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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47167	A refutation of three opposers of truth by plain evidence of the holy Scripture, viz. I. Of Pardon Tillinghast, who pleadeth for water-baptism, its being a Gospel-precept, and opposeth Christ within, as a false Christ. To which is added, something concerning the Supper, &c. II. Of B. Keech, in his book called, A tutor for children, where he disputeth against the sufficiency of the light within, in order of salvation; and calleth Christ in the heart, a false Christ in the secret chamber. II. Of Cotton Mather, who in his appendix to his book, called, Memorable providences, relating to witchcrafts, &c. doth so weakly defend his father Increase Mather from being justly chargeable with abusing the honest people called Quakers, that he doth the more lay open his fathers nakedness; and beside the abuses and injuries that his father had cast upon that people, C. Mather, the son, addeth new abuses of his own. And a few words of a letter to John Cotton, called a minister, at Plymouth in New England. By George Keith.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1690 (1690)	Wing K199; ESTC W21703	49,228	77

of God revealed in him and therefore he might vvell command it for that time tho' no Gospel Precept But vvhereas thou sayst That Peter and the Apostles did command in Christ Iesus the Lords Name Water Baptism is a thing utterly false the Scripture saith no such thing but That Peter commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord so that the Name of the Lord is relative to their being baptized not to the command and their being baptized in the Name of the Lord doth plainly signifie that their being baptized vvith Water vvas som outward sign that they became the Lords and were true believers in him Next vvhereas thou sayst I affirm that Water Baptism was at that time an abolished Ceremony is false I said no such thing It was beginning to be abolishing and decaying and was decreasing as John said in respect of his Baptism I must decrease but Christ must encrease But that it vvas then totally abolished I say not for it could not be safely abolished all at once but by degrees and after some time as I have above demonstrated And novv that I call this third and last Dispensation that began to take place after the Death and Resurrection of Christ the pure and perfect Dispensation of the Gospel I understand it not as if the first and second Dispensations before and under Moses or before and under Christ as he vvas present in the flesh had any mixture or impurity of sin or evil nay far be it from me but I call it pure and perfect as having none of these Figures and Types of the Lavv mixed vvith it as formerly And though the Apostles after the giving of the holy Ghost did grovv up into the attainment of this most pure and perfect Gospel state and Dispensation yet many Christians vvho had a measure of sincere Faith in Christ vvere short of it and for the cause of such vvho vvere vveak and but as Babes in Christ they savv it meet in the Wisdom of God to use it for some time But after the days of the Apostles and their Successors about three or four hundred years there-after the true Gospel Spirit was generally lost a Remnant excepted of hidden ones who in some measure retained it and the inward Power of Godliness departed from and then Water Baptism and many other things belonging to the outward form became as a dead thing and was more fit to be buried than to be used And none ought to presume to raise it up again unless it could be said That the Power of God had raised it or renewed it in the users or practisers of it and that they could sincerely say and prove that God had sent them or given them Authority to use Water Baptism and other the like things but this I do not find that any called Baptists so much as pretend unto and if they did pretend to it their bare pretence without some real and effectual prooff were not to be believed And that Peter caused Water-baptism to be administred to Cornelius and other Gentiles doth not prove it to be a Gospel Precept for under the Law the Gentiles who became Proselites of the Covenant so called were generally baptized into Water as well as Circumcised long before Iohn's time as the Iews Books plainly declare and as may be gathered from Scripture and as divers Christian Writers relate from the Iews and particularly Thomas Godwin in his Book called Moses and Aaron lib. 1. cap. 3. And seeing it was so commonly practised by the Iews as well before Iohn's time as then and thereafter as both Iewish and Christian Writers affirm and as the Epistle to the Hebrews doth plainly declare Heb. 9.10 how that the Law had its divers Baptisms so the Greek translated into English Washings and carnal Ordinances until the time of Reformation it doth more plainly evince that Water Baptism was a legal thing tho' both it Circumcision with all the other Types and Figures of the Law pointed at Gospel Mysteries and in so far may be said to relate or belong to the Gospel in its more obscure Administration but that whole Dispensation both of Moses and the Prophets is in Scripture stile call'd The Law altho' Moses himself and all the Prophets saw beyond the Figures of the Law and were truly endowed in great part with a Gospel spirit That thou say'st if Water Baptism had not been comprehended in Paul 's Commission then he had done evil in baptizing so many I Answ. It doth not follow any more than that he did evil in circumcising Timothy for things may be done upon occasions without a Command from God and that not only by a bare or simple permission but in a sweet heavenly freedom of Gods holy Spirit inwardly revealed which is the only chief and principal Rule of every true Christians freedom as well as of their Obedience How many good Christians joyn in Marriage having no command so to do but knowing and enjoying an inward Liberty by the Spirit of the Lord so to do and therein receiving the blessing of the Lord and many other the like cases might be mention'd Thou givest a very strange and exceeding strained Gloss upon Paul's words That he was not sent to baptize but to preach the Gospel to wit that Water Baptism was not so bound to Paul or any other sent to preach the Gospel that they with their own hands must needs perform that Work of Baptizing and Paul and the other Apostles had such and such for their Ministers as John Timothy and others But what then what Paul commanded other Disciples to do is all one as if he had done it himself as thou arguest in another case but not to thy purpose and therefore it cannot be reasonably judged that if Paul had been sent to baptize either by himself or making use of others to assist him in that work he would have said He was not sent to baptize for that would imply a plain Contradiction to be sent and not to be sent But this thy strein'd gloss on Pauls words is grounded upon a meer supposition of thine That Paul was sent to baptize with Water which thou hast not in the least proved nor art ever like to do Matth. 28. saith nothing of Water Thy similitude betwixt Solomons Temple and the Gospel-Church as thou dost apply it is exceeding vain foolish and proceedeth from great Ignorance as if the Stones that were the Foundation of Solomon's Temple cut out of the Mountains and the Timber-work did signifie that the Foundation of God's Spiritual House should be Water-Baptism But this is plain contrary to Scripture that saith The Church is built on the Foundation of the Prophets Apostles Iesus Christ himself being the chief Corner Stone And thou that sets up Water-Baptism as the Foundation of the Gospel Church preachest another Foundation than Christ Jesus and another Gospel If Solomon's Temple had been built on the Waters thou mightst have had some slender

A REFUTATION OF Three Opposers of Truth By plain Evidence of the holy Scripture VIZ. I. Of Pardon Tillinghast who pleadeth for Water-Baptism its being a Gospel-Precept and opposeth Christ within as a false Christ. To which is added something concerning the Supper c. II. Of B. Keech in his Book called A Tutor for Children where he disputeth against the Sufficiency of the Light within in order to Salvation and calleth Christ in the heart A false Christ in the secret Chamber III. Of Cotton Mather who in his Appendix to his Book called Memorable Providences relating to Witchcrafts c. doth so weakly defend his Father Increase Mather from being justly chargeable with abusing the honest People called Quakers that he doth the more lay open his Fathers Nakedness and beside the Abuses and Injuries that his Father had cast upon that People C. Mather the Son addeth new Abuses of his own And a few Words of a Letter to Iohn Cotton called a Minister at Plymouth in New-England By GEORGE KEITH Zephaniah 3.4 Her Prophets are Light and Treacherous Persons her Priests have polluted the Sanctuary they have done Violence to the Law Philadelphia Printed and Sold by William Bradford Anno 1690. Water-Baptism No Gospel-Precept c. Pardon Tillinghast AFter I had read thy small Treatise in print wherein thou undertakest to prove Water-Baptism to be a Gospel Precept by plain Scripture I was sorry on thy account to find thee with such confidence to publish thy Ignorance and Folly as well as thy great bitterness of Spirit and Prejudice against the Truth and the Witnesses of it so openly in the face of the World But when I call to mind how that God in his infinite Wisdom permits men to rise up to oppose the Truth that the Truth it self may be the more clearly discovered by the breakings forth of Gods Light still more and more the more that the Truth is opposed I am truly comforted and encouraged And for thy Reviling and Reproachful words against me I regard them not further than to pity thee and heartily to desire that God may open thy Eyes and give thee true Repentance Forgiveness for I have that Charity that what thou dost in this thy work of opposition it is through thy ignorance and therefore upon thy Repentance is pardonable But as for me and my Brethren it is a small thing for us to be reproached and falsly accused by thee seeing thou art so ignorantly bold and fool-hardy to reproach the Lord Iesus Christ in his inward appearance and Light in the hearts of men calling him a false Christ as if these who preach Christ in the hearts of Gods Saints were those of whom Christ foretold that should come in the latter days and preach a false Christ saying he is in the secret Chamber which thou understandest as if Christ had meant the secret Chamber of the heart following herein thy Brother in Iniquity Darkness Benjamin Keech who in his Book called The Childs Instructor hath these express words in that Section concerning the Light within Therefore believe not him that saith behold he is here in the secret Chamber viz. the heart The which expression thou seemest to have borrowed from the said Book But if thou hadst any true knowledg in the Mystery of Christ thou wouldst sooner have chosen that thy right hand that pen'd these words had been cut off than to have used them But by this and other the like expressions in thy Treatise thou plainly discovers thy self to be a man altogether ignorant of the true knowledge of Christ yea thou seemest ignorant of the very Letter of the Scripture which in plain and express words doth mention Christ dwelling in the heart and Christ within the hope of Glory the Mystery hid from Ages and Generations And said Paul to the Corinthians Know ye not that Iesus Christ is in you unless ye be Reprobates And said Christ in his Prayer unto his Father Thou in me and I in them And when he told the Pharisees who looked that the Kingdom of God should come with Observations as to say lo here or lo there he said for behold the Kingdom of God is within you Luke 17.21 and surely where the Kingdom of God is there are God and Christ● So that the plain letter of the Scripture is against thy most absurd and Anti-christian Doctrine That the Christ in the hearts of men yea even of the Saints as thou wouldst have it for thou makest no distinction is a false Christ for the plain tendency of this thy Work of Darkness is to make People believe that Christ is not a Light within the Saints because as thou alledgest the Light within was not crucified for us but Iesus Christ of Nazareth And in this absurd distinction and dividing of Christ thou acts the part of Socinus and his followers who are called Socinians that affirm most absurdly That Christ is only a meer man and that he had no being nor existance before Mary But if thou say thou believest that Christ is both God and Man and that he was from the beginning to wit that Word by whom all things were made then why dost thou deny that Christ as he is that Word is in the Saints for though Christ only suffered in the flesh and as Man upon the Tree of the Cross yet he who suffered was not meer Man but God and Man and yet still one Christ. And thus also Christ within spiritually and inwardly revealed in the Saints is not another Christ from him that came in the flesh and was crucified for us even Jesus of Nazareth And hadst thou taken a little pains to read my book and consider it impartially and fairly thou shouldst have seen what a plain and single account I give of mine and my Friends Faith concerning the Man Christ Iesus as he came in the flesh and dyed for our sins and rose again and ascended c. even Jesus of Nazareth and that true faith in Christ Jesus is not only a believing in him as he is the Word c. but as the same Word did take flesh and was God manifest in the flesh c. to wit Christ crucified and risen again made of a Woman made under the Law c. and that the true faith of a Christian doth not divide Christ c. as false Christians do who say they believe in Christ without them but do not believe and receive Christ within them as God the Father doth inwardly reveal him or as Ranters and other high Notionists who pretend to believe in Christ as the Word and Light in them but slight and blaspheme against Christ that was crucified without them as is plainly to be seen in my late book pag. 131 132 133 and pag. 103 104 108. and p. 229. and hereby it doth plainly appear how safely I guard against both extreams of false Teachers some preaching Christ without but denying him within as thou Pardon Tillinghast and most of thy

are not gathered from any express words of the People called Quakers but are only the false and absurd Consequences he gathers from our Principle altogether grounded upon his Ignorance and Mistakes and especially his Prejudice against the Truth A Brief ANSWER to Cotton Mather his Appendix to a little Book of his called Memorable Providences relating to Witchcrafts c. THe main design of Cotton Mather in this his Appendix is to vindicate and defend his Father Increase Mather as no wise guilty of these Charges which I laid against him towards the end of my late Book call'd The Presbyterian and Independent Churches in New-England and else-where brought to the Test. Now if Cotton Mather had made any true and just Vindication of his said Father it had been a commendable work in him but he is so far from that that his so weak and impertinent pretended Vindication doth not in the least excuse him and he is so far from any just Vindication of his Father that he doth rather more lay open his Fathers Nakedness in the sight of the world and addeth to his Fathers grosly abusing the honest People called Quakers new Abuses and lying abusive Speeches of his own besides that in the judgment of any impartial understanding Reader he discovers himself to be a very shallow man airy and full of froth but showing nothing of Solidity in his whole discourse As for his scornful and disdainful words and reflections on me calling me One Keith a Quaker not deigning to design me by my full Name and Our little Author This new Apostle This waspishman c. I value them not so as to be any discouragement unto me to bear my Testimony for the blessed Truth of God against his and his Brethrens false Doctrine and Hypocrisy and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ left upon record in Scripture in a measure of the sence of that holy Spirit that gave them forth have been are made comfortable unto me Mat. 5.11 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you c. I desire to bless the Lord who hath truly made me little in my own eyes and hath let me see not only my littleness but nothingness as of my self and given me also to know that I am one of his little Ones which to me is greater satisfaction than to have the greatest worldly advantages and that he seems to reflect upon the littleness of my stature as is apparent showeth in him little wit or discretion many excellent men were of little bodily stature far exceeding Cotton Mather or me either and Goliah was a man of great bodily stature who defied the host of God and yet fell before little David and tho' I do readily acknowledge my self little every way yet by the Grace of God I doubt not but to be made able to defend the Truth against all that thou and all thy Brethren can do to withstand it for the Truth is the greatest and strongest of all and when he who is the Truth pleaseth to use an Instrument let it be ever so little or mean it is well enabled to do the work it is raised up for And tho' in the close of his Appendix that containeth little else but silly drolling he saith G. K. has given sufficient cause why his own Sect should be ashamed of him if shame were compatible to such a perfect People Which last part is a meer Scoff yet he hath not made it appear and I hope in the Lord he never shall be able to make it appear that my Friends have any cause to be ashamed of me Before he cometh to his Fathers Vindication he thought fit to tell the world of the strange liberty which the Devils gave to some possessed Children to come to the Meetings of the Quakers and to read their writings And if all this be true what saith it against the Quakers in the least to discredit them or their Religion We know many wicked People whose Souls the Devils possess and that is worse than a meer Bodily Possession may read both our Books and the Scriptures also yet as this is no discredit to the Scriptures so no more to our books yea the Devil could and did cite Scripture to Christ and could use the outward names of God and Iesus And thou grantest that that Girle possessed as thou alledgest Bodily with the Devil did read the 59 Psalm And what may be concluded from this according to Cotton Mathers pretended Logick that tho' the Devil would not suffer the Girle to read some Presbyterian Books but gave her liberty to read some of the Common Prayer or other Episcopal Books and Quakers Books and also the 59 Psalm that all these are of the like quality Thou further sayst The Girle so possessed as thou alledgest could hear the Scripture read and called to one to read of Mary Magdalen and I see not what difference the Devil doth make in good earnest betwixt reading and hearing the Scripture read Again That the Devil suffered some of them to come to the Quakers Meetings Supposing it were so is this any more in prejudice of the Quakers Meetings than that Cotton Mather saith The same Girle so possessed came to a study or Closet in his House and entred therein and there read on the Bible and good Books And if he say It was because the Devil had left her how soon she came there Why may not the same be alledged on behalf of the Quakers Meetings Who seeth not how shallow this man is that from so ridiculous an instance would represent the Quakers Meetings and Books such as the Devil had a good liking to But it seems the holiness of his Study drove the Devils away and made the Girle so quiet in his Study as is implied in his words where he saith She added a Reason for it which the Owner of the Study thought more kind than true It seemeth then that Cotton Mather thinketh himself in that respect obliged to the Devils kindness more than to the truth of the Reason That they left the Girle how soon she entred into his Closet But why could not the Devil carry the Girle into his Closet as well as the Devil took Christ into the holy City and set him on a Pinacle of the Temple Mat. 4.5 and as it is in Iob When the Sons of God came together Sathan also came among them and if Sathan can come where the Sons of God are met together why may he not quietly suffer some possessed by him to come either to C. M's Closet or the Quakers Meeting without any just reflection on either of the places But if C. M. think the Devil more kind than true to him he had need beware of his Kindness left it turn to his damage in the end for a kind Devil is the most dangerous Devil In the beginning of the Vindication of his Father he saith One would think that if an Historian did but secure his Veracity from being impeached most of

his other fauls were pardonable c. But to this I Answer That Increase Mather hath not secur'd his veracity from being impeached for it belongeth to Veracity and to him who hath it not only to tell some true matters of fact but to tell them with a true intention and for a true and upright end and to assign the true and right Names to the Persons that have done the things alledged as when a man is murdered tho' the matter of Fact be true yet if he who relates it doth charge it upon a person or persons no wise guilty his Veracity may justly be impeached and so the case is here as to I. Mather suppose the matter of fact be true yet it is as gross and false a charge and imputation to cast these things acted and done by Tho. Case and his Crew upon the Quakers as to cast them upon any other People whatsoever yea as upon them whom he may judge to be true Christians or suppose Presbyterians and Independents for what tho' they call themselves or that others ignorantly call them Quakers doth it therefore follow that they are owned by that People or are of their Society no wise no more than it doth follow that they are Christians because they call themselves also by that name And suppose these of T. Case's crew should call themselves Presbyterians Independents or Members of the Congregational Churches of New-England doth it therefore follow that ye of New-England should be charged with these things And whereas I said in my last book That I. M. relates these stories on purpose to abuse the honest sober People call'd Quakers without making any distinction thou Cotton Mather leavest out altogether the following words that were most material for the clearing of the Quakers and proving I. M. guilty of slandering and falsly accusing an innocent People my following words being these nor giving the least information to the world how that the Body of the People call'd Quakers doth not in the least own these ungodly and wicked People c. But what doth his Son C. M. answer to this that may satisfie the impartial Reader surely nothing but answers with a Scoff like to himself it seems he hath largely accustomed himself to sit in the Seat of the Scorner saying But what Mettal is this mans fore-head made of and then he proceeds to alledge That his Father very carefully made a distinction because once or twice he calleth them the late singing and dancing Quakers And again that he saith The Quakers are some of them possessed with evil Spirits But I Answer Thou C. Mather rather bearest in thy forehead the print of him that hath a face of Brass than of an ingenuous man in thy undertaking so to palliate and excuse thy Fathers gross abuse and slander Doth not every one that knoweth what a distinction is know that it consisteth at least of two Members or parts and not of one only member or part Now I challenge Cotton Mather to produce one word or syllable in all Increase Mathers discourse where the other Member or part of the distinction is named or exprest in the least whereas if he had indeed made any distinction he would at least have informed the world That there is another s●rt of People called Quakers that doth no wise own Thomas Case or any of his Crew nor their Spirit nor Doctrine nor Practices but abhor them and their way as much as any People can do and do as widely differ from them as white from black or as one contrary from another yea it is easie to show that Tho. Case and his Crew are more near to many called Presbyterians and Independents than to the honest Quakers both in Doctrine and some Practices for the honest People called Quakers own no carnal Singing and do not own dancing on any account and yet to my certain knowledge many called Presbyterians do both own and practise carnal Singings and Dancings and Pipings and Fiddlings also at Feasts and Weddings all which practices are more like to the mad Crew of Tho Case than to the sober and honest Quakers who own no singing but what is truly spiritual and holy and it doth not appear that when I. M. nameth the late singing dancing Quakers that he intended any distinction but that he gave such Names only as certain Epithets to the Quakers or to some of them as when Cott. Mather calleth us absurd and angry People it doth not appear that he intendeth a distinction as if some of us were not absurd nor angry or as when his Brethren used to call us The Cursed Quakers that they intended any distinction as if some of us were blessed or if he had called us The late upstart Heretical Quakers as some have called us as if some or us were not late nor heretical but Antient Orthodox nor is it any real or true distinction to say Some of the Quakers as implying not all for all and some are no specifical distinction but only numerical whereas I said in my book without any distinction it is most clear from my following words in that book purposely as it seemeth omitted by C. M. that I meant a specifical distinction for what I. M. alledgeth on some of the Quakers as such belongeth to all of the same society even as what belongeth to some men as men belongeth to all men and if these wild and mad and abominable Practices do not belong to T. Case's Crew as Quakers then why doth he so charge them as ●uakers or why doth he not inform the People of New-England That T. Case's Crew are no Quakers any more than real Christians altho' they falsly are so called and are no wise owned by the Body or Society of that People this he hath not done in the least and no man that hath not some better Information what the Quakers are than what I. M. hath given of them can know any other but that the Quakers generally are all singing and dancing Quakers or at least own these mad Practices for as I said before I say again he maketh no distinction betwixt them he calleth Mad Quakers and others that are sober and there are many hundreds in New-England that reading I. M's Book will be ready enough to believe the Quakers generally are such as these of T. Cases Crew seeing he mentioneth no other sort and they have no other intelligence what the Quakers are having never seen any of them nor heard them nor read their Books But C. M. perceiving this pinch or strait how he could not make it appear that his Father made any real distinction takes another course and plainly telleth us His Father needed not make any distinction at all and rather than C. Mather will allow the least Charity to the Quakers he will fall at variance with his Father and show himself of a contrary mind as one would think to his supposed reverend Father that whereas he thinketh or would have it believed

me as first That the outward Form and inward Power of Godliness may not be seperated This we affirm as well as thou and much better than thou for seeing thou denyest Christ within the heart to be the true Christ how canst thou really own the inward power of Godliness Can there be any inward power of Godliness without Christ living dwelling and ruling in the heart Again many of you Baptists affirm That men may be called of God both to preach and baptize and yet have no true Piety or Holyness Which a Baptist Teacher affirmed to me in the hearing of divers witnesses last summer in the shop of one of our Friends at Newport in Rhode-Island and whether this be not thy own perswasion thou art concerned to clear thy self But further how many Hypocrites and vain persons do ye baptize with Water that no real signs do in the least appear in them that the inward power of godliness was joyned with their being baptized with Water Now the thing that thou shouldst have proved was that your Water baptism taken up by you without any true command or so much as a true inward liberty by the spirit of God in your hearts is a Gospel-Precept But this the Apostles witnessed when Peter baptized or caused to be baptized Cornelius and others with him no doubt he both saw and felt his liberty and good allowance by the revelation of Gods holy spirit in his heart so to do and therefore he might well command it at that time to be done yet it doth not follow that it is a Gospel-Precept I say further the outward form of Godliness is intire without Water baptism as at this day administred though when it was practised by the command of God it was a part of the outvvard form And vvhereas thou sayst Iohns preaching and baptizing related to Christs Gospel disenspation citing for this Mark 1. cap. 1 2 3. v. ● Ansvver All this may be granted in a true sence yea I do readily grant it in the true sence so did all the Figures Types of Moses Law all which obscurely and darkly pointed at Christ the pure Gospel dispensation were as it were a symbolical way of preaching Christ his Gospel and therefore it was a good and worthy observation that many antient Christians have made That the Gospel and New Testament lay hid within the vail of the Law and old Testament All these Figures and Shadows of the Law shadowing and figuring Gospel Mysteries unto those whose Eyes are spiritually enlightned to see and understand them And whereas thou citest Mark 's words in the beginning of his book saying The beginning of the Gospel of Iesus Christ the Son of God If I grant thee that both Iohn's preaching and baptism in a true sence is a beginning of the Gospel what gainest thou by it doth it therefore follow that Water-baptism is a pure Gospel Precept and to be observed to the end of the world I deny the consequence And the vanity and falshood of it I shall by Gods assistance plainly demonstrate But first I shall lay down a few plain Positions which I hope scarce any professing themselves Christians that are in any degree intelligent can deny 1 st The Gospel did begin to be preached by the Lord to our first Parents immediately after the Fall when he gave the Promise That the Seed of the Woman should bruise the head of the Serpent And this was before any Law of Types of Figures was given and before Water baptism 2 dly This Gospel Promise was in a solmn way renewed by the Lord to Abraham That in his Seed all Nations of the Earth should be blessed and this was 430 years as Paul noticeth before the Law of Moses And the same Paul saint That the Gospel was preacht to Abraham which is the everlasting Gospel is one the same in all Ages of the world therefore to spake strictly did not take its beginning neither at the beginning of the book of Mark that beginneth with a Voice crying in the Wilderness Prepare the way of the Lord that as it related to Iohn's Ministration in part so it hath a further reach as pointing to an inward Ministration nor yet of Luke who goeth further backward to wit to Zacharias his burning Incence in the Temple and Matthew goeth yet farther backward to Abraham Isaac and Iacob and Iohn furthest of all to the Word that was in the beginning which Word is Christ by whom all things were made and are upheld 3 dly This one everlasting Gospel hath had it various and divers breakings forth and administrations in clearer discoveries and dispensations from age to age until the fullness of time before that fulness of time until Christ had suffered for the sins of the World rose again ascended and gave the holy Ghost to all true believers the Gospel dispensation remained among all the faithful in all Ages but as vai●ed or as the Kirnel within the Shell of the Figures and Types of the Law 4 thly The Law was never given alone by the Lord nor was ever intended by him that any should have eternal Life by the bare observation of the Figures and Shadows of the Law but by faith in Christ and true Gospel Obedience to him but it was as a Schoolmaster to lead unto Christ as Paul hath declared 5 tly These several more clear discoveries and dispensations of the Gospel may be branched forth or distinguished into several degrees and these several degrees may be reduced into three each of which dispensations had their peculiar and proper divine inward Illuminations and influences of Grace and Truth to wit First That discovery that God gave to men by Moses and the written Law and the Prophets until Iohn Secondly From Iohn until Christ dyed and rose again gave the holy Ghost Thirdly That last and most glorious discovery and revelation by the giving of the holy Ghost generally to all true believers in a peculiar influence and operation beyond what ever formerly was given in a general way to believers Again these three may be reduced into two viz. Law and Gospel called by Paul the Two Covenants which until the last greatest and most excellent discovery of the Gospel have been administred as with an excellent mixture as when Water and Wine are mixed together though the liquors be only two in kind yet they admit of many various Mixtures all which are serviceable according to the desire and ability of the drinkers And therefore whereas thou sayst Nor is there any third Dispensation that is neither Law nor Gospel of John's as is imagined In this as in many other things thou fightst against thy own shadow for though in my late book I writ of three Dispensations and prove them sufficiently out of the Scriptures yet I never imagined that there was any one of these three Dispensations that vvas neither Lavv nor Gospel but I thus distinguish them The first is both