believe in Charity that they are honest hearted and strict in their lives and yet through ignorance and the fair shews and pretences of a strict holy life are seduced and drawn away but I hope not so far gone but that they may be reclaimed and brought back to the truth To that end I desire them seriously to examine what I have written by the Scriptture rule and if they can shew me my error by that and that their religion is more agreeable thereunto I shall lay down all my weapons and joyn with them for I strive not for victory but for truth but if they cannot I hope they will remember from whence they are faln and repent and do their first works but if any of them are so obstinate that they will go on in their delusions my soul shall mourn for them in secret but I hope better things at least of some The fifth reason why I writ and published this was to strengthen such as are wavering through ignorance and weakness For I observe that when the Quakers come into a Parish to vent their errors many ignorant people are ready to hearken to their errors and be taken with their pretended shews of zeal and holiness and when they see none to oppose them nor answer them they are ready to think and say it it is because they are unanswerable which I have heard some say in the place where I live the which did move me to enter into disputation with them several times until they gave over their meetings there and what I have written is the same that was spoken in reasoning with them more inlarged and I hope the reading hereof may be a means to stablish and settle some that are wavering and keep them from those baits and snares which are laid to draw and catch them by these seducers The sixth reason was to clear my self from those lies and slanders raised by some Quakers as that they laid me in the dirt and that because I was not able to answer them I was a great persecutor of them the truth of which I refer to the impartial Reader to judge and some of them have reported that I am faln from those Principles that I formerly held and and published in a Treatise of the grounds of Religion called The Christians Profession the truth of which I refer to those that have read the same that shal read this And although I know it is their usal manner to revile and slander all that oppose them in their wild opinions yet I see too many are apt to believe what they say because of their pretended shew of holiness and some think them so perfect that they cannot erre wherefore lest my silence should be taken for a confession of being guilty I thought it necessary to publish this to clear clear my innocencie for if a man be bound by the law to pleasure the good name and credit of his neighbour surely he is bound by the same law to preserve his own Lastly the reasons moving me to publish this in print was first the desire and request of several friends to whom I was ingaged to grant their desires in what might be for their and the publick good 2. Because if I had onely sent a written Coppy to the Quakers they would have kept it from the knowledge of such whom they feared might be drawn away from them would have rais'd several fals reports I could not have had so many of my friends who are Quakers have had the sight thereof because I could not have gotten so many written Coppies because of the largeness thereof so that it would have been like the Tallent hid in the earth 3. Because I conceive it may be more profitable by being in many hands then in a few Although I know I shall thereby incur the revilings of some and the mocks and scoffs of others and the sensour and judgeing of many all of which I am contented to pass through so that my poor labour may be profitable to any And I know some will Object That I spent more time then I needed in regard I have written not onely against the Quakers but the Anabaptists also who write nothing to me I Answer That they do so nearly joyn together in some things as that I could not Answer the one without the other For the Quakers both in their Printed books and in their Disputations doe make the Baptism of Infants their great objection against our Ministers and Churches also the Quakers and Anabaptists are both of opinion in denying the lawfulness of singing Psalms and some Anabaptists agree with the Quakers in hearkning to Revelations and impulses of the Spirit and in hearkning to a light within them in things contrary to the light of Scripture and they agree in opposing our Ministers and Churches with great eagerness although in many other things they disagree and oppose and are contrary to one another Like Sampsons Foxes whose heads were all contrary one to the other but they were tied together by the tails with a fire-brand to set the corn on fire Even so do those Quakers and Anabaptists seem contrary one to the other and oppose each other and yet they knit and unite together to set the Church on fire by their fierce and fiery opposing our Churches and Ministers witness the severall books written and published by the Anabaptists against our Ministers and their maintenance as John Can his book called The first and second voice from the Temple and several others cmpared with Jona Dell his book called A voice from the Temple and several others by which it appears that they agree in one in opposing our Ministers because they knew if they could destroy the Ministery it were an easie matter to perswade people to any Religion as a man that hath lost his guide in a wilderness may easily lose his way Also who knoweth not that the Anabaptists were the first Original from whence the Quakers came for most of the Quakers were first Anabaptists as Mr. Baxtar hath at large proved wherefore considering how these agree in several opinions practices I have by the way as I found occasion written against their errors not their persons Also some will Object against my writing against the Quakers because they say they are a people that live very strict holy lives 1. I Answer That for their strict holy lives I refer the Reader to those ten Particulars I have proved against them 2. I Answer That the holyness of a Christian life doth not consist in Negatives only but in Affirmatives as well as Negatives now that they doe live in the neglect and contempt of many Christian Duties commanded by Christ and his Apostles is plain by what I have written 3. I Answer That the living a strict moral life only doth not prove them nor manifest them nor any other to be Christians for many heathens have done as much as Histories relate and many Papists have walked with as
worse then an Infidel and if all men then surely Ministers ought to provide for their Wives and Children unlesse you would have them worse than Infidels and you say they are Infidels because they do provide for their Wives and Children for you say they ought to preach for nothing and most of them have nothing else to maintain themselves Wives and Children but what they have by their ministery and must not Ministers Wives be maintained and Children brought up and educated as well as other mens Wives and Children must their Wives and Children be lest destitute of all means and maintenance and rely only upon the charity of others if they should I believe you Quakers would rather see them starve than relieve them But you will say if that Ministers must have maintenance yet not by Tithes as our Ministers are To which I answer that none of you Quakers have answered those books that have been written to prove the lawfulnesse of Ministers maintenance by Tithes nor are able to answer them But having proved by Scripture that Ministers ought to have a sufficient maintenance I marvel why not in that way which God first appointed are you wiser then he there was Tithes paid long before any ceremonies were appointed as you may read Gen. 14. 20. and God complaineth that the Jews robbed him but ye say Wherein have we robbed thee In Tithes and Offerings Now I would have you prove where the Lord doth forbid paying of Tithes in the Scripture if you say that Tithes were to continue but till Christ came I say that is more then you can prove for Christ reproving the Pharises saith Ye pay tithe of Mint and Anise and Cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law Judgement Mercy and Faith these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone Now if Christ had said these ye ought to yave done and to leave the other undone then I should be of your minde but seeing Christ saith the contrary I am bound to believe him before you Quakers or any other whoever he be and shall not spend any more time about proving Tithes of Divine Right but shall prove the lawfulnesse and equitablenesse of paying Tithes to Ministers by humane right and that I shall do from an Author who hath written An Item against Sacriledge whose name is not to his book but I shall make bold to quote his words because they are so pertinent to the point in controversie and being a subject about Lawfulnesse of Tithes I believe few Quakers have ever read it but I hope though you count in a sin to quote antient Fathers yet you will not count it a sin to quote antient Statutes The Author aforesaid doth alledge that Ethelwolp Son of King Egbert who had brought the Saxon Heptarchy into a Monarchy had all the Lands in England for his Demeasne as is acknowledged by Sir Edw. Cook in his Commentaries upon Littletons Tenures and conferred the Tithes of all his Lands and Goods by his Charter Royal upon the Church and adding in the end That who so should encrease that gift God would please to prosper and increase his dayes and if any should presume to diminish the same that he should be called to an account for it at Gods judgement seat and this he did not only as Lord Paramount but as proprietor of the whole Land the Lords and great men of that time having no Property or Estates of permanency but as accomptants to the King whose the whole Land was and yet they also gave their free consents which the King required that thereby they might be barred from pleading any Tenant-right as also to oblige them to stand in maintenance of Tithes against all pretenders Because the people can have no right or propriety in them for they never bought or paid for them neither could they come by inheritance for that which was not their Fathers could not descend to them Now consider whether it be agreeable to Piety Prudence Justice and Equity to alienate Tithes from the Ministery which have been so freely given by our Christian Kings out of zeal to advance Gods glory confirmed by many Acts of Parliament of times renewed and reiterated as by Magna Charta thirty times confirmed and many other Statutes since Now consider whether the ministery in England hath not as good a propriety in Tithes as Noblemen Gentlemen and Free-holders have in their Lands Seeing Tithes were so freely given and confirmed by so many Acts of Parliament who are the Representative of the whole Nation and those Parliaments have taken several Oaths and Protestations to defend and maintain the same and is it not a great sin for any man to endevour to bring the guilt of so many Oaths and Protestations upon the land As for Augmentations and Glebe-land which you also complain of I answer that what is freer than gift is it a sin for a Minister to take that which was and is voluntarily given towards the Ministers maintenance do not your Teachers take what is given them have they not maintenance can they live without meat drink lodging and cloaths while they wander up and down from place to place Now what have our Ministers more than maintenance for themselves and families and those who give the Ministers do it according to the light within them I shall Answer your objections against Ministers taking maintenance which is that the Lord complaineth against such Priests and Prophets that did teach for money and look for gain from their quarters that fed themselves and not the flock To which I answer that the Lord complaineth against such as only teach for Hire and not for Conscience nor love of Souls else why did the Lord complain against such as with-held the Tithes saying You have robbed me but ye say wherein have we robbed thee In Tithes and Offerings Also the Lord doth not simply complain against the Sheepherds because they eat the fat and were cloathed with the wool but because they did so only and did not feed the flock and minde that he calleth them Sheepherds and in Isaiah where he complaineth by the Prophet against such the text saith His watchmen are blinde they are all ignorant they are dumb dogs that cannot bark sleeping lying down loving to slumber they all look to their own way every one for gain from his quarter Come ye say they I will fetch wine and we will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant That which the Lord reproveth by his Prophet is not because they had maintenance but because they cared for nothing else they were ignorant lasie blinde gluttons and drunkards Now I wonder you are ashamed to compare our Ministers to such sure I am you know none such now that are so lasie that they Preach not nor such as give themselves wholly to gluttony or drunkenness Such there have been but blessed
Congregation and if any through ignorance doe sing that which is not sutable to their condition may not or must not others in the same congregation sing those things that are sutable to their condition That the Psalmes to be read by such is no sin unless you count reading the Scripture to be sinne and why may they not as well sing them as read them seeing the one is a duty as well as the other they may sing them doctrinal as well as read them doctrinal as the truths contained in the Psalms and such may be convinced by singing them as wel as reading them as in the particulars objected O Lord I am not puft in mind may not a proud person be convinc'd that he ought not to be proud and when a wicked man singeth My heart is bent to keep thy Law may not he thereby be convinced and taught by that Doctrine that his heart ought to be bent to keep the Law That it is ignorance of a mans own condition and of the matter contained in the Psalmes to think or say that the Psalmes are not sutable to our conditions for every Psalm setteth forth either the Attributes and workes of God and his Christ or else describeth the estate and wayes of the Church and People of God or describeth the estate and wayes of the wicked or else it doth lively express mine own affections and afflictions temptations and comfort But whatsoever the matter of the Psalm concerneth either of God or his Christ the godly or the wicked my self or others the good or evil estate of one or other it ever ministreth fit matter and occasion to me of singing forth the prayses of the Lord since the name of God is to be blessed in and by all whether it goe well or ill with our selves or others and I believe that there is no condition the Church is or can be in in general nor no condition which any Member is or hath been in but there are Psalms sutable to the same and several Clerks are able to chuse such Psalms as are fit and sutable for all times and for all states and conditions of the Church and sutable for all Ordinances and sutable to all Doctrines And lastly the general practice of the Churches of Christ is to me a thing much to be considered and that it was the practice of the Churches of Christ after the Apostles dayes several Histories do testifie as Mr. Cotton doth largely prove in his book written in defence of this Ordinance of singing of Psalmes against the Antipsalmist But you follow the Papists your Fathers who are as great enemies to singing of Davids Psalmes as your selves and I could wish that some Protestants were not too much tainted with that Opinion The Papist in contempt of singing of Psalmes call them Genevah Jigs as you Quakers and other Sectaries the brood of Antichrist scoff at our Ministers and people for singing of Psalmes calling them Hopkins Jigs But I hope I have sufficiently proved that we follow the example of Christ and his Apostles and all reformed Churches and that you do sin in not following the command and example of Christ and his Apostles and therefore are not perfect and so I pass from this particular in which I have been the longer in regard I have been so often opposed by you for practising this duty And now I come to a fourth particular in which you walk contrary to the rule of the Scripture and that is your practice in suffering and maintaining women to teach in your meetings which you call your Church Now this practice I have not only heard of but am an eye and ear witness of having heard two several women speak and teach in your meetings where I heard them speak such nonsensical erronious stuff that it is a shame to write it And this practice is justified and maintained in Print by one of their chief teachers Richard Fanworth for so he saith is his name in the flesh who hath written a Pamphlet called A woman forbidden to speak in the Church the Grounds examined the Mystery opened the Truth cleared and the Ignorance both of Priests and People discovered where by the way take notice that where ever the letter of the Text doth speak directly against your errors then you say there is a Mystery in it and that none can open but your selves But where the Letter of the Scripture seemeth to speak for your errours then you say away with your mystical meanings the Scripture is to be understood as they speak according to the Letter which I have often heard from your own mouths and read in your books Wherefore I shall indeavour to prove Mr. Fanworths Mystery opened to be the mystery of iniquity proceeding from the spirit of Antichrist being directly against the Doctrine of Christ contained in the Scripture For saith the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians Let your women keep silence in the Churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the Law And if they will learn any thing let them aske their husbands at home for it is a shame for women to speak in the Church also the Apostle to Timothy Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence Object But you Quakers say that there is a mystical meaning which none know but your selves And that is that by the woman is meant the flesh and by the speaking is meant the Spirit which is in the Saints and that may speak in the Church whether in man or woman male or female this Farnworth writeth in opening the Mystery Also Sarah Blackbury when I alledged the Apostles words to her in William Bonds House after she had been three or four hours there a teaching or prating on the Lords day she made me this Answer thou art the woman for thou art Flesh that is weak and therefore thou art to keep silence and I may speak because I have the Spirit by which the Scripture was written but thou hast not the Spirit and therefore hold thy babling for thou knowest not the meaning of the Scripture To which I replied but what is meant by the Husbands that the women are to learn of and to ask them at home To which Susan Bond answered Christ was the Husband and of him they were to be taught and Sarah Blackbery seemed to like the Answer well for she made no exceptions against it neither can she nor any one else if their doctrine be true that they all have an infallible Spirit and cannot erre else they cannot be perfect for error is sin and I shall prove this to be an error when I have taken away the false Vizzard which you have put upon the these Texts of Scripture Wherefore to shew you your error I shall shew you the great
A JUST DEFENCE and VINDICATION OF Gospel Ministers AND Gospel ordinances AGAINST The QVAKERS many false Accusations Slanders and Reproaches In ANSVVER to John Horwood his LETTER and E. B. his Book called A Just and lawful Tryal of the Ministers and Teachers of this Age and several others Proving the Ministers Calling and Maintenance Just and Lawful and the Doctrine of Perfection by Free Justification preached by them agreeable to the Scriptures VVith the Quakers Objections answered And the Quakers Perfection by hearkning to and obeying a light within them proved contrary to the Scriptures And their Practices in ten particulars proved contrary to the Commands and Examples of Christ and his Apostles By a Lover of Gospel Ministers and Gospel Ordinances Contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints Jude 3. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith But they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifested to all men as theirs was 2 Tim. 3. 8 9. London Printed by W. G. for the Author and are to be sold by Isaac Pridmore at the Signe of the Golden Falcon neer the New Exchange 1660. The Epistle to the Reader Christian Reader I Know it will seem strange that I should spend so much time in writing An Answer to those people called Quakers for I confess it seemeth strange to my self For when I first entered upon this Work I did not in the least intend to have written so much nor that which was written should have come to publick view in Print I shall therefore give the Grounds or Reasons moving me both to write and to publish what I had written Wherefore know that the first Reason moving me to undertake this Worke was because of that great Malice and Envie against the Ministers at that time When the black Cloud appeared the Quakers Anabaptists and other Sectaries threatning the utter ruine of our Ministers not onely by their reviling Reproaches false Accusations and the like but by their labouring to get hands to Petition those then in Authoritie to take away their maintenance setled by Law and that because they were no lawfull Ministers as is expressed in one of their Printed Papers presented to those then in Authoritie and by those many Pamphlets printed against Tithes and our present Ministery Published by the Quakers and Anabaptists and when those failed by getting the Army to joyn with them to turn the Parliament men out and setting up themselves in their stead to rule all by their giddy heads theatning that now all the Priests should be turned out as unprofitable burthens to the Common-wealth Notwithstanding all this the Misters were for the most part silent not willing to foul their pens by writing against such a wild generation but in patience committed their cause unto God by prayer who hath in some measure answered them For whose sake next my Lord and Master Jesus Christ I did undertake this Work hoping they and all others will except of my poor weak endeavours and pass by my weaknesses wherein I have slipped either in impertinences or otherwise nor regard the rudeness of my Stile but look on the scope and end of my poor Labours to maintain a Gospel Ministery and Gospel Ordinances although defended without Eloquence or humane Arts in which I hope I have pleased the Adversaries though I despise them in other things The second Reason was because of those many Letters and printed Books sent unto me by several Quakers some of themselves reporting they are unanswerable And considering what Solomon the wise saith Answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit And I perceive the not answering these men is one ground of their self-confidence and being wise in their own conceit And although this Answer be plain without humane Art or Eloquence yet considering that the persons with whom I have to deal are such as despise all such Learning and mock at Universities and Colledges I suppose this Answer may best fit their spirits coming from a private person who hath not the help of outward Learning and Tongues no more then themselves of w ch they boast that they can write so many Books without those humane helps and that what the Priests as they call them write that is only by their humane learning which they think is ground sufficient for them not to regard what is written by them But I hope they will have so much regard as to read what I have written seeing we are on even terms in that particular The third Reason of writing and publishing this Answer because of the great growth and increase of these Errors by reason of the diligence of the Devils instruments in writing and printing so many Books to spread abrode their Errors some of them have affirmed in my hearing That there is a thousand of their erronious Books printed every week and most of them given away on purpose to delude ignorant people and that there are above thirty thousand Quakers in England and that within less then 3. yeers they shall stop the mouths of all our Priests as they call them they having but one string left to their bow and that Gods Sword was now drawn to cut that and then they are gone Wherefore considering the great diligence of these men and women for promoting of Errour not only by writing and printing their erronious Books but by their diligence in running or going about from one place to another to spread their errors not onely in England but in Ireland Scotland Barbadus and new England Holland and other places I was ashamed to see how cold and backward we are in opposing their errors and defending the Truth of the Gospel Ministerie and Gospel Ordinances against the many assaults of the adversaries and is it not a shame That Sectaries should be more zealous in promoting the kingdom of the devil then we are in promoting the Kingdome of Jesus Christ and yet how many of us have solemnly ingaged our selves by Oath or Covenant to indeavour the extirpation of Superstition Herisie Schism Prophaneness and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of Godliness lest we partake in other mens sins and thereby be in danger to receive of their plagues The consideration of which hath been a chief motive to undertake this work and to cast in my Mite others having brought forth out of their Treasure The fourth Reason moving me to under take this work and publish the same was because many of my old friends acquaintance are seduced from the Truth to these errors of whom I may say as the Prophet David said We took sweet counsel together and went unto the publick assemblies together and not onely friends and acquaintance but some of near relation for whom the bond of nature bindeth me to endeavour their recalling back and the rather because I
first lay down this proposition that all Ministers since the Apostles days are not called immediately by an extraordinary call as the Porphets and Apostles were but mediately in an ordinary way of calling Which calling is not the calling of men but the calling of the Holy Ghost because that calling which the Holy Ghost hath revealed in the Scripture and that I shall prove by Scripture for after that he was ascended into heaven Judas being faln from his Apostleship and another to be chosen in his room the Apostles being met together concluded from what was written in the Scripture that another should take his charge wherefore they presented two out of the number of those who was conversant among them from the Baptism of John and they prayed and gave forth their Lots and the Lot fell on Matthias and he was numbred with the eleven Apostles No man pretended that he had the Spirit and therefore that was a sufficient call neither did God call any by revelation or a Voyce from Heaven to that place of an Apostle in his room Also after the Apostles had gathered Churches they ordained Elders by election in every Church and the Apostle Paul saith that he left Titus in Creet that he should ordain Elders in every City and the Apostle writing to Timothy saith Despise not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by Prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery or Eldership And Paul directed him whom to make Bishops or Elders And also the Apostle doth not only direct him but also charge him among other things that he should lay hands suddenly on no man One of your Speakers or Praters at one of your meetings at VVilliam Bond 's house hearing some in the Street threaten to pull them out of the house cryed out lay hands suddenly on no man as if the Apostle had meant of striking men suddenly But the Apostle saith that a Bishop or Elder must be no striker By which you may see how you are mistaken in the meaning of Scripture who pretend to have the infallible Spirit by which the Scripture was written as I have heard some of your company say And Jona Dell in his Book called The Voyce from the Temple writeth But your Spirit of error in misapplying Scripture is plainly discerned by all that have the Spirit of discerning and now I pray mind these things to use your own phrase and consider of these Texts of Scripture here written and let the Light of the Scripture enlighten your dark minds to see that those who have an external call as well as an internal call are the lawful Ministers of the Gospel and such are our Ministers Can you believe that God hath appointed order and government in a Common-wealth and in a Family and hath appointed none in his Church Now is it a sufficient warrant for a man to execute the Office of a Justice of the Peace a Constable or any other office in the Common-wealth because he hath sufficient gifts and inward qualifications without an outward call by those who are in authority either by Commission or otherwise and it is lawful for any man to execute the the Office of a publick Minister without a lawful call from those who are in publick Authority But I know your opinions are against all order or offices in the Church and so much you write in your paper making it to be a great fault that our Teachers bear rule Now that I may show you your error mind these Scriptures that prove Ministers to be Officers and such officers as are to rule in the Church The Apostle Paul writing to Timothy saith If a man desire the Office of a Bishop or Elder he desireth a good work and shewing how he ought to be qualified saith he must be one that ruleth well his own house else how shall he take care of the Church And the Apostle writing to the Corinthians saith That God hath set some in the Church first Apostles Secondarily Prophets Thirdly Teachers helps to Government Also the Apostle writing to the Romans saith All Members have not the same Office Wherefore he that is a Minister let him wait on Ministering or he that Teacheth on Teaching he that ruleth with diligence Also the Apostle writing to the Hebrews saith Remember them that have the rule over you and who are they the Apostle saith such who have spoken unto you the Word of God and in the same Chapter Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls But though you are like Korah and his company who were many Two hundred and fifty Princes of the Assembly famous in the Congregation men of renown who gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron and said as you Quakers do to other Ministers and Magistrates you take too much upon you seeing all the Congregation are holy and the Lord is among them So you say Have not we the same Spirit the Apostles had Are not we all holy wherefore do you Priests take so much upon you But what became of those men God caused the Earth to open and swallow them up and take heed lest God show some special Judgement upon you by delivering you up to blindnesse of mind and hardnesse of heart Korah and his company had the same prâ—â—ences that you have but know it is not the inward gifts and qualifications only that makes a publick Teacher as I have proved but the lawful ordaining a man to that office and a man that is so called although he want the power of that which he teacheth as the Sons of Ely were lawfull Priests because lawfully called though they were wicked men and the Pharises and Scribes Christ saith sit in Moses Seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you observed that observe and do but do not ye after their Works for they say and do not Now by their sitting in Moses Seat was that it was their office or calling to teach the Law and therefore Christ spake both to the Multitude and to his Disciples to hear them and Judas was a true Apostle and one that preached as the rest of the Apostles for it is said he had part in this Ministery But all those who are authorized for that work ought to be careful that they ordain none but such who are inwardly fitted and called and to that end the Apostle chargeth Timothy that he lay hands suddenly on no man but to try and examine both himself and others of his fitnesse and ability lest he be partaker of other mens sins Consider what I have here written in answer to your first Ground And now I shall answer your second Ground which is because they go to Oxford or Cambridge and learn Latine Hebrew or Greek To which I answer I know many Ministers that never went to these places to learn these languages and yet think
Geneva because that Church hath and is counted one of the best reformed Churches from Popery and therefore I hope you will not say they were Popish writers and I am certain they were no Quakers for they observed Christ his ordinance of Baptisme which you deny teaching that it is of no use now in the Church in which you disobey Christ his command and walk contrary to his practice and walk contrary to the practice of the Apostles and all the Ministers of the Gospel in the best reformed Churches and therefore are not perfect But you say that if it be lawful now to Baptize yet is it not lawful to Baptize Children and therefore our Ministers do that which Christ never commanded which is the thing you all fly unto when you are put upon the tryal of the lawfulnesse of Baptisme and that is one of E. B. his objections against our Ministers in his book called A just and lawful tryal of the Teachers and professed Ministers of this age and generation by a prefect proceeding against them and justly weighed measured and condemned Which book was given me by a Quaker in London as being unanswerable I have answered already all the chief grounds and reasons alledged in the said book against our Ministers but this being one ground that our Ministers Baptize or sprinkle Infants and tells them they are Christians before they preach to them contrary to the practice of Christ and his Apostles Now although it was not in the least any part of my intention when I began to write to medle with that controversie of Baptizing Childen because I was to write against Antibaptists not Anabaptists yet finding since that Quakers who are Antibaptists in that they deny all Water-baptisme do make that one of their chief grounds against the lawfulnesse of our Ministers both in their writings and disputings I was moved to bestow a little more time and labour in answering you in that particular although I might have saved that labour in regard Mr. Richard Baxter hath so plainly proved the lawfulnesse of Infant-baptisme in his answer to Mr. Tombes but because I know you Quakers do not usually read any books but such as are of your own stamp or such as are written in opposition to your opinions I shall write such grounds and reasons as I conceive are sufficient to prove the lawfulnesse of Infant-baptisme Wherefore I shall first lay down this assertion That the Covenant of Grace which God made from the beginning with Adam and renewed unto Abraham is the same for substance which we have now in the dayes of the Gospel and as he did give Circumcision a Sign and Seal of that Covenant before Christ his coming in the flesh whereby they and their children were distinguished from the Heathen Gentiles so hath the Lord Christ appointed Baptisme a Signe and Seal of the same Covenant in the dayes of the Gospel whereby all those that believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ they and their children are also distinguished from Heathen Infidels that believe not the Gospel Now the Covenant of Grace was made to the children of all those that are within the Covenant I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee Now all those that are of the Faith of Abraham are the seed of Abraham and if ye be Christs then are ye Abrahams seed and Heirs according to the promise and the Father to them that are not of Circumcision but also walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham Now the children after Christ his coming in the flesh were counted within the Covenant so as to be accounted visible Members of the Church and so capable of the outward external Sign and Seal of the Covenant I shall prove first by the words and example of 〈◊〉 â—imself when they brought Infants unto him 〈…〉 saw it and they rebuked them but 〈…〉 and said suffer little Children to 〈…〉 not for of such is the kingdome of God Now if children belong to the Kingdome of God then surely the Seals of the Kingdome do belong unto them Also when Christ gave Commission to his Disciples he said Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Now are not children part of the Nations and if you say they must be taught first I answer that Mr. Baxter hath proved that by Teaching is in the Original Disciple them where he also proveth that children are Disciples as well as others Also the Apostle Peter said unto those converts in the Acts Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Now if the Promise did belong unto their children surely the Seal of the Promise doth belong unto them and it cannot be Circumcision for that was abolished wherefore it must needs be Baptisme which is the Badge or Seal whereby Christions are distinguished from others Also the Apostle writing to the Corinthians some men having unbelieving Wives and the Women unbelieving Husbands were in doubt whether they might live together the Apostle therefore doth resolve their scruples telling them that there was no cause of separation for saith he The unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the believing Husband and the unbelieving Husband by the believing Wife else were your Children unclean but now they are holy Where the Apostle cannot be understood of any inherent holinesse but rather a relative holinesse which makes the person capable of being a member of the visible Church by the Ordinance of Baptisme I know the Anabaptists say the meaning is else were your children Illegitimate that is base born but that cannot be the Apostles meaning for the Apostle saith that the unbeliever is sanctified by the believer Now I never read in Scripture that being lawfully Married made children holy or unholy for I believe Jews and Turks are lawfully Married but that doth not make their children holy but if that interpretation were granted it will serve to prove the point in controversie for no Bastard was to be admitted into the Church and Congregation of the Jews and were therefore not to partake of holy things but all children that were born being not Bastards were admitted visible members of the Church and were capable of that federate relative holinesse and if the Apostles meaning be of their being not base born but legitimate then I say he doth thereby intimate that then their children were capable of being made visible members of the Church by Baptisme as well as the children of the Jews by Circumcision or else the Jewes and their children had a greater priviledge in the time of the Law
opinions And face doth not more answer face in a Glasse then you do answer each other as I can shew you in several of their opinions and practises compared with yours as their hearkning to a light within them and revelations which they followed contrary to the Scripture some of them running about the streets naked as many of you have done some of them burning their clothes as some of you have done although at their first springing up they seemed to be such meek humble Saints that they would suffer any thing yet after they had gotten a sufficient number and strength then they shewed themselves in their Colours for then it was revealed that John of Leyden may be a King and that all the wicked must be destroyed and King John and his Disciples must govern all and have all the goods of the wicked because they had no right to them to which end they fortified Munster against the Emperor perswading the people that God would feed them by a miracle it being so revealed to them by which the poor people were many of them starved and at last King John and his company taken himself and two more of his chief companions hanged and put in three Iron Cages and set on the top of the three high Towers or Steeples the rest banished two ships laden with them the Author saith came into Great Brittain where they first sowed those seeds of Heresie from which have spang up all those errors of Anabaptism Familism Antinomianism Adamites Seekers and Quarkers I hope you will be convinced by all that I have written that your Practise in denying the ordinance of Baptism is contrary to the example of Christ and his Apostles and therefore in that you are not perfect And now I come to a second particular in which I shall prove that you walk contrary to Christ command and example and the example of the Apostles and that is in that you deny the partaking of the Lords Supper and teach that it is abolished and not to be used in the Church of Christ as Jona Dell in his Book called A Voyce from the Temple writeth and several others Wherefore I shall briefly prove that it was Christs command and Example and the practise of the Apostles and all the reformed Churches ever since the Apostle days Now Christ before his Death did institute and appoint this ordinance as you may read in Matthew Mark and Luke And he took bread and gave thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying this is my body which is given for you this do remembrance of me Likewise also the Cup after Supper saying This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you Where we are to take notice that Christ saith this do in Remembrance of me which is a command for them to do as he had done and that it was Christs meaning to have them do the same after his Ascension is plain because the Apostles did practise the same afterwards which they would not have done had it not been Christs command and the Apostle Paul doth plainly prove it to be Christ command For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you and what was that but the Supper of the Lord as the words following shew but you will say how long was the practise of that to continue The Apostle doth tell you For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come But you say Christ is come by his Spirit to every believer and that is the meaning of it till he come To which I answer that I wonder you Quakers are not ashamed to give such a sense of the words and had I not heard it from several of your Mouths and read it in several of your Books I should not have believed it Wherefore to convince you of your error pray tell me Whether Christ was not come to his Apostles by his Spirit and to all others that believed the Gospel of Christ If Christ was not come to the Apostles by his Spirit how did they write the Scriptures Besides the Scripture saith That the Apostles were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues and yet the Apostles practise was to break bread after that and therefore the meaning of the Apostle to eat this bread and to drink this cup for so often as you eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he comes must needs be meant of Christs second coming namely his coming at the end of the world when he cometh to Judgement when the Saints bodies shall be raised out of their Graves and those that are then alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever abide with the Lord where then we shall have no need nor use of Sacraments because faith then shall cease being swallowed up in vision But till then we have need of these outward ordinances to help strengthen our faith the Supper of the Lord being appointed by Christ himself to that end where we may see a representation of Christ crucified before our eyes to help strengthen our faith for the Apostles themselves had need of these ordinances the Apostle Paul saith VVe know in part For now we see through a glasse darkly But then face to face mind Now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known Now is it not a horrible pride in you to say you are more fuller of the Spirit than the Apostles that you have more knowledge and stronger faith than the Apostles for you see the Apostles made use of this ordinance to strengthen their saith and if you say you have no need of this partaking of ordinances do not you declare your selves to be more perfect than the Apostles But Jona Dell in his Voyce from the Temple doth affirm that you Quakers have such an infallible knowledge that you cannot erre but we can smell from whence you sucked in this poyson even from your Father the Pope the great Antichrist who only claimeth this infallible Spirit But this by the way Also Jona Dell in the said Book saith that this outward ordinance of the Lords Supper hath been much abused and therefore not to be used in the Church any longer as that Ceremony of the brasen Serpent after it was abused by the Israelites to Idolatry it was broken in pieces and not to be used any more and so he calleth it a Ceremony and shadow and all other ordinances which having been abused ought to be abolished For Answer to which I shall only mind you of the Example and practise of the Apostle Paul concerning the same in his Epistle to the Corinthians who had so abused the Supper of the Lord as I have not heard of greater nor the like for saith
not build up themselves on their faith nor pray as is your practice and for Prayer some of your company are not ashamed to say and write that Ministers praying before and after Sermon is a will-worship and that you know not one example left for it either by Christ or any of his Apostles and that praying is for the honor and magnificence of our Idol and that is preaching they are Tomlinsons own words But let all sober minded persons judge whether your silent meetings or praying and preaching is will-worship and an Idol If you have no example of Christ and his Apostles of such silent meetings then it is an Idoll and a will-worship of your own devising which I challenge all you Quakers to bring any one example of Christ or his Apostles of any such meetings or any example of any Church since the Apostles dayes whether Separate or any other and do you think that the Apostles and all the Churches were ignorant of any part of the Service of God while now of late dayes you Quakers have found it or rather invented it had not they the light of Christ within them to direct them seeing you say all men have the light of Christ within them Wherefore I conclude that this your light is darkness and this your practice is a meer invention of your own brains and therefore are not perfect A ninth particular practice used amongst you is your Quaking fits with which many among you are strangely taken falling on the ground their arms and leggs shaking their mouths foaming their bellies swelling and some of them purging to which I may add your strange kind of disfiguring your faces and countenances hanging down your heads or holding them awry looking like a company of forlorn dejected condemned persons that were afraid to look up to Heaven Now for those quaking fits from whence you have the name of Quakers many are of opinion that they are Diabolical by a kind of witchcraft and to that end I have heard strange relations of inchanted ribins of giving of drink after which the persons have been taken with quaking fits and some say possessed with the divel And when I have read John Gilpins Book called The Quakers shaken and John Toldarns Book called The foot out of the snare in which they relate such strange kind of actings and workings of their bodies besides the relations of several others and compare them with those whom we read of in the Evangelist Luke I confess there is a likeness and a resemblance between them And lo a spirit taketh him and he suddenly crieth out and it teareth him that he foameth again and bruiseth him All which actions the Quakers have had in their quaking fits as you may read in the two forenamed books and many have been eye witnesses of the same effects in others in which fits some of the chief Quakers have said that now the good spirit was driving out of the bad But however if it be not a bodily witchcraft sure it is a spiritual witchcraft whereby the minds of the people are bewitched to believe that those shakings and quakings of the body are from the Spirit of God I have read in the Scripture that the Mystery of iniquity in the spirit of Antichrist even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power signes and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie I believe these are some of those signs and lying wonders with which the followers of Antichrist shall be deceived The Papists who have deceived you Quakers as that divine Lawyer M. Will. Prin doth at large prove in his book called The Quakers unmasked Also I have read in the Scripture that God hath caused such shaking and trembling to fall upon wicked men as a punishment for their sins as Belshazzar that his countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joynts of his loyns were loosed and his knees smote one against another And in the Philistians Camp or Loft there was trembling and among all the people the Garrison and they all trembled so it was a very great trembling and among those curses pronounced in Deuteronomy against wicked men this is one The Lordshal give thee a trembling heart And it is threatned as a curse upon the wicked Let their eyes be darkned that they see not and make their loyns to shake I wish it be not your condition that your eyes be not darkned in that you take shaking for a blessing when it is a curse the Devils are said to tremble But you object that we read in the Scripture of shaking quaking and trembling rejoyce with trembling Psalm 2. 11. and work out your salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. and Paul is said to tremble Acts 9 6. and the keeper of the prison came trembling before Paul and Silas Acts 16. 29. By trembling I understand no other then the fear and trembling of the heart generally spoken of in Scripture and not a quaking and trembling of the body as is usual amongst you Quakers and that fear and trembling is twofold First that which is at the first Act of conversion as that of Paul and the Jaylor whose trembling I understand of the soul and if it were of the body it was extraordinary and not to be brought to a rule and that fear or trembling of the soul at the first act of conversion is general to all that are truly converted called the spirit of bondage Ye 〈◊〉 not received the spirit of bondage again to fear and those that were converted at Peters Sermon being about three thousand souls they were pricked in their hearts We read not of any trembling or quaking of their bodies but that they gladly received his word and this fear or trembling of the soul at the first conversion is not in all alike but in some more and in some less though in all some We read that the Lord opened the heart of Lydia hearing the Apostles that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul and she was baptized and her houshold We read not of any fear or trembling much less quaking and yet no doubt but she had a conviction of her own unworthiness the Apostle John saith that perfect love casteth out fear that is all slavish hellish fear Secondly there is a son-like fear after conversion which is a fear whereby the soul is fearful of doing any thing that is contrary to the will and mind of such a good loving and kind God and Father and this fear or trembling is no wayes agreeable to the quaking and trembling of the body practised amongst you nor to the disfiguring your faces with holding down the head
for so saith the Apostle Iohn If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us If we say that we have not sinned we make him a lyer and his word is not in us you make God a lier because he saith All men are liers you are men therefore liers and therefore sinners in themselves which I have formerly proved at large Wherefore I should insist upon those lies which you have written and printed and reported For those untruths which thou John Horwod hast written in thy Letter concerning the Ministers and my self I shall but briefly touch them Thou sayest that our Ministers keep people in sin abominable lie For they preach against sin Thou saist that our Ministers know nothing but by Tongues and Art and that they preach for nothing but money Most gross lies If our Ministers did not preach for Conscience to discharge their duties in publishing the Truth how and why have so many of them suffered the loss of their lives and estates and so many lost their Livings and suffered Imprisonment and some Banishment I never heard of any Quakers that suffered so much for their Religion nor never shall for it is not worth suffering for but you cry out of suffering and persecution when none hurt you and that is another of your lies that you are persecuted when you are only perswaded out of your errours And this I know by experience and shall endeavour to clear my self from your lying slanderous tongues for some of your Quakers did report to several of my friends and acquaintance in London and to some of near relation that I was the greatest persecutor of the Quakers in all the Countrey which is a most gross lie for I never did doe them the least harm but indeavoured to doe them all the good that lay in my power both by labouring to convince and reclaim them from their errors and by endeavouring to restrain people from offering any violence against them I was sent by the Magistrate to desire a man at whose house they met to come to him where the Minister of the place was present and the Magistrate and Minister both did use all the love and meekness that could be expressed to perswade and convince him of his errour and did bring such plain proofs from Scripture to prove him to be seduced and brought into severall errours that both of them and my self did hope that the man was convinced he promising to come to the Ministers house for a Catechise of the grounds of Religion and to read the same but after the man came to his old company of Quakers they turned him to his errours and did continue their meetings at his house on the Sabbath day and on the Thursdayes where I had several conferences with them and their Teachers and seeing many rude boyes and others come about the door I desired the Magistrate to send the Officers of the Parish to fetch them away from the House lest their should be any disturbance which he did And now let all persons that hear this judge whether there were any persecution in all this and whether it was not a lie to say that I was the greatest persecutor of them in the Countrey For at Branford some of them were set in the stock some sent to Newgate and indited at the Scessions and severall of them beaten and was my reasoning with them and endevouring to reclaim them and endeavouring to restrain rude persons from disturbing them worse than all that they suffered at Branford which I never knew of while afterward But the first time that I met Sarah Blackbury at Cheeswick after some discourse with her she looked on me and said Thou wilt be a great or the greatest Persecutor of Gods People in all this countrey and I suppose because she would be counted a true prophetess she raised this lie on me which was soon spread abroad by her Disciples for she was counted one of the chief Teachers and doth send several of them abroad to several places to teach or rather to seduce and spred their lies abroad which are so many that I should weary my self to write them and others to read them wherefore I shall onely make mention of the lies in Print which are the greatest lies in Print that ever I read and that is in a Book or Pamphlet called A just and lawfull Trial of the Teachers and professed Ministers of this Age and Generation by a friend to Englands Common-wealth for whose sake this is written and sent abroad E. B. Which Book being given me as a piece unanswerable in the conceit of him that gave it me I did ingage my self to answer it I saw it was nothing but revilings and slanders and lies against our Ministers and indeed they are the Buts at which they shoot their Arrowes and the truth is I had answered all the chief grounds alleadged in the said Book against our Ministers before I saw it in answer to John Horwood But for those many Lies in the said Book I shall give answer to some of the chiefest proving them to be grosse Lies and therefore that he who writ the same being a Quaker is not perfect The first of E. B. his grosse Lies against our Ministers is that our Ministers do things contrary to the Spirit of Jesus and they have seen nothing but lying vanities and divinations whereby they seduce the people for Life is promised him though he be wicked and ungodly living in all unrighteousnesse Now I appeal to the Consciences of all that hears this whether this be not a grosse Lie for was there ever any Minister in the worst of times or the worst of Ministers that ever taught such Doctrine or speak such words but how doth this profound Lier prove these words for saith he they tell him that Christ is his righteousnesse to justifie him and then he thinks he needs not turn from his sin and so their hands are strengthned that they cannot turn from their sins By which E. B. doth discover his grosse Ignorance as well as Malice For he doth believe that the Doctrine of free Justification by Christ his righteousnesse is a Doctrine that doth teach peole to live in all unrighteousnesse But doth not this Lier make the Apostle Paul to be a false Teacher and one that had seen nothing but lying Vanities as well as our Ministers seeing the Apostle taught the same Doctrine Now to him that worketh not but beleiveth on him that justifieth the ungodly His faith is counted for righteousnesse Even as David describeth the blessednesse of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without works for as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one that is Christ shall many be made righteous being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ And did not the Apostle John teach the same Doctrine And if
onely by detaining the Ministers dues from them but by disturbing them in the exercise of their Ministery and of this I have heard several Relations upon which the Ministers for their own quiet were forced to complain to the Magistrates and when they have been brought before them they have abused them upon which severall have been sent to prison and I think justly But that any Ministers committed any to prison for not paying Tithes that I deny and say it is a false lie for suppose that some Quakers in those Countries or other Countries would not pay the Ministers their dues and these Quakers have been sued and the Jewry according to Law hath given their verdiet for payment of so much mony and they refuse to pay but will rather go to prison then pay their dues they put themselves in prison to save their money for neither the Minister nor the Law could put them into prison if they would pay their dues and that Tithes are the Ministers due I have already proved and suppose they were not due of Divine Right yet being due by a Civil right in regard of the Laws and Customs of the Nations I say they have as good right to them as any man hath to any house or land or money and if you plead it is against your conscience to pay Tithes as you do say I say suppose you should say it is against your conscience to pay any money you borrow as I hear some of you have done being asked for money lent have answered what conscience have you to ask me money seeing Christ saith Give to him that asketh if you should be sued and would not pay might not you justly be cast into prison and no sin in him that seeketh his own and I say the case is the same and Christ by his example never taught you to deny payment of Tribute for when they demanded Tribute of Christ though saith he the children be free yet lest we should offend them go and take the money out of the mouth of the fish and give them for me and thee because it was a Law and a Custome Christ would not offend them And by this you see all your great clamours and accusations against our Ministers are proved to be meer lies and slanders with which I shall conclude that you Quakers are not perfect because you do publish so many lies I have proved ten several Particulars against you all of which shall be witnesse against you that you are not the perfect holy innocent Lambs of Christ as you call your selves But you may all confess as it is in our English Liturgy We have left undone those things that we ought to have done and we have done those things that we ought not to have done and there is no truth in us And pray as Christ in that perfect form of Prayer And forgive us our trespasses Though some have said they thank God they have forgotten that Prayer And may not we say so of you as Agur said There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet are not washed from their filthiness But I know your Objection by what I have heard from you in disputing with you and that is that what I speak is not from the Spirit but from flesh and from the Letter that I have read in other mens Books or lines with which you think to wipe off all that I have said or written For Answer to which I desire you to consider and examine what I have written by the rule of the Scripture and if it be not according to that rule or what ever part is not according to that rule I shall confesse it is from the flesh neither do I pretend to an infallible Spirit so as that I cannot erre as you do and I desire you to examine your own by that rule and let that be the Judge between us according to the Prophet Isaiah his exhortation To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Where mind that the Law and the Testimony is called this word and those that speak not according to this word there is no light in them if no light in them then no Christ in them Now you say all men have the light of Christ in them I say they have not because the Scriptures say if they speak not according to this word it is because their is no light in them So that all men have not the light in them But seeing you say all men have the light of Christ in them I may say then I have the light in me as well as you and why may not or why doth not the light inlighten me to speak or write the truth as well as it teacheth you This I do declare to you and all that shall read these lines that what I have here written is according to that light within me and I hope from Christ the true light For I beleive there are false lights with which many are decieved as there are false fires that leadeth people about in dark nights into bogs and water And I beleive that what you write and speak is according to the light within you But I fear it is a false light that hath led you into many dirty errors It is your own phrase wherefore let what you have written and what I have written be layed to the line the Law and the Testimony and let that be the Judge between us whether the light in me be the light of Christ or whether the light in you be the light of Christ Try the Spirits whether they be of God for many false Prophets or spirits are gone out into the World The Apostle sheweth how to know such Spirits as are of God and such as are of Antichrist Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and this is that Spirit of Antichrist Now let us examine who they are that deny that Christ is come in the Flesh I say you are they and what I say I shall prove for whomsoever doth deny the end of Christs coming in the flesh doth deny his coming in the flesh But you do deny the end of Christs coming in the flesh Therefore you do deny his coming in the flesh For when the Apostle doth write of such as deny Christs coming in the flesh he doth not mean the Jews or other Heathens which denyed that Christ was come But of such as did confesse that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and yet did deny he was come in the flesh because they denyed the end of his coming in the flesh Now that the Apostle doth speak of such is plain For the Apostle saith Now are there many Antichrists They went out from us but they were not of us even as
and I in them and we have known and beleived the Love that God hath to us God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him And that I may make it more plain I will set this forth by a similitude We know that the Sun doth shine and give light and heat by its beams or operation and we do say the Sun shineth into such a house or room and the Sun doth warm such a place and such a creature Now the body of the Sun remaineth in the Firmament but its beams and light and heat are in several places here below So in like manner Christ his body is in Heaven but he sendeth abroad his light and heat several operations and workings of his Spirit in the hearts of his people and this Metaphor of the Sun is often used in Scripture wherefore I shall alleadge some of those Scriptures because they do fitly serve to illustrate this truth The Prophet Malachy prophesieth of Christ saying but unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings And as it is the property of the Sun to give light and warmth or heat and to expel mists and fogs that do infect the Air and to compleat and enliven things that seem to be dead in the Winter so is Christ to his Church and people here on earth though he be in Heaven he is the light of his Church as the Prophet Isaiah saith Arise shine for thy light is come and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising And this Sun of righteousnesse is said to expel the of his people as a thick cloud is expelled by the Sun And the Lord is said to be a Sun to his people that is in Christ for out of Christ he is a consuming fire Object But you say that Christ doth enlighten every man as the Sun giveth light to all and by hearkning too and obeying that light all may be saved I have answered this before but for a farther answer Answ That I confesse Christ doth enlighten every man that cometh into the world in some sense for as the Sun in the Heaven doth give light and heat unto all so doth Christ as the Creator give a common light of nature He maketh his Sun so shine or rise upon the evil and the good All that common light of Knowledge and understanding that wicked men have and all outward blessings come from Christ In him saith the Apostle we live move and have our being but that Christ doth give a spiritual light of grace unto all that are born that I deny For we are all born blind and dark in regard of spiritual light so saith the Apostle ye were once darkness and St. John saith That the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not as the Sun shining on a man that is born blind he receiveth no light from the Sun and every man that hath this spiritual light hath it or receiveth it from God in and through Christ as the Apostle Paul saith For God who commanded light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ This light is a free gift and we were not born with it If we were what need Christ have dyed for our sins Or what use is there of his intercession if all men have a light within them by hearkning to which and obeying it they may be saved I have taken this by the way because it is one of your cheif grounds upon which you build your religion But it is a sandy one that hath no foundation on Christ or the Scriptures For you do not make the Scriptures to be the rule of your faith and practise but some revelations or impulse of Spirit And therefore you object against what is spoken or written by reading or study or reading other mens works which is the last of your objections that I know of with answering of which I shall conclude For Answer I say that your slighting of reading and studying the Scripture and reading of the writings of godly Ministers and others that have written on them is a chief cause of all your errors For Christ exhorteth all to search the Scriptures and that cannot be without reading them And the Apostle Paul exhorteth Timothy To give attendance to reading and to meditate upon these things and give thy self wholly to them Surely Paul knew Timothy was no Quaker for some of you Quakers have said that they may not read the Scriptures But the Apostle commendeth Timothy That from a Child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation If he had not been a Reader of Scriptures he had not known them for although many read the Scriptures that never knew the will and mind of God revealed in them yet ordinarily none knoweth the Scripture but those that have read them or heard them read or preached upon and as faith cometh by hearing so by reading some have been converted if we may believe their own testimony in History which bringeth me to the second part of your objection The reading of other mens Books or writings To which I say that the Apostle Paul though a man indued with extraordinary gifts of revelations Yet he did read other mens Books or writings as you may see by his writing to Timothy When thou comest bring with thee the books but especially the parchments Now if the Apostle did not read them what need he to have sent for them but that the Apostle did read other books besides the Scripture is plain for the Apostle writeth of Jannes and Jambres withstanding Moses and he must read it in some other book or writing then the Scripture for there is no such thing there Also the Apostle to Titus doth alledge what one of the Cretians own Prophets said which he had read in some of their books and the Apostle Jude saith that Michael the Arch-angel strove with the Devil and disputed about the body of Moses and Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophecied of such men saying Behold the Lord cometh with thousands of his Angels Now we read of none of these in the Scripture and therefore the Apostle did read them in some other books or writings and will you say the Apostles did not bost in other mens lines as you say of us surely if the Apostles made use of other mens writings much more may we and to what end hath God given gifts unto men if they may not improve them by writing for sometimes they have not opportunitie to exercise them otherwise unless you would have them hide their Talents and to what end doe you Quakers write so many books and spread them
abroad if the reading of other books beside the Scriptures be not necessary unless you believe what some of your fellow Quakers have said that James Naylors books are of as Divine authority as the Scriptures because he is inspired by the same Spirit the Prophets and Apostles were when they writ the Scripture in which you are like your Fathers the Familists for such like Titles and Stiles I have read in their books written by H. N. and have heard some Familists call them his Gospels and that they 〈◊〉 of equal authority with the Gospels of Jesus 〈…〉 such blasphemous Familists and Quakers errors good Lord deliver us And the Lord open your eyes that you may see your errors that you have patched up your new Religion with the old errors of the Papists Arminians Anabaptists Antinomians and Familists and the Lord give you hearts to repent and do your first works A POST-SCRIPT Courteous Reader SInce the writing the foregoing answer to the Quakers I had some conference with a woman Quaker one of my ancient friends whose name I forbear to mention about the said answer after which the said friend did write me a letter the Contents whereof were as followeth That my written paper is higher then Vanitie because as she saith I confessed that I was not led by the infallible Spirit therefore it must needs be flesh for the Spirit of God is infallible and cannot erre which she desireth I would consider by the light of Christ that convinceth me of sin and that lest I be found fighting against God wherefore she saith in love to thy soul I warn thee Wherefore lest the said woman or any other Quakers should say that I have not answered all their Objections I resolved to answer the said letter though the things objected in the said letter are in part answered before yet for a more full answer I desire the said friend and all other Quakers whether friends or enemies to mind and consider what I have written in answer to the said letter Having received thy letter I was moved to write an answer to shew thee thy error in misunderstanding and misreporting my words for I neither writ nor said that I was not led by the infallible Spirit but said that I doe not pretend to an infallible spirit so as that I cannot erre For I say that all the faithfull are led by the Spirit of Christ which Spirit is infallible but I say they are not so led by that Spirit that they cannot erre which is the thing you maintain but I deny And yet I say that all the Prophets and Apostles were led by the Spirit infallibly guiding them in writing the Scriptures so as that they could not erre and that all the faithful are led by the Spirit so as that they erre not in the foundation or fundamentals of Religion but in other things I say they are subject to erre and the best men that ever lived that that we read of in Scripture have erred Christ Jesus who was God and Man excepted and this I shall plainly prove by Scripture the Prophet David a man after Gods own heart and a Penman of holy Scripture said Lord who knoweth the errors of his life clense me from my secret sins Psal 19. 12. and he having a mind to build the Temple and spake his mind to the Prophet Nathan the Prophet said to the King Go do all that is in thine heart for the Lord is with thee they being both Prophets were both mistaken they were not infallible for that night the Word of the Lord came to Nathan to the contrary that David should not build the Lords House but his Son Solomon but you Quakers will say this was before Christ his coming in the flesh and before the fulness of the Spirit was sent wherefore mind what is written in Scripture after that time There arose a dissention and a disputation among the brethren about Circumcision and Paul and Barnabas with others were sent to Jerusalem to the Apostles and Elders to have their advice and there were great disputations between them about it no one pretending by an infallible Spirit to determine the same were not Paul and Barnabas led by an infallible Spirit what need they then to have gone to Jerusalem to the rest of the Apostles and Elders surely if they had been infallible they made a needless journey and the rest of the Apostles and Elders made a needless disputation Also there arose a doubt amongst the Corinthians about believing husbands having unbelieving wives and believing wives having unbelieving husbands and other things concerning which they wrote unto the Apostle Paul to determine the matter Was there never a man among them that had an infallible spirit so as that he could not erre surely then they were no Quakers for then they needed not to have sent to the Apostle to have the matter determined and the Apostle in his answer concerning some thing saith I speak this by permission and not by command and concerning Virgins I have no commandment from the Lord yet I give my judgement I suppose saith the Apostle but had he been a Quaker and of your opinion would he not have said why or what need you write unto me to know the lawfulness of these things are you not all led by an infallible spirit that cannot erre But the Apostle was so humble and modest that he said I suppose he would not say I am sure or I know certainly I having an infallible spirit I cannot erre No the Apostle confesseth of himself and others we know but in part But you Quakers say you have such an infallible spirit that you cannot erre But God resisteth the proud and hath promised to teach the humble also the Apostle saith If any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble where the Apostle plainly proveth that Christians do sometimes build upon the foundation wood hay and stubble that is some things of their carnal spirits for there is some carnality in those that are in Christ for saith the Apostle I speak unto you as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ now there being flesh as well as spirit and sence and reason as well as faith in every christian is it any wonder that they sometimes erre And therefore honest Luther saith That there being flesh as well as spirit and sence as well as faith in the best men that therefore sometimes that will fall from their tongues and their pens that savours of the flesh as well as of the spirit and of sence as well as of faith and therefore saith he All Christians should be like the clean beasts that chew the Cud and devide the Hoofe that is they should meditate and examine what they hear and read by the Scriptures and devide the truth from the error as those men of Barea did they searched the Scriptures to see whether those things which they heard were according to
the Scriptures They did not hearken to a light within them to see whether they were true But if you Quakers had such an infallible spirit that you cannot erre as you say you have then all that you speak and write musts need be truth and then we need not examine them by the Scriptures to see whether you write and speak the truth But I am not of that implicit faith to beleive what you write without examining the same by the Scriptures and by them I find you have a falable lying spirit that leadeth you into error but seeing you say you are so infallible that you cannot erre give me leave to examine some of your Books in Print Besides what I have already examined and proved many gross errors in them therefore not written by an infallible spirit so as that you cannot erre I shall examine some particulars in your new Primer made by George Fox the younger and some others in which there is as many errors as Pages I shall mention some few particulars by which we may discern what the rest are of the said Primer Children such are Deceivers who tell you that the way to come to know the truth is by the Scriptures Now if this be a true Doctrine then was Christ and his Apostles Deceivers for they taught the same Christ exhorteth to Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they that testifie of me Now if the Scriptures testifie of Christ then the reading of the Scriptures is a means to know the truth unless you deny that Christ is the truth if you do he affirmeth it saying I am the truth It was a true saying of a good man that The whole Scriptures are the swadling band that foulds the Child Jesus Also Christ saith to the Saduces ye erre not knowing the Scriptures Then by consequence the way to avoyd error and to know the truth is by the knowledge of the Scriptures and therefore Christ would have all to search the Scriptures And the Apostle Paul said that Timothy had known the Scriptures from a Child which are able to make thee wise unto salvation and that is by knowing the truth And the Apostle Peter saith We have a more sure word of prophesie whereunto you do well that ye take heed But you are enemies to the reading the Scriptures or expounding them Pag 15 Of the said Primer Children such are no Ministers of Gods word who tell you the Scriptures are the word of God Now if this be an infallible truth then I say the Prophets and Apostles were fallible and were no Ministers of Gods word for the Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel and most of the small Prophets said that The word of the Lord came unto them and they spake the word of the Lord. I beleive you may find what the Prophets preached called the word of the Lord or God above a hundred times and in the 20. of Exodus God spake all these words and what God spake is Gods word and what Christ spake and preached is the word of God unlesse you deny Christ to be God Also the Apostle James exhorteth Be ye doers of the Word and if any be hearers of the word and not doers c. And do you think the Apostle meaneth the word of man or the word of God Also the Apostle Peter saith We have a more sure word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed And if the Apostles call the Scripture the word surely they are Gods word and by the word of Prophesie can be meant no other word I marvel that you Quakers who pretend to an infallible Spirit to know all things do not know that as Christ is called the eternal word of God so are the Scriptures written called the revealed will or word of God or his word revealed As when we write our mind or cause another to write our will or mind to another we are properly said to send word or what is so written to be our word Pag. 33. Of the said Primer That by the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing you from all sin is meant the life of Christ Now I would know where you ever read in Scripture that we are cleansed from all sin by the life of Christ or whether the blood of Christ were ever taken for the life of Christ in Scripture I would fain know your meaning of this dark mystical expression Whether you do believe that the blood which Christ shed upon the Crosse when he suffered without the Gates of Jerusalem be that blood that cleanseth from all sin I know partly your meaning by what I have heard from several of your company and read in several of your Books wherefore that I may shew you what I beleive concerning the same according to the Scriptures mind the Apostle saith Without shadding of blood is no remission And he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight And having made peace by the blood of his crosse But I fear you are strangers to this blood of Christ and it is a mystery hid from your eyes who pretend to know all mysteries but they are mysteries of iniquity while you count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing And as you are strangers to this blood of Christ that cleanseth from all sin so I fear you are Ignorant of the life of Christ For I would know whether by the life of Christ you mean the life that Christ lived in the dayes of his converse on earth from the time of his Birth to the time of his suffering death on the crosse or the life he now liveth in heaven or whether by the life of Christ you do not understand the life of a leigned Christ in you or a life imitating Christ his Life I know by what I have heard from the mouths of several and read in several of your books that you are strangers to the true life of Christ mentioned in Scripture and is a mystery hid from your eyes But mind what the Scriptures saith For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them By which texts of Scripture you may see that we are justified or saved by Christ his life living now in heaven to make intercession for us But I never did read in the Scripture that our sins are washed away and that we are saved by what Christ wrought in us nor by imitating the life of Christ and yet I say that all those who are saved by the blood and the life of Christ have faith wrought in their hearts by the Spirit of Christ