here his old stile of railing which the Reader may observe pag. 452-456-459 460 461. He hath divers little cavils and quibbles in this chapter which I willingly omitt as not concerning the weight of the question only to give the Reader a tast of them I shall note one or two Pag. 455. upon these words sub degustationem he fansieth the Quakers hold a state of Prayer distinct both from publik and privat But if he had not been very critical and ready to catch albeit he omits more weighty things he had not troubled himself with this which is an error either of the Transcriber or Printer for it is in my copy ad cibum meaning the prayers before and after meat and that the other word doth also signify The next is his asking what I mean by ejaculations emitted to man's self and this he saith looks like a piece of Quaker idolatry This shews the man's eagerness to stretch every thing to make an accusation for by this I intended nothing but to express such prayers as men make unheard of others And if this be a piece of Quakers idolatry it is such as he must account the Apostle Paul guilty of as wel as I whose words are 1 Cor. 14 v. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sibi ipsi loquatur let him speak to himself as both Arias Montanus Beza translate it as wel as the English that this is understood of Prayer see from verse 24. So the furious man may see whither his malice hath driven him He forgeteth not also in this chapter his old calumny therefore hath it here oftner than once that as all the rest so the prayers of the Quakers as wel as preparations there unto come only from that Light of Nature as pag. 455 456 457. and hence he accuseth me of Pelagianism 459. for saying that to command a man to pray without the Spirit is to command him to see without eyes and work without hands because Pelagius said that whatever God commanded us to do he gave us sufficient strength to do it But if Pelagius said so he understood it of an ability without the Spirit of God for which the Antients condemned him whereas my very assertion here is in as opposit terms to that as any thing can be since I argue that a man can no more pray without the Spirit than he can see without eyes And indeed all this man's reasoning in this chapter savours strongly of Pelagianism where he pleads throughout for mens seting about Spiritual dutys without the Spirit yea pag. 463. he saith that the Divine indulgence towards such as have begun to pray without the Spirit and afterwards have found it assisting them in their prayer is a strong inducement and encouragement to them For this agrees exactly to the Semipelagian principle facienti
quod in se est Deus non denegat gratiam i. e. God will not deny Grace to such as do what they can And indeed this allowing men to perform Spiritual dutys without the allowance of the Spirit as this man doth pleading for it and reckoning the contrary absurd pag. 453. is compleat Pelagianism and doth clearly import that man by the working of Nature can acquire the Spirit and can do something in order to obtaining the Spirit of himself before he have it and thence this man pleads so much pag. 451. for the general use of Prayer from the Light and Law of Nature let him reconcile this if he can with his other doctrins and clear himself of Pelagianism And it is so much the more considerable that he has faln into this pit of which he so often falsly accuseth me as also pag. 461. He asketh again pag. 460. why we come to their places of Worship if our Conscience be hurt in joining with them and thence he concludes it is to do open contempt This is but his malitious conjectur we come not there but in obedience to the Lord when moved by his Spirit so to do to bear a faithfull testimony against all superstition and will-worship for it is not pleasant to us to come there where for the most part we are saluted with knocks and stones and other such brutish and Paganish dealings by their Church Members which is the fruit of their holy things and whereunto the People are often encouraged by their Preachers who sometimes shew an example of this themselvs and of whose barbarous actions even by the Presbyterian Preachers there is a book extant entituled of Fighting Priests giving account how many of them fell upon these innocent servants of the Lord with their own hands and I my self have seen of the present Preachers of Scotland do it As for his flouting at the Quakers for laying claim to a Spirit of discerning so as to distinguish who pray from the Spirit and who not he doth but therein declare himself to be none of Christ's sheep who are said to know his voice from that of a stranger And as for his saying that the Quakers judge of this by the mimical postur of the body it is false and would agree far rather to his Brethren whose affected posturs of body as wel as their nonsensical and absurd expressions in Prayer have disgusted many of their way of which I could give some eminent instances but that I spare them at present The example I gave of their excluding some from their Sacrament of the Supper so called doth not halt as he affirmeth pag. 462. as to the main for if the command to take it is with presupposition of examination so the command of praying is with the presupposition of its being in the Spirit in which all Worship is now to be Praying always in the Spirit Eph. 6 18. To my shewing in answer to their objection of Peter his commanding Simon Magus to pray that he sayes repent and pray after a meer assertion without proof he sayes he sees that with our Quaker a graceless person can repent but not pray To which I answer if he speak of possibility I believe a graceless person may both repent and pray but as he can not repent without Grace so not pray without the Spirit but Grace worketh in all if not resisted as the Spirit doth in all to Prayer when they have received the Grace in measur but that some measur of repentance must go before prayer himself I judge will hardly deny since the very offering to pray importeth in the person applying himself thereunto a sense of his iniquity and a desire to be delivered from it for which end he approacheth to God to demand pardon and help to amend ¶ 6. Now I come to his 25th chapter of Singing Psalmes where I shall not need to be large I deny not as he observs singing but to justify their custom of singing David's conditions by which many are made as I observed in my Apology to speak lyes in the presence of God He objecteth the practice of the Iews But their practice in matters of Worship without a Gospel precept is not a rule to us Neither doth the instance given by him of Psal. 66 6. answer the matter for the Jews might very wel praise the Lord for the deliverance of their fore-Fathers out of Egypt but that will not allow Drunkards and impenitent persons to say They water their couch with tears as by singing Psalmes many do which is false As for his saying they do but praise God for what he hath done for others why do they not express it so then And whereas he asketh whether the Spirit inspireth the meter in the song and the tone of the singing he sheweth his folly and lightness while he ridiculously supposeth that Meter is necessar or any other Tone than Nature hath given to every one of which God by his Spirit maketh use as an instrument as he doth of other parts and facultys of the body to the performing of Spiritual dutys And the like folly he sheweth when he tels what they do not in Scotland since he knows it was not particularly or only against the things practised in Scotland that I write in that Apology Section Thirteenth Wherein his 26th Chapter Of Baptisme is considered ¶ 1. OUr Author to shew how angry and froward he resolvs to be in this chapter makes his first paragraph a compleat stick of railing he begins with telling that the Paganish Antichristian Spirit which reigneth and rageth in the Quakers manifesteth a perfect and compleat hatred at all the Institutions of our Lord Jesus Christ and he endeth with this exclamation O! what desperat Runagadoes must these men be More of this kind may be seen pag. 472 473 474. 480 481. As for what he adds from several Scripturs of Baptisme pag. 466 467. what of it relates to the weight of the question will be examined afterwards He gives us here a citation out of their larger Catechism and then comes at last pag. 468. n. 4. to examin what I say in the matter where upon my urging the many contests among Christians concerning these things called Sacraments as one reason against them he concludes I might as wel plead against all Christianity because of the many debates about it and with this conceit he pleaseth himself a little which only evidenceth his malitious genius for I should never have used that as an only argument and did not use it at all but as having many other considerable ones against their use of these things and therefore I add that these things contended for are meer shaddows and outward things Then to cover their making use of the word Sacrament which is not to be found in Scriptur he objecteth my making use of the word fermentation and of the Vehicle of God but I use not to make use of these words when I speak Scots or English but these
words when interpreted are made use of in Scriptur for the Latine fermentum which signifies leaven is oft used even as compared to Spiritual things as Matth. 13 31. Luk 13 21. 1 Cor. 5 6 7 8. yea the word leaven and leavened is to be found in Scriptur above 30 times but the word Sacrament never so much as once and it is not as he saith a poor thing to challenge them for expressing the chief mysteries of their Religion in words that can not be found in all the Scriptur while they affirm it to be the only adequat Rule of their faith and manners That we deny the thing truely imported by the Trinity is false As for the word Vehiculum Dei as having a respect to Christ's Body or Flesh and Blood from heaven that it is a Scriptur word see Cant. 3 9. King Solomon made unto himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon and v. 10. Vehiculum ejus purpureum the Hebrew words for Chariot and Vehiculum are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appirion and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 merkabh or merkaba both which signify a chariot and vehicle and that by Solomon is mystically understood Christ of whom Solomon was a figur or type none who are spiritually minded can deny and consequently that this chariot or vehicle must be mystically and spiritually understood nor can it be meant of Believers or the church because it is said the midst of it being paved with love for the Daughters of Jerusalem i. e. for Believers so that they are received by Christ into this chariot or vehicle and therefore not it but distinct as the contained is distinct from the containing But for the further understanding of these Hebrew words see Buxtorf his Hebrew lexicon and the book called Apparatus in lib. Sohar part 1. p. 144. 553. And however he might cavill upon this mystical meaning yet the word is Scriptural which their barbarism Sacrament is not And to his saying in answer to my shewing that by laying aside this unscriptural term the contest of the number of the Sacraments will evanish that it will remain if instead of Sacrament they use Signes or Seals of the Covenant this is but his bare assertion untill he prove by clear Scriptur that there are only two signes or seals of the Covenant which he will find hard and yet harder that these two are they Pag. 469. n. 5. he denieth the Scriptur saith there is one onely Baptisme instancing the baptism of Affliction But I speak here of the Baptisme of Christ in a true and proper sense and Eph. 4 5. will prove as much that there is one onely Baptisme as there is one onely God which is in the next verse But before I proceed any further I must desire the Reader to observe how this man speaking of the Baptisme of the Holy Ghost understands it only to relate to the extraordinary gift of speaking with tongues which the Apostles had and not as any thing common to all true and really regenerated Christians so that he concludes the Baptism with the Spirit and with Fire now to be ceased And upon this his supposition he buildeth pag. 471-473 474-478 without so much as offering to prove it And to this he addeth a gross lye upn me pag. 472. that I will have none to be baptized in the Spirit but such as are endued with these extraordinary gifts which I never said nor believed and therefore this his false supposition I deny consequently till next time that he take leasur to prove it all that he builds thereupon is meerly precarious and needs no further answer Iohn the Baptist speaking of the Baptisme of Christ in general as contradistinct from his saith He that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire which could not have been the mark of distinction if this had only been restricted to what the Apostles received the day of Pentecost and not of the Baptisme wherewith Christ baptizeth all his Children But to rectify the mistake he supposeth I am in concerning the One Baptisme he tels me the One Baptism comprehendeth both the outwvrd element and the thing represented and sealed thereby but the reasons he gives for this are so weak that thereby I am confirmed I am not in a mistake I might say saith he there were two Circumcisions because Circumcision is called Circumcision of the heart And what then In that sense there were two so long as the outward continued to wit the outward and the inward that of the Flesh and that of the Heart and if he can answer this no better than by smiling at it we must pitty the levity of his Spirit but not be moved by the weight of such airy arguments What he addeth of the Object of Faith being called faith as also the profession albeit the Apostle say there is one faith is not to the purpose since these are included in the one true faith the Apostle speaketh of but for him to say that the baptisme of water is included in the One Baptism spoken of there by the Apostle is only to beg the question and yet all he doth is strongly to affirm this without proof so that all that he saith in answer to me being built upon this and such like mistakes needed in strictness no more reply as his answer to my argument pag. 471. sheweth where he supposeth two Baptismes one administred by Men another administred by Christ himself by his Spirit and not by men But he should have proved this ere he had used it as a distinction and till he do so my argument to wit That since such as were baptized with Water were not therefore baptized with the Baptisme of Christ therefore Water-Baptisme can not be the Baptism of Christ will stand for all his blowing I desire the Reader take notice here of his insinuation as if I had borrowed this argument from Socinus which he hath over and over again afterwards as to others speaking expressly pag. 433 of my stealing arguments from Socinus But to shew him how unhappy he is in being so apt to speak untruth he may understand that I never read three lines of Socinus's writings hitherto nor knew what arguments he used till now he informs me in case his information be true In stead of answer to what I urge from 1 Pet. 3 21. in my Apology he giveth a preaching made up of meer assertions built on the former mistakes and railing his answer is built upon the supposing that water baptisme goes to the making up of Christ's Baptisme which is now to continue which yet remains for him to prove and on the other hand supposing that I affirm that by the answer of a good Conscience there mentioned is to be understood the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit which is false And upon the same two mistakes he grounds his answer pag. 473. n. 8. to what I urge from Gal. 3 27. and Col. 2 12. as a supplement that
to meek lowly Iesus of whom it is said he learned obedience by the things which he suffered Surely none who read thy language will say this man hath been with Jesus but rather say whosesoevers company thou hast been in thou hast learned to be a cunning Artist at the scolding trade and art therein vainly puffed-up that thou even fleest aloft though with waxen wings above the lowly harmeless meek Spirit of Christ. And verily had I all thy Rhetorik whether natural or acquired which thou so much misimprov'st to the gratifying of that which needs more to be crucified in thy self and many who are ready implicitly to follow thee it is not in my desire to follow thy example nor shall I wish that ever thou have an answer from any of the Lord's People in thy own terms which are such as all sober unprejudiced People who read them will see thy Spirit most strongly imbittered when thy pen is so dipt in gall I say it is not in my desire to bring forth one railing accusation against thee neither to answer many things thou hast vented against the Lord's present work and witnesses whom thou despisest and abhorrest more than dung under thy feet and crowest over yet if the Living God a part of whose host they are see it meet he can raise up the least of them and make thee feel worm Iacob a threshing instrument with teeth to deal with thee and thresh that Iofty malitious spirit of prejudice that breaths through thee the consideration whereof upon thy own Soul's account is the occasion of this Letter wherein I desire to lay somethings before thee which are with weight upon me my compassions being kindled towards thee that when the Lord cometh to visit the earth thou shouldst be found among them who are beating their fellow-servants the hazard of which state thou knowst and many will feel when the Lord riseth up to the prey for his eyes are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their cries though now he be trying the children of men and permitting some to suffer and others to do hard things yet a hope lives in me the time approacheth wherein the Lord will more manifestly appear to the joy and refreshment of the single in heart who suffer with him and patiently wait for him and for the shame and utter overthrow of his malitious opposers And so One of the Particulars I would lay before thee is a desire thou wouldst yet in the Lord's Light search thy own heart more till thou findst out what secret affinity hath remained with thee to any of the Lord's enemies in thy own heart for if all were brought under the government of the Son of God inwardly I am fully perswaded thy outward opposition to the Lord's work could not long stand The outward is a true figure of the inward and I know by true experience all that despight and disdainfull under valuing epithets thou squeezest up thy engine to coyn which one may feel answers not fully thy own satisfaction for bespattering and loading that People and their principles is but alas a mirrour-glass set up to represent the low mean unworthy esteem thou bearest to the Light of Christ in its inward appearance in thee as a reprover for whosoever turneth universally at the reproofs of God's Light in the Conscience shall witness the pouring forth of his Spirit in larger manifestations according to Prov. 1 23. But that Spirit speaketh in thee of which Ifaiah prophesied Isa. 53 2 3 c. concerning the outward appearance of the same Christ our Head and the Captain of our Salvation whose sufferings death resurrection and glory we dearly own and wait from day to day more to feel the pretious vertue thereof although he then was and now is rejected and despised of men who hide as it were their faces from him because his outward appearance was as a root out of a dry ground in whom there was no form nor comelyness nor beauty that he should be desired by that mind which was looking after great things and expecting much outward glory and advantage and so Christ's appearance was mistaken by the learned Rabbies in that day notwithstanding they had Moses and the Prophets testimonys and were not wanting in reading the letter as others now for as it was then it is now he was is mistaken by all who seek any thing to glory in save the Cross of Christ for the wisdom of the flesh hath and doth lift faln man above the innocent Seed in themselvs onely through which they can see the invisible glory of the Kingdom of God and find an abundant entrance unto the righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost whereof it consists wherefore take heed of being lifted up above the Seed Light Life and Spirit of Christ in thee and so thou wilt see matter to work out thy Salvation in fear and trembling and wilt not sit down upon former attainments or experiences when the Life is gone Another thing I would put thee in remembrance of in these present times is the great danger of sinning at the waters of strife whereof Moses his example may be a standing monument to all generations of whom it was said he was the meekest man upon the earth yet at the waters of strife he spake unadvisedly with his lips because of which he was debarred from entring into the promised rest And are there not some living at this day who with sorrow of heart have observed the heat and bitterness of spirit that hath arisen because of differences and controversy concerning Religion hath eaten out the life of that love and tenderness that was with many and having hurt the green thing in themselves and one another hath brought on death darkness dryness and sensible withering and can not chuse but so to do seing bitterness of spirit and prejudice and such like frames in man or woman separats from God while there any one abides For God is Love and he that dwels in God dwells in love and Christ hath said Unless ye abide in me ye can not bring forth much fruit so not abiding in that pure Love to God and his Image in his Children hath caused many fall short and hath letted their progress and made many lose sight of their way and the Guide of their youth and so they have not followed the Lord fully nor followed him in the regeneration renewing according to the increase of Light and the measurs of his manifestation whereby they should know even in this life a being changed from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. Thou mention'st in thy Postscript to J. B. pag. 557. Many who may remember with shame and confusion of face their laughing at and making light of the apperance of that prodigie and that it may cause some go groaning to their grave being an evidence that ye knew not the signs of the time and what they called you to do To which I answer Lightness
manifested upon you my witness is in heaven I am one who desires not the evil day but am willing to embrace all the sweet opportunitys of the drawings of my Father's love and the arisings of his Life to stand in the gapp for the single-hearted among you and I must declare for the exoneration of my own Conscience I am an experimental witness how grievously thou violatst the Truth in misrepresenting the things which thou callest the bitter root springing up in these sprouts of hell 1. Mens not receiving the love of the Truth 2. Their pleasing themselves with names and notions while Christ was not received to dwell in the heart 3. Their not departing from iniquity who seemed to call on his Name I am a witness when the Lord called me out from among the Presbyterians I was one who according to my education and information and inclination from my child-hood was a true lover of that called the Glorious Gospell and a constant attender upon the declarations thereof and the messengers feet that published it were beautifull to me so long as those Ordinances of man were unto me as the Ordinances of Christ which was more than 30 years I loved them more than all things in this world I passed through them hungry and hardly bestead for many years feeling after Life and immortality but could not find that somewhat was raised in me that words and reports could not feed names and notions I minded little but Christ to dwell in me was that and is that more and more I press after And now I must for the Truth 's sake say somewhat which I humbly mention with a fresh remembrance of the Love Power and tender Mercy of God who enabled me I know the Lord will not impute it to be boasting in that season wherein the Lord revealed the true way to life and immortality to me by his inward appearance in my Soul it was a time wherein he had mercifully turned me from all that ever his Light inwardly and Law outwardly had condemned me for my heart also did bear witness for me that whatsoever I had known would please him I was chusing to do that not that thereby I was seeking justification in my own righteousness but a sure evidence of my interest in him who was made unto us Righteousness Justification c. This blessed glimpse of my begun freedom was given me in a seasonable time that I might thereby be enabled to speak with mine enemy in the gate and be encouraged to believe in the Light and wait upon the Lord to feel his vertue perfectly to cleanse me from all filthyness of flesh and Spirit Neither was I an undervaluer of the Scripturs they were my Rule then and I hope for ever my life shall answer them I think they honour the Scripturs most who live most according to them and not they who call them the only Rule yet do not make them their pattern The Scripturs of Truth were pretious to me and by them was I taught not to walk nor worship in the way of the People the Spirit shewing me his mind in them and then I saw in his Light that it is not the Scripturs many adore so much as their own corrupt glosses upon them neither can my experience go along with what thou affirmest of the hazard of converse with that People It is very wel known to all that lived in the place where I sojourned I was none who conversed with them I was never at one of their meetings I never read one of their books unless accidentally I had found them where I came and lookt to them and laid them by again So now it remains with me to tell thee what was the occasion I joyned with them since it was none of those thou mention'st which I will very singly and can very comfortably do it was that thing ye school-men call Immediat Objective Revelation which my desire is ye were more particularly and feelingly acquainted with whereby the Lord raising in my Soul his feeling Life I could not sit down satisfied with hearing of what the Son of God had done outwardly though I believe thereby he purchased all that Grace and Mercy which is inwardly wrought in the hearts of his Children untill I should be a partaker of the vertue and efficacy thereof whereby I might possess the Substance of things hoped for I saw an historical faith would neither cleanse me nor save me if that could save any the Devils were not without a door of hope I felt I needed the Revelation of the Son of God in me All that ever I read or heard without this could not give me the Saving knowledge of God None knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son revealeth him through the vertue whereof mine eyes were more and more by degrees opened for the tender-hearted Samaritan had pitty upon my wounded Soul when both Priest and Levit passed by and the watch-men rent my vail and when there was no eye to pitty nor hand to help me he drew near and poured in wine and oile as he saw needfull and fulfilled the promise in measur wherein he had long caused me to hope he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the Light of Life and that sweet saying whereby I am confirmed and comforted if evil Parents know how to give their children good things how much more will the Lord give his holy Spirit to those who ask him When your children ask bread will ye give them a stone or when they ask a fish will ye give them a serpent These pretious Scripturs and many such like being opened up and applied by the Spirit of Truth powerfully and seasonably in saying be not faithless but believing times above number before and since hath made me set to my seal to these words of Christ The words that I speak are Spirit and Life and as I walk with him and abide in him watching at the posts of Wisdoms gates travelling in Spirit more and more to bring forth fruit unto him and walk worthy of him unto all wel-pleasing daily to dye unto self that Christ may live in me I becoming a passive creatur and he an active Christ in the encrease of his Government I feel the encrease of my peace And so my friend thou hast here by some touches at things occasion to see how far thou art mistaken concerning us and how far contrary to the Truth as it is in Jesus thou represent'st many things to the world speaking evil of things which thou knowst not and if thou dost the greater is thy sin two Particulars indeed I can not strain charity so far as to believe thou thinkst do we deny Jesus Christ and justification through his Righteousness because we make the sufficiency thereof of a more universal extent than ye or because we love whole Christ so much and his seamless coat that we will not have it divided Nay we dare not divide