hath given him more place in his book than any other there being no Author to my observation so frequently cited by him who because this Thomas Hicks has been the most abusive and grossest lyar and calumniator that has appeared against us therefore he receivs him with the most kindly entertainment for as malice against Christ of old cemented Pilat and Herod to put up their privat quarels so at this day it hath done these men against his Truth and followers else what should it mean that a fierce Presbyter should so heartily embrace a keen Anabaptist Preacher since the same man often upbraids the Quakers with their affinity to the Anabaptists Certainly the Presbyters cause must be at a low ebb and he in mighty fear of the Quakers prevailing when he can so cordially shake hands with his beloved Anabaptist brother Hicks to help at a dead lift against the Quakers and take him for his Auxiliary with his lyes and forgerys to make a noise when other matters and arguments fail But it had been more wisely done in I. Brown ere he had given the Anabaptist Hicks his writings so much place in his book to have considered the answer to the first dialogue and continuation thereof written by W. P. entituled Reason against Railing Truth against Fiction and the answer to his third Dialogue by the same Author entituled The counterfeit Christian detected and the Real Quaker justified for I question if I. B. will judge it safe to take implicity upon trust in matters of controversy of Religion without examining the word of an Anabaptist unless it be against the Quakers where any witness it 's like with him may be admitted for if he do but speak evil enough it will be acceptable whether true or not And I. B. should also have done wel to have informed himself how this Thomas Hicks being publikly called to an account before several thousand witnesses for his gross abuses in framing answers in the Quakers name which was never said by any Quaker and in other ways perverting and misapplying sentences of their writings to questions of his own framing so that he might make them as impertinent and ridiculous as he was willing others should esteem them to be did pittifully succumb so that his best defence to come off was to plead the infirmity of his lungs which made him desert the second meeting held for that purpose and substitute in his place a free-will Anabaptist with whom I suppose I. B. will yet have less fellowship who made a noise and brawling to keep off the chief matter and yet the grosness of Thomas Hicks dealing was so discovered that some of his own way and others who are not Quakers did publikly yea and in print declare their abhorrency of his forgerys as appears by a book written at that time entituled The twelve Pagan Principles considered upon which Thomas Hicks undertakes to unchristian the Quakers and another entituled Quakerisme no Paganisme and another The Christian a Quaker the Quaker a Christian all written upon that occasion by men that were no Quakers Yea Th. Hicks's abuses and lyes were so far from doing us hurt that they were instrumental to bring among us a young Independent Preacher of good repute and wel received and heard among them who has told my self that the reading of Hicks Dialogues and seeing his gross lyes and abuses gave the first rise to his searching after and embracing the Truth and when Th. Hicks and his complices were further pursued by the answer to their pretended narration of these debates entituled Forgery no Christianity written by Thomas Ellwood and another paper entituled A Fresh Pursuit by the same hand wherein he arraigneth the said Hicks and his compllces of falshood lying forgery and requires them to make them good or else abide under the just condemnation of so manifest guilt which they were glad to do and have not so much as peeped out now these 3 years since the last of these transactions untill now this vomit of which all sober men are ashamed and from which the Authors have shamefully shrunk is licked up by Iohn Brown and is become the chief authority of his Tract Will it savour wel in the mouths of sober Professors that the chief gun that I. B. useth against the Quakers are the lyes forgerys and abuses of a shameless Anabaptist Certainly when I. Brown considers these things he will if malice hath not altogether blinded him find that he has too suddenly laid hands upon his brother Hicks ere he wel minded the consequence of it and that so great an infusion of Hicks his Anabaptistical durt which takes the best share of not a few pages of his book will make the rest to stink albeit it were more cleanly stuff than it is And for Faldo's books out of which he coppyeth not a little in this chapter he may find them both answered by W. P. the one called Quakerism a new Nick name to old Christianity and the other the Invalidity of John Faldo's Vindication in which pag. 430 431 432 433. he may find a list of Iohn Faldo's miscarriages in citing assertions said by Quakers without telling the books and of books without parts chapters end page of these books falsly cited of passages clipt and maimed and others perverted by additions and which makes up above 70 to which Iohn Faldo hath never had face yet to answer So that this man may see what kind of authority he has made use of and how his proofs are bottomed And lastly of our full belief of future states and of the Resurrection he may find a large account in a book called The Christian Quaker and his Divine Testimony vindicated by W. Pen and G. Whitehead printed in the Year 1674 from page 146 of the second part to the end Section Eighteenth Wherein Robert Macquare his Postscript is considered ¶ 1. AS to R. M. C. his Postscript which I come now to in the last place I shall not need to be large it being a compound and heap of most abusive and unreasonable railing against me and my Friends on the one hand and a most fawning manifest piece of nauseating and shameless Flattery to his brother I. Brown on the other In the very entry he brands our doctrin as the Devil 's and ourselves as his Ministers and Amanuenses and a little after he exclaimeth thus O what horrid what hell-hatched boid blasphemies this black brood belcheth forth And for me in particular pag. 559 560. in a few lines he cals me both a Turk and a Devil and what more his railing Spirit affords him To all which I shall only say the worst I wish him is heartily to desire the Lord to forgive him as by the strength of his Grace I freely do As to his brother I. Brown he accounts him singularly acute solidly learned and truely gratious So that he conceits if the Devil who he supposeth drew me on to write had his dictats again he would bury or
ROBERT BARCLAY ' s APOLOGY For the true CHRISTIAN Divinity Vindicated From JOHN BROWN's Examination and pretended confutation thereof in his book called QUAKERISME The Path-Way to PAGANISME In which VINDICATION I. B. his many gross perversions and abuses are discovered and his furious and violent Railings and Revilings soberly rebuked By R. B. VVhereunto is added A Christian and Friendly Expostulation with ROBERT MACQUARE touching his Postscript to the said book of J. B. written to him by LILLIAS SKEIN wife of Alexander Skein and delivered some moneths since at his house in Rotterdam Isaiah 51 7. Hearken unto me ye that know righteousness the People in whose heart is my Law fear ye not the reproach of men neither be ye afraid of their revilings Matth. 5 11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and speak all manner of evil falsly against you for my Name 's sake Printed in the Year 1679. And are to be sold by Benjamin Clerk Stationer in Georgeyard Lumberstreet At LONDON The PREFACE To the READER Serious READER I shall not need to trouble thee here with a long Preface most of what is commonly inserted in such Epistles being proposed to thee in the first Section onely I will take occasion here ingenuously and solemnly to profess that no delight in controversy hath induced me to undertake this Treatise but pure necessity to vindicat the Truth professed by me from the many gross perversions wherewith this Author hath abused it For as for his Personal Reflections at me which are very frequent and whereby he labours to represent me to his Reader as the veryest Fool Ignorant Sensless Non-sensical and yet Proud Presumptuous and blasphemous Miscreant for such are his expressions that can be imagined I should not have troubled my self nor the world with a Vindication being perswaded none who truely knows me will believe him and that none of solidity and judgement who knows me not will so easily agree to his Censur as for such credulous creaturs if his book find any such for I have heard of severals of the same faith with him who much condemn his Railing still who will judge of me upon so smal and suspicious evidence I must be contented as many better men have been before me to abide the rash judgment of those inconsiderat Souls As for the book from which he assumes and pronounces this character of me thou wilt find it here vindicated and see that hideous masque wherewith he laboured to vail it that he might rail the more securely taken off I could easily shew the lightness of his judgement by filling the other scale with a pressed-down measur of the Testimonys both by word and write of several Persons at home and abroad who are not Quakers and yet such to whom without disparagement he must give the precedency both for Parts Piety and Learning but I desire not to raise my reputation that way it is his work that needs a Postscript of that nature and truely he hath saved me this paines while at other times he manifestly implies a contradiction to this character while he persuades the Reader of the necessity he was under to write so great a Volumn as if the whole Christian Commonwealth had been in danger to be overturned and many Souls in hazard to be hurt by the Quakers among whom both he and his brother R. M. C. give me and my writings a chief place as their Goliah patron sharpest and neatest pen if not seasonably supplyed by this his antidot For sure had it been so inconsistent and contradictory a piece of work as he sometimes represents it to be as being written by so silly and pittyfull an Ignoramus as he is sometimes pleased to term me there could not have been so great cause of fear nor such need of so great a volumn especially to such as could not understand mine being not yet extant in a language they skilled to whom he principally directs his and though they had could have no great hurt if he speak true when he represents me frequently to write things unintelligible and yet he is so wise as to apprehend he has refuted what he confesses he doth not understand But the reason of his thus contradicting himself is that albeit his malice to the Truth and my self was such that he could not say enough to render both it and me despicable yet forgeting himself at other times he was forced to acknowledge what I say considerable that he might render his own work of some value and himself a champion which he could never have done albeit he might be supposed to have rebuked and refuted a piece of pittifull non-sense Thus the man while he stretcheth to exalt himself and abase me overturns on the one part what he affirms on the other but if he can have so far pitty upon himself as to think in time of repenting I do with my whole heart freely forgive him and whether he do or not I can assure him as I should never have valued my self upon his commendation so I am nothing moved by his abuses save only to pitty and commiserat him I must entreat this of the Reader that if he desire to be fully informed in this controversy he will be pleased first to read my Apology which for his benefit will I hope be extant in our own language ere this comes to his hands and then perhaps he will little need an antidot against the pretended confutation but if any scruple there remain it will easily be removed by seriously perusing this Vindication And because before his book he placeth a great list of that he accounts the blasphemous assertions of the Quakers that so he may preposses his Reader with prejudice at the very entry to remove which thou wilt find inferted at the end a List of so many of them as are utterly false besides many of them are Perversions not owned in the terms he asserts them yet a great part of them he pretends not so much as to deduce from any words written by me but has fished for them in the writings of others of our adversarys which piece of injustice is in the last Section demonstrated Not desiring to detain thee any longer I shall only wish the God of all Grace to minister to thee such a measur thereof and give thee such Light and understanding by the holy influence of his Divine Spirit that thou mayst for his Glory and thy Soul's Salvation make a right judgment of the present Controversy and come truely to discern which doctrin it is and who speaks most consonantly to the Holy Scripturs So wisheth he who is a real friend to all men R. B. ADVERTISMENT IT is hoped that the more moderat sober and serious among the Presbyterian Preachers and who have a true regard as wel to the Peace of their own Consciences as to the Christian reputation of their cause and interest among sober and honest Christians will shew their readyness to
do justice to themselves as wel as right to the injured Author of this Treatise not only in respect to the appeal added to the end of the last Section but also to the many other gross abuses falshoods and railings detected herein to be most impudently asserted by John Brown since he comes forth under no less character than a Presbyterian David and that given him by so eminent a man as Robert Macquare is reputed among them which justice is also the more hoped for since the more moderat Presbyterians have themselvs felt the fruit of J. B. his violent furious and unchristian temper in his fomenting Divisions among them and encouraging Cameron by his Letter whom they repute an Heady Turbulent Incendiary and the effects of whose work strengthened by J. B. have produced no small mischief both to the Cause in general and to many poor People who have been thereby ruined if the occasion some of themselvs represent of the late rising in Scotland be true ERRATA The Reader is desired to correct these following Errors which have escaped the Press other literal ones which do not so much touch the sense are left to his discretion and if any others considerable have not been observed and here remarked it is hoped the courteous Reader will not impute them to the Author because of his absence from the Press In the Preface page 1. line 20. for still read style P. 3. l. 24. for which r. them P. 4. l. 6. r. who that speaks In the Book pag. 16. l. ult r. owne P. 17. l. last save two r. Sects P. 22. l. 6. r. do P. 23. l. last but two r. preparatory P. 26 l. 25. after may d. not P. 32. l. 4. d. of P. 34. l. 25. r. spirits d. of P. 43. l. 26. r. bonds P. 57. l. 9. r. arcady P. 68. l. 9. r. him P. 83. l. 13. d. by which P. 88. l. 11. r. he P. 102. l. 5. after is read not P. 78. l. 2. add after dye for themselvs If he mean a natural death but if not I see no reason of admitting his figure nor is there any strength in it to prove that it imports his dying in their room and stead as he would have it P. 98. l. 34. r. is P. 101. l. 14. r. say l. 15. r. is P. 110 l. 28. r. sine P. 113. l. 16. d. by P. 135. l. 16. r. by Papists against Protestants Pag. 184. l. 15. r. he hath but said it l. 18. r. so as all P. 192. l. ult r. and. P. 168. l. 17. for proof read reply P. 180. l. 3. r. corruptions P. 175. l. 34. for and r. add R. B's. APOLOGY For the true Christian Divinity VINDICATED From J. B's. Examination and pretended Confutation thereof in his book Called QUAKERISME the path-way to PAGANISME Section I. Containing the Introduction and the Method the Author proposeth to himself in this Treatise with the reasons wherefore together with some general Considerations relating to I. B's. whole book and Remarks on his Epistle to the Reader ¶ 1. AMong the many evils that abound amongst those that bear the name of Christians this is a great one that in the unhappy difference they have among themselvs there appears so much malice bitterness and envy and so little of that candor and sincerity true and unmixed zeal and of the meekness peaçablness and gentlness of Iesus so that there is often-times observed an eager willingness to represent their Opposits other ways than they are But among all sorts of such as profess Christianity I know none have more reason to complain of this abuse than we who albeit we have not a little laboured to make known to all the plain Truth held by us yet our words have been most miserably perverted upon many occasions and we most horribly misrepresented as is abundantly manifest to many who are acquainted with the books writ against us and our answers wherein many if not most of the arguments used against us are not levelled at those things we truely hold but at the monstrous and horrid conceptions which our adversarys have framed to themselvs and then would needs fasten upon us as our Principls and doctrins Many of us have been thus exercised in the controversys wherein we have been concerned and I my self in some small rencountres that have heretofore faln to my share have had my part but I confess inferior to many of my Brethren But now that B's work appears I think considering the bulk and natur of it hereafter more particularly to be viewed I may come up with most For I scarçe think that ever a man's words were so horridly and constantly throughout perverted or that ever a book of controversy of its bulk to wit as I take it betwixt 70 and 80 sheets of paper was so stuffed with a continuall strain of Railing from the very first page unto the last Yet when we consider the man's design which appears from the natur of his work perhaps there will be less occasion of wonder ¶ For either he or some brother of his abroad having without any provocation from us the People called Quakers faln into the most gross and vilest sort of railing against us in a Post script to S. R's Letters and that without the least offer of probation it seems they judged themselvs concerned to give the people some reason for their so doing And there could not be a finer knack to beguil the credulous and implicit Multitud than to answer a book writ in Latine and not extant in their Mother-tongue for there a man as to them who can not read understand and compare it with that to which it relates may pervert words as he will draw consequences at pleasur and make to himself what monsters best please his fancy or like his humour best to batter And yet he can not find in it by all his perverting enough to make us so black as he would have us so that he is often-times constrain'd to fish for this by citing the writings of some that have writ against us and bring us up some of their old threed-bare calumnys long ago answered by us in which his injustice shall be afterwards observed And so he being thus furnished can the more easily abuse especially while he is almost secure that the generality of those he writes to are such as will not call in question as to the truth of it what is said by one esteemed by them a pretious and gratious Minister and sufferer for the good cause to boot But blessed be God! the number of such implicit believers groweth daily less and many that had wont to do other-wise begin to love to see with their own eyes and not to pin their faith so much upon the Clergy's sleeve as they had used formerly to do For this cause had I had to do only with the more judicious and Learned who could have wel understood the Latine edition I should have thought my self the less concerned
which no Quaker that ever I knew of did or will deny wherein are they derogated from since they are many words and not one But if he will plead they are the Word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or per eminentiam to say so seing the Word of God is ascribed to Christ must either equal them with him or speak non-sense seing that one epithet can not be predicated of two things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without a gross contradiction That the Word of the Lord came to the Prophets and that what they spake was the words that came from that Word is granted nor was it ever denyed by us who are against all false revelations and lying fancys of mens imaginations as much as he which he here in this chapter repeats over and over again to nauseating but it will not thence follow that the Word spoken of by the Apostle 2 Pet. 1 19. is the Scriptur which he has not yet proven and I have shewn the contrary in the former Section ¶ 2. At last pag. 54. n. 5. he comes to treat of of the Divine authority of the Scripturs and reckons it confusion and self-contradiction in me to assert that the authority of the Scripturs doth not depend upon any efficacy or vertue placed in these writings but is wholly to be ascribed to that Spirit from whence they came and yet within half a dozen of lines he confesseth the same saying we stoop unto the authority of the Scripturs of Truth because delivered by the Inspiration of God so the confusion and contradiction is his own Yea the exampls he brings of the Acts and Statutes of Parliament do very wel prove what I say for we do not submit to these status because of the matter in them or things commanded but because of the Authority commanding for when the Parliament by an Act appoynts a tax of so much money to be levyed from the Subjects it is not the matter or substance of this Act that makes us obey it but because of the Magistrats Authority But he saith they are Divine revelations and therefore must have the stamp of Divine authority Answ. The stamp of Divine Authority lies not in the things revealed but in the manner of the revelation as being the voyce and manifestation of God else great absurdity would follow as I shall briefly shew being to pursue him in this poynt as he has it lieing up and down in his rambling discourse whose way is not to follow one matter to a period but to touch it here and there intermixing other things that so his nauseating repetitions and oft reiterated railings may be the more covered And therefore I intend not to tie my self to follow him page after page immediatly lest I should embark my self in the like disorder and make such a confused hodg-podg as he has done but to follow every matter as he has it scatter'd up and down And of this I thought fit to acquaint the Reader in this place once for all as being the method I purpose to use throughout this treatise So from this 55 page we have him not upon this matter untill page 61 where he takes notice of my citations out of several Protestant Confessions and Calvin and will not have them to favour me giving most disingenuously as one reason because they expressly say that the work of the Spirit is by and with the Word and not an inspiration distinct and separated from it thereby he would make his Reader believe as if this were said by all of them whereas it is only said by the Westminster Divines of whom I particularly observed that they spake not so clearly as the other The French confession saith it is by the inward perswasion of the Holy Spirit and the Belgik that it is by the testimony of the Spirit in our hearts and Calvin saith the Spirit of God must inwardly teach us that Moses and the Prophets spake from God But that testimony of the Spirit which is in our hearts and by which the Spirit teacheth us there albeit it be not different from and contrary to the things it teacheth us of yet it is certainly distinct and separat albeit all the things taught were the very same which here is not Els because a man may be taught that by a Jesuit at Rome which I. B. may teach another man in Holland therefore that Jesuit and I. B. are not distinct and separat Are these good reasonings But let us now see whether these be any better by which in the two following pages 62 63 he prosecutes the same matter the sum whereof amounts to this that there are such evident characters of Divinity in the Scripturs which do as manifestly prove them to be of God as the Sun doth its shining to a man whose eyes are opened and that the work of the Spirit is only to take the vail from offmens eyes that they may see these Characters of Divinity and not that the Spirit by any inward immediat revelation doth signifie to the Soul by way of object that these Books proceeded from the Dictats of the Spirit of God in which he places the difference betwixt himself and the Quakers Now whether these aforesaid Testimonys of Calvin and the rest do not confirm this last rather than the other I leave the Reader to judge But further it 's like the man has not been aware into what inextricable Difficulty he has run himself by his reasoning here for if this opening of the eyes by the Spirit be needful to perceive these Divine Characters as the opening of the natural eyes is needful to see the outward Sun then the Characters can not be seen but by those whose eyes are thus opened that is to say who have a wel disposed intellect And thus recurr upon himself all the difficultys and absurditys he would urge upon me in his former chapter for saying that Divine Revelations are evident to a wel disposed Intellect For it may be query'd Whether all have this wel disposed Intellect their eyes thus opened If yea then all men have subjective revelation yet at other times he accounts this a privilege of the Saints and thence denies it in confessing pag. 63 that some are blind and see it not and then again the question recurrs How a man knows he has it so that he may not think he sees it and has it when he has it not This can not be decided by the Scripturs for they are the matter under debate and that were to run in a Circle And since as he saith the Devil is God's Ape and that there are so many Delusions of the Devil and false imaginations of the phansy which men are subject unto as he has told over and over again how is he sure that he is not thus deluded by the Devil and abused by his phancy in imagining he seeth when indeed he is blind And to give him his own argument and query since some and even Protestants
in particular murder may be known by the Light of Natur and so overturns his own argument But he asketh What use can children or idiots or mad men make of the Light within Answ. The Light within being affirmed by us to be a Living Principle that quickens the Soul may influence such persons but so can not any writings As for his learned Dr. Owen's book which he recommends he may find it answered long ago by Samuel Fisher a Quaker which because the Doctor found too hot to reply to I. B. that is so busy a body may supply that want But most rare of all is his answer p. 80. to my Conclusion that Christ would not leave his own to be led by a Rule obvious to so many doubts which is and yet we see he hath done it if this be not to beg the question in the highest degree the Reader may judge He confesseth the Spirit is the chief Leader but to seem to come off with some credit he falleth a railing upon me for not distinguishing but confounding the Spirit 's work and the Scripturs and then bestows many words to prove they are distinct with a heap of citations in the next p. 81. all which he might have spared untill he had proved first that I denyed they were distinct or shewn where or when I confound them What he writes n. 38. 39. p. 82. is meer railing as the Reader by looking unto them may observe he flouts there at my affirming I know one that could not read discover an error in the version saying but the good luck was himself was Judge what he would infer hence I see not unless that their version is free of errors which if he will adventur to affirm his mistake may be shewn by the testimony of learned men among themselvs and his own correcting it divers times which will after be observed He saith my speaking soberly of the Scripturs is only out of Policy because the Quakers could not effectuat their poynt which was to have the Scripturs quite laid-by as an old Almanack But such malitious lyes and railings need no answer To this he adds two other gross calumnys to conclude his paragraph that it is the Quakers fixed opinion that the Scripturs are not to be made use of in their assemblys it being below them to expound any portion of it there or to adduce any testimony therefrom for confirmation of their assertions This can be proved to be a manifest untruth by the testimony of many that are not Quakers who have been witnesses of the contrary The other which he calleth their constant opinion is that when one cometh to hearken to the Light within he hath obtained the whole end of the Scripturs so that they become wholly useless to him this is also a horrid calumny ¶ 11. In his examining of what I assert to be the end and usefulness of the Scripturs p. 83 84. he can not find fault with what I ascribe to them but that I give them not all and whether I do wrong denying that to them which he would seem to give the former debate will shew But that he may be here like himself he seeks to infer from my words most gross and malitious consequences which are utterly false and till he prove them they need no other answer but to observe them and deny them which I utterly do such as that albeit Christ has ordained Pastors and the Scripturs under the Gospel to make the man of God perfect yet the Quakers think they may be both laid aside as useless that according to me the Scripturs are not so much as a subordinat Rule that the Quakers would have all others save themselvs to look upon themselvs as not concerned in the Scripturs that so they might be the sole keepers of these Oracles and then he saith they shall quickly know what shall become of them and that the Quakers always suppose that what the Spirit within them saith can not contradict the Scriptur and therefore what they say contrary to the Scriptur from the Spirit within must be supposed to be seeming and not real this he repeats again according to his custom in the next page if he mean the Spirit of God I hope he will not deny it and if he mean any other spirit we deny it But he would be fastening that upon us here which may be justly said to them of their exalting their Confession of Faith above the Scripturs as in the first section upon his Preface I observed But he hath an objection which he urgeth p. 67. and by which he thinks to overturn all asking if I believe the testimony of the Scripturs to be true Yes I do believe them because the Testimony of the Spirit in my heart obligeth me so to do and therefore being perswaded they are true I make use of them though in respect to my self not in the first and primary place but in a secondary next to the Spirit yet as to him I may urge them every way because he accounts them so and as to their testimony for the Spirit 's being the Principal Leader upon my using of which he founds his objection albeit since he acknowledgeth it he has the less reason to carp at it I believe it from the Scriptur testimony but not as the primary ground of my faith which I derive from the Spirit it self yet as a ground and that a very weighty one As for his other question Whether I be of the same mind with other Quakers of whom Mr Hicks reporteth I answer that what is there reported by Hicks is false and I here dare I. B. and his Author Hicks to prove it to have been said by any Quaker which till they can do by good and sufficient proof they are both to be held as lying Calumniators Section Fifth Wherein his Fifth and Sixth Chapters intituled by him Of Man's Natural State and Of Original Sin are considered 1 AFter he has repeated some of my words he complains I speak darkly and having given his usual malitious insinuations that I do it of designe and have some mysteries under it He takes upon him to endeavour to guess at my meaning and bestows many pages to frame one conjectur after another and then spends many words to refute these shaddows and men of straw of his own making and yet at the end of all he confesses he doubts whether he has got or hit my meaning and to be sure then he must be as uncertain that he has refuted it and therefore knoweth not but all his reasonings against his own conjecturs are impertinent for after he hath written one conjectur and bestows much labour in refuting it his own words are p. 91. n 5. if this be not his true meaning let us try another Conjectur Which shews he knows not whether what he said before was to the purpose thus he spendeth pag. 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98. in which last page he is very
at hand if he dare charge me in this with the asserting of a falshood in matter of fact I will give evidence for proof the persons being yet alive but untill he do that my knowing the thing to be true gives me ground enough to assert it To my argument shewing that without Grace a man can not be a member of Christ's Body which is the Church far less a Minister in stead of answer after he has accused me as not understanding the difference betwixt the Visible and Invisible Church he tels Christ is an Head to both which I deny not that I apply Epb. 4 7. 11. 16. 1 Cor. 12. solely to the Invisible Church so as to exclude the Visible is his mistake not my ignorance Then he goeth about to shew the difference betwixt Gift and Grace but that any had the gifts there mentioned who were altogether void of Grace remains for him to prove Besides what is mentioned he is not sparing of his calumnies in this chapter as where he saith pag. 382. that I deny that about the time of Reformation there was a Christian World which is false in respect of Profession in which sense I only here understood it and pag. 385. albeit he find me calling the heresy of Arius horrid yet upon the trust of his Author Mr. Clapham he affirmeth the Quakers to be in this erroneous but sure I have better reason to be acquainted with the Quakers doctrins than any of his lying Authors Another of his calumnys is pag 386. that we lay-aside all means in coming to the Saving knowledge of God's Name and albeit his railing in this chapter be thick enough that the Reader may easily observe it yet for his more particular direction let him observe 380 381-385 386. And whereas pag. 386. n. 11. he enumerateth several particulars wherein he affirmeth we agree with Papists he may find them refuted and answered in G. K's book called Quakerism no Popery And in the last two sections of that book written by me he may find himself and his Btethren proved far more guilty of that crime than we which because the Professor Iohn Menzies against whom it is written found not yet time to answer he as having more leasur may assume that province If the increase of our number be as he saith a clear verification of 2 Thess. 2 9 10 11 12. that we are of the deluded ones there spoken of then it must be a clearer verification of it as to them that they are of that deluded company since they are more numerous than we and also encreased more suddenly As for his exhortations and wishes in the end because I will be so charitable as to suppose they come from some measur of sincerity I do not wholly reject them only I must tell him that nothing has more conduced of an external mean to confirm me in the belief of the verity of the principles I hold than his treatise because of the many gross calumnys manifest perversions and furious railing in it since I know the Truth needed no such method to defend it and I can not believe one in the Truth would use it since lying is contrary to the Truth therefore if he will lay-aside all this falshood and passion he may have a more sure ground of hope to see the truth manifested to the dispelling of Error ¶ 4. He beginneth his 19 chapter of the Ministerial Office with supposing that their Order is according to Scriptur and that what we plead for is quite contrary and so ushereth himself into a rant of railing with which he concludeth this paragraph saying that the evil Spirit that acteth us is such an Enemy to all Gospel Order that it cryeth up only Paganish and Devilish Consasion More of this kind the Reader may observe pag. 388. 389. 391 392-394 His calumnies and perversions are also very frequent in this chapter as pag. 387. where he saith We cast-away all Order and in stead thereof bring-in the confusion of Babel and pag. 388. because we are not for the shaddow without the substance therefore he saith we make a repugnancy betwixt them which is also false and again in the same page N. 4. because I say it was never the mind of Christ to establish the shaddow of Officers without the power and efficacy of the Spirit therefore he concludes that the Quakers think that men can establish the Spirit which silly perversion will easily be manifest to every intelligent Reader And after the like manner pag. 389. n. s. because I say that upon setting up meer shaddows where the Substance was wanting the work of Antichrist was erected in the dark night of Apostasy he concludes that then according to me Christ and his Apostles wrought the work of Antichrist and mystery of iniquity accusing me thence of blasphemy But who can be so blind as not to see this manifest perversion And again pag. 390 he saith I will that every man according as his own spirit falsty called the Spirit of God moveth him setting to this work meaning that of the Ministery which is a false calumny never said by me who deny all false motions of man's own spirit however called And pag. 391. he saith that malice prompteth me to charge them with owning the distinction of Clergy and Laïty though I know they do not where the man supposeth that what I write is only written against the Presbyterians while he can not but know that I write against others since in his first chapter he charges me with writing against all the Christian World so it is his malice to say I charge them with it if any of those I write to be guilty of it it is enough albeit I doubt whether the Presbyterians can free themselvs of it ¶ 5. Having thus far discovered his perversions I come to the main business pag. 388. he saith they plead not for shaddows but own the Ordinances as Christ hath appointed to remain and continue for the perfecting of the Saints c. Eph. 4 11 12 13. And pag. 389. n. 6. he asketh whether the primitive Church was not instituted by Christ and gathered by God in whose assemblys he was Ruler and Governour asking were there no distinct Officers particular individual Persons set apart for the work of the Ministery in the Apostles days And p. 391. n. 7. he argueth against my saying that these mentioned 1 Cor. 12 28 29. Rom. 12 6. were not distinct Officers but only different operations of the same Spirit and against this also he pleadeth p. 393. n. 11. 394. To all which I answer distinctly and particularly that they can plead nothing from Eph. 4. unless their Church had all the Officers there mentioned which it has not yea and which themselvs affirm are ceased such as Prophets Apostles which are said to be given for the work of the Ministery and perfecting of the Saints nothing less than the other and by what authority do they then turn these by and
for any arguments in this cahpter that have the least shew of solidity or weight I have looked narrowly but can find none only in stead thereof he has some little nibbling quibbles and questions which albeit they be so inconsiderable as scarce deserve the pains to answer yet left he may think something of them if omitted I will now take notice of them and answer them as first pag. 412. he asketh whether the appointing of set times and places be not a limiting of the Spirit Answ. If it were to exclude other times and places when God moves thereunto it might be so judged but other ways it is not for meeting together is not an immediat act of worship but a matter of outward conveniency and therefore needs not always a particular motion As for his desiring me in this page to answer what he has said of the Sabbath the denying of which in their sense he accounteth a great error I must wait then till he come to his matter which he has not done in his first Tome which I have only seen as yet albeit it be a book about an hundred sheets of paper and when he has written all that he can say upon that subject I doubt whether it may not be sufficiently refuted by a few lines which Calvin has written thereon Inst. lib. 2. cap. 8. § 34. from whom as wel as the generality of Protestants I know not that I differ in this matter Pag. 413. he proposeth as an exception against the manner of Worship expressed by me that it wanteth that preparation requisite which he accounts to be some impression of that Divine Majesty with whom they have to do But I see no reason why he should accuse us for want of this since none can be more fit than such as make silence and an inward turning of the mind necessary to their entring to Worship but if he understand this by outward Prayer meaning this should be done first since it is an actual part of Worship by which we draw near to that Majesty there would be a preparation to that by the same rule and another to that and so a progressus in infinitum But a godly frame of Spirit and a studying to be found always in the sense of God's holy fear in all things is a good general preparation to all acts of Worship And for his crying out against Silence as that which can not edify and thinking it so strange that Life or Vertue should be transmitted from one to another when they do not hear one another speak as pag. 415. 420. 426. what will he say to what is reported by the foresaid Author of the fulfilling of the Scripturs pag. 432. how Robert Bruce his Praying caused unusual motions upon those who were not in the chamber with him nor knew the cause how that came upon them and yet this is given as an instance of his knocking down the Spirit of God upon them as they themselvs phrase it Pag. 420. he wondereth asketh how one in whom the Life doth flow so that he might speak yet may forbear since that is a sufficient call and how dare they follow their own choise But this is a silly quibble the flowing of Life may sometimes give ability to speak justifiably and yet it may be no sin to forbear since albeit it gives a sufficiency of authority yet not a peremptory command and this is no contradiction The Apostle Iohn could have written more and that no doubt from the Spirit and yet did it not 2 Joh. 12. 3 Joh. 13. and I suppose I. B will not dare to say he sinned in this forbearance He goeth about pag. 420. n. 12. to examin the Scriptur proofs I bring for Waiting and then he shews in what respect waiting is there understood which nothing hurteth my using them What if waiting be understood as he saith in opposition to freting may not that be in silence But as to this since his brother R. M. in the Postscript has promised us his answer to G. K's book called The Way cast up we will wait to see what he answers to his 15 sect and to the Scripturs brought by him there to this purpose and that he may more fully consider that matter I recommend to him the serious perusal of G. K's book called the Glory and Advantage of Silent Meetings He alledgeth falsly pag. 423. that I say men can not wait upon God in prayer I say only that Waiting in it self rather denoteth a passive dependence and that true Prayer presupposeth waiting and that therefore their objection is frivolous that ascribeth waiting of it self or simply considered to such acts but I never denied that a man in Prayer might be said also to wait Another of his silly quibbles is pag. 424. n. 17. where because I say that the Devil can only work in and by the Natural man for so he may be pleased to translate my words or at lest he must suffer me so to do he saith he thought he could also work in a Spiritual man as in Peter c. But not in and by the Spiritual man it was in and by the natural part both in Peter and Paul that he wrought if he thinks not so let him say the contrary Pag. 425. in answer to what I say of the excellency of this Worship as that which can not be interrupted to prove that Christ's Kingdom needeth outward power to protect it he telleth of the promise that Kings shall be nursing fathers What then That may be an advantage yet it will not follow there is an absolute need for it else Christ's Kingdom could not be without it but indeed such a sure outward Kingdom the Priests always covet where they may be upheld by the Magistrate and supplied with daily augmentations and have all others that differ from them severely persecuted for where this is wanting they cry out Alas like Babylons Marchants and think it goes not wel with their Zion The rest of this page he concludes with railing but for answer to it he may know that the Quakers meetings in Scotland albeit few in number have met with more injurys from wicked men than the Presbyterians and that they never defendedh emselvs with force of Armes against any far less against the Magistrate as his Brethren have don or with sheding of Blood As for his other quibble pag. 427. that ceasing to do evil is not without all action of the mind not to contend with him about it I shall not plead for a further cessation than such a simple forbearance importeth and let him call it an action if he will His chief reply to what I say in answer to what they object of Silence besides some scofs is that what I alledg is not spoken of an introverting Silence for he will needs use this Latine word and not translate it but can there be any true silence in order or with respect to the worship of God where the eye of the mind
is not inward since the Spirit of God by which Christians are led and instructed is said to be within them But pag. 424. n. 16. he saith that watching is not a turning inward but a looking outward also Indeed they who look outward go the way to be tempted for outward objects is not that which delivers men from temptations but often draws them to them But it would seem according to him that men if their eyes be shut or in a dark room can not watch in a Spiritual sense and then what became of many Saints that have been put into dungeons As to what he adds out of Dr Stillingfleet's book of the idolatry of the Church of Rome and Taulerus sermons which takes up about 7 whole pages by which the Reader may see how his book grows so bulky he misseth his aim for he will never prove that the first and most eminent Preachers among the Quakers who both practised and commended this way of Worship as wel as thousands of them yet did ever know that there was such a thing spoken of among Papists or that there ever lived such a man as Taulerus So that he but wasts his paper in seeking to prove they have borrowed their doctrin thence and albeit I will not justify many of the expressions used in the pages cited by him yet I will not scruple to affirm that some of them favour more of Christianity than his lyes calumnys and railings ¶ 3. He begins his 23th chapter of Preaching that he may be like himself with a calumny saying I have something against Preaching Praying and Singing which is false I am against none of those dutys as truely performed according to the right Gospel method as by the sequel will appear And that he may go on at the same rate he seems to be glad that I acknowledge the necessity of Worships being consonant to Scriptur but then that he may not want something to cavill he entreats me to reconcile this with what I say of the Scripturs but he should first have shewn me wherein the difference is for I profess I see none He desires also to know from Scriptur the necessity when men are met together of turning their minds inward which he still will express to make it the more frightfull by the Latine word Introversio and this he thinks so hard that he often insists upon it as pag. 446 447 448. But is it not needfull to assemble in the Name of Jesus And can that truely be without turning the mind inward unless with superstitious Papists he thinks it is enough for meeting in the Name of Jesus to say when they begin In Nomine Domini however their minds be abroad Can there be any true sense of God's Majesty as him to whom we draw near which himself confest before to be needfull without a serious turning of the mind inward that is an abstracting from all worldly and vain thoughts to mind GOD and the operations of his Spirit in the Soul Let him read Psalm 46 14. 62 1. Eccles. 5 2. Zach. 2 3. It were hard for him to forget his old often reiterated calumny and therefore he hath it here oftner than once as pag. 441 442-447 alledging most falsly that all that by which the Quakers preach or require as needfull to preach is but the dimme and darkned and malignant Light of Nature neither will he forget here his constant trade of Railing take one instance pag. 447. where he sayes that before I want revelations I will go to the Devil to get them as Saul did to the Witch of Endor More of such railing stuff the Reader may find and that very plentifully pag. 440-442-448 He wants not here also his malitious insinuations as pag. 439. that the Quakers use legerdemaine to make People believe they speak all without a previous thought in their Preaching and yet have all to a word wel studied If he accuse the Quakers of this let him prove it if he can for we deny it as a gross calumny Another is pag. 441. That we would have all study all meditation all Prayer and wrestling with God in Prayer laid aside which is also false But to proceed he foundeth what he saith in this matter upon two great mistakes which being removed the superstructur will fall of it self The first is pag. 438. where to prove the usefulness of study and premeditation to Preaching he tels how Paul made use of what he had read out of a Heathen Poet his recommending reading to Timothy his desiring Titus to hold fast the faithfull Word as he had ben taught c. and Apollos being instructed by Aquila and Priscilla all which are nothing to his purpose for we never said it was unlawfull for men to read books especially the Scriptur or that by such reading men may not acquire knowledge which may prove usefull in Preaching or defending the Truth but the question is Whether men may make use of these things in publik Worship otherwise than as led and acted and influençed by the Spirit so to do and Whether any of these places will allow men to preach in the strength of their natural or acquired parts without being acted therein by the Spirit Let him prove this if he can for this is the matter in question and remember Robert Bruce his censur of Robert Blair his sermon recorded in the fulfilling of the Scripturs His second mistake is pag. 443. where he supposeth that to be led by the Spirit excludeth or is inconsistent with reading Scriptur and with all the particular instructions given by Paul to Timothy and Titus who might have said as this man argues I can not be stinted unto these doctrins which you desire me to put the brethren in remembrance of for I must speak as the Spirit speaketh in me and the like But will he say that Timothy was not to speak as the Spirit spake in him To suppose this as inconsistent with such instructions is to beg the question and that these are consistent I have shewn above in my third section of Immediat Revelation or let him tell plainly if Timothy could do those things acceptably without the Spirit since all worship is commanded by Christ to be done now in the Spirit And yet he seemeth to agree to the necessity of the Spirit else why quarreleth he me pag. 448. for insinuating as he saith that their Ministers preach not in the demonstration of the Spirit giving an enumeration pag. 439. of several ways which he saith I know not but their Ministers are led to preach by among which this is one What know I saith he but there may be some that never digest their preachings so as not to lye open to the influences of the Spirit and to welcome his seasonable and usefull suggestions and so speak many things which they had not once premeditated But I would ask him Whether it be lawfull for any so to digest their matter as not to lie thus open
quod in se est Deus non denegat gratiam i. e. God will not deny Grace to such as do what they can And indeed this allowing men to perform Spiritual dutys without the allowance of the Spirit as this man doth pleading for it and reckoning the contrary absurd pag. 453. is compleat Pelagianism and doth clearly import that man by the working of Nature can acquire the Spirit and can do something in order to obtaining the Spirit of himself before he have it and thence this man pleads so much pag. 451. for the general use of Prayer from the Light and Law of Nature let him reconcile this if he can with his other doctrins and clear himself of Pelagianism And it is so much the more considerable that he has faln into this pit of which he so often falsly accuseth me as also pag. 461. He asketh again pag. 460. why we come to their places of Worship if our Conscience be hurt in joining with them and thence he concludes it is to do open contempt This is but his malitious conjectur we come not there but in obedience to the Lord when moved by his Spirit so to do to bear a faithfull testimony against all superstition and will-worship for it is not pleasant to us to come there where for the most part we are saluted with knocks and stones and other such brutish and Paganish dealings by their Church Members which is the fruit of their holy things and whereunto the People are often encouraged by their Preachers who sometimes shew an example of this themselvs and of whose barbarous actions even by the Presbyterian Preachers there is a book extant entituled of Fighting Priests giving account how many of them fell upon these innocent servants of the Lord with their own hands and I my self have seen of the present Preachers of Scotland do it As for his flouting at the Quakers for laying claim to a Spirit of discerning so as to distinguish who pray from the Spirit and who not he doth but therein declare himself to be none of Christ's sheep who are said to know his voice from that of a stranger And as for his saying that the Quakers judge of this by the mimical postur of the body it is false and would agree far rather to his Brethren whose affected posturs of body as wel as their nonsensical and absurd expressions in Prayer have disgusted many of their way of which I could give some eminent instances but that I spare them at present The example I gave of their excluding some from their Sacrament of the Supper so called doth not halt as he affirmeth pag. 462. as to the main for if the command to take it is with presupposition of examination so the command of praying is with the presupposition of its being in the Spirit in which all Worship is now to be Praying always in the Spirit Eph. 6 18. To my shewing in answer to their objection of Peter his commanding Simon Magus to pray that he sayes repent and pray after a meer assertion without proof he sayes he sees that with our Quaker a graceless person can repent but not pray To which I answer if he speak of possibility I believe a graceless person may both repent and pray but as he can not repent without Grace so not pray without the Spirit but Grace worketh in all if not resisted as the Spirit doth in all to Prayer when they have received the Grace in measur but that some measur of repentance must go before prayer himself I judge will hardly deny since the very offering to pray importeth in the person applying himself thereunto a sense of his iniquity and a desire to be delivered from it for which end he approacheth to God to demand pardon and help to amend ¶ 6. Now I come to his 25th chapter of Singing Psalmes where I shall not need to be large I deny not as he observs singing but to justify their custom of singing David's conditions by which many are made as I observed in my Apology to speak lyes in the presence of God He objecteth the practice of the Iews But their practice in matters of Worship without a Gospel precept is not a rule to us Neither doth the instance given by him of Psal. 66 6. answer the matter for the Jews might very wel praise the Lord for the deliverance of their fore-Fathers out of Egypt but that will not allow Drunkards and impenitent persons to say They water their couch with tears as by singing Psalmes many do which is false As for his saying they do but praise God for what he hath done for others why do they not express it so then And whereas he asketh whether the Spirit inspireth the meter in the song and the tone of the singing he sheweth his folly and lightness while he ridiculously supposeth that Meter is necessar or any other Tone than Nature hath given to every one of which God by his Spirit maketh use as an instrument as he doth of other parts and facultys of the body to the performing of Spiritual dutys And the like folly he sheweth when he tels what they do not in Scotland since he knows it was not particularly or only against the things practised in Scotland that I write in that Apology Section Thirteenth Wherein his 26th Chapter Of Baptisme is considered ¶ 1. OUr Author to shew how angry and froward he resolvs to be in this chapter makes his first paragraph a compleat stick of railing he begins with telling that the Paganish Antichristian Spirit which reigneth and rageth in the Quakers manifesteth a perfect and compleat hatred at all the Institutions of our Lord Jesus Christ and he endeth with this exclamation O! what desperat Runagadoes must these men be More of this kind may be seen pag. 472 473 474. 480 481. As for what he adds from several Scripturs of Baptisme pag. 466 467. what of it relates to the weight of the question will be examined afterwards He gives us here a citation out of their larger Catechism and then comes at last pag. 468. n. 4. to examin what I say in the matter where upon my urging the many contests among Christians concerning these things called Sacraments as one reason against them he concludes I might as wel plead against all Christianity because of the many debates about it and with this conceit he pleaseth himself a little which only evidenceth his malitious genius for I should never have used that as an only argument and did not use it at all but as having many other considerable ones against their use of these things and therefore I add that these things contended for are meer shaddows and outward things Then to cover their making use of the word Sacrament which is not to be found in Scriptur he objecteth my making use of the word fermentation and of the Vehicle of God but I use not to make use of these words when I speak Scots or English but these
betwixt Elicite and Imperat Acts of Conscience that is as himself explains Inward and Outward for as to the first he confesseth the Magistrate is not to compell men so as to hinder them to think judge understand and conclude in their mind as they will but only in speaking writing and open profession which are visible and audible yea he thinks the Magistrates power doth not only extend on this side to prohibition but that he may also force them to hear and to the use of publik means that is in plain terms to an outward conformity and yet he saith this is no force upon Consceince We I then Popish Magistrates according to him used no force upon the Consciences of Protestants in forceing them to hear Mass nor yet the Pagans upon the Christians in forceing them to go to Idol-worships and to come near home the present Magistrates in Scotland use no force upon the Consciences of his Brethren the Presbyterians in the west-countrey in constraining them to go to hear the Bishops Curats as they term them where they can not pretend there is any thing of Idolatry As for his distinction of the Magistrates having power of outward but not inward acts it were enough for me to reject it as not being proved by him to be founded on Scriptur as indeed it is most deceitfull For if the Magistrate restrain me from doing that outward action either of confessing to Truth or denying error abstaining from idolatry or false worship and practising the true which my inward perswasion convinceth me of he encroacheth upon and takes upon him to rule over my inward perswasion as wel as the outward which follows naturally from the inward and without doing whereof my inward could and nothing to me save condemnation seing Christ requires an outward confession And if the Magistrates power as to outward acts even in matters of Religion be limited then he of right may decide and judge of all outward matters relating to Religion which Iohn Brown may remember his Brethren have strongly denied reserving that only for the Kirk for to say as he addeth that the Magistrate has power to punish Heretiks but not the Orthodox is as I observed miserably to beg the question since never any Magistrate was so mad as to persecut Truth as Truth but still under the notion of Error The sum of what he saith further upon this matter pag. 505-507 508 509. in answer to me resolves in these two objections ¶ 3. First That my Arguments do no less take away the Magistrates power in Civils Secondly That by the same arguments may be denied and taken away all Church censurs which I grant and in so doing contradict my self or must answer my own arguments For proof of the First he tels that many Magistrates have been or may be uncapable to judge in Civil matters as wel as Religion as also have done unjustice in their judgement Answ. True but all this will no ways inferr his conclusion because they still had that which was needfull to the being of Magistracy that is being duely to constitute for of usurpers we do not here speak however they may want these qualitys which might more accomplish them in their employment or that they may err in the administration of it but Christianity and consequently to judge in matters of Religion doth not so much as pertain to the esse or being of a Magistrate for if it did no man could ever have been or yet could be a true Magistrate or ought to be so owned unless a Christian which I suppose Iohn Brown will not adventur to affirm or if he do he will manifestly contradict the doctrin as wel as practice of Christ and his Apostles who preached Subjection and were themselves subject to such Magistrates as were enemies to Christianity If then a Magistrate may be truely a Magistrate and ought by Christians to be acknowledged and submitted to as such who is not a Christian to deny to Magistrates that power of Judgment which they can only have as being Christians will not necessarily take away any of their power as Magistrates for Christian Subjects especially being privat persons may and ought to submitt and obey their lawfull Magistrates albeit committing errors in the Government and commanding things hurtfull to the State and if they do other ways may be justly punished where the nature of the Government giveth them not allowance so to do But if the Magistrate shall command any thing contrary to the Law of God or impose in matters of Conscience contrary to Truth I. B. will with me confess unless he condemn himself that every privat Christian may without being justly accused of contempt refuse to obey as many of Iohn Brown's friends do in not going to the parish Kirks where the same faith and doctrin they hold is preached contrary to acts of Parliament For he hath not proved that a Magistrate by being a Christian acquires more power than he had before or is more a Magistrate though he may be a better For albeit as he observs Fathers be desired to instruct their children which Pagan fathers can not do yet they are not more fathers than before nor have more authority or power over their children to force them than before so a Magistrate being a Christian may instruct countenance and advance Christianity by the advantage of his place but acquires no more power thereby to force his people upon that account I. B. if he judge so will do wel to prove it by Scriptur ¶ 4. The reason of his second objection is because a Church may err in their judgment being defective as he supposed the Magistrate in the former objection and so may condemn Truth for error But how weak this is is very apparent For if he can shew us a Church having the true being of a Church which ought to be acknowledged and submitted to by Christians as such which vet is wholly a stranger to yea an enemy and persecutor of Christianity as I did him in the case of Magistracy he will say something but other ways nothing at all Next the censur of a Church however he seems to judge otherwise can not be called forceing of Conscience in the sense I grant it which is only for to deny the persons censured their Spiritual fellowship since he himself by his differing from them breaks it off as in my book intituled The Anarchy of the Ranters c. written concerning Church Government I have at large shewn And if the difference be such as the Church judgeth in conscience they can not have spiritual communion with one so principled it were in him a forceing of their conscience to urge it upon them for since he takes the liberty out of Conscience as he judgeth to differ from all his Brethren it were a most unreasonable thing in such a one to deny them the liberty being perswaded in their conscience they ought to withdraw from him seing the band of their unity which at
justification and sanctification neither confound them we have felt the Blood and the Spirit distinct things yet inseparable neither canst thou think we make void the Scripturs because we honour the Spirit that was before the Scripturs were written and bear testimony against all who deny the Spirit 's immediat teachings to be the universal privilege of his People whereby ye take away the key of knowledge and neither enter the Kingdom nor suffer others who would but monopolize knowledg to your selvs and intrude your meanings upon the Consciences of men as the Rule which meanings indeed I do not own either as the only or any Rule but as the Spirit of Christ in my Conscience answers it the testimony of the Spirit of Truth in thousands with me will stand and rise up against thee in the presence of the Lord when all thy unjust reproaches and malitious accusations shall melt away before the presence of the Glory of the heart-searching God before whose Tribunal I desire daily to stand that he may more narrowly search me by his Light and both discover and destroy what he finds contrary to his Pure nature and holy will whether mediatly or immediatly revealed and before whose Tribunal thou and I will ere long more solemnly appear to give an account of things we have done in the body which that thou mayst do with joy and not with grief hereafter when thou commend'st thy advice to the Readers of thy Epistles have so much mercy upon thy own and the Souls of those thou writ'st to as to desire them to ponder their path and be established and be sure they become to the holy faith and not to an implicite believing the Tradition of men for by so doing indeed thou and as many as thou canst influence may come to farewel according to Prov. 4 26. Ponder thy path and be established and turn not to the right hand nor to the left I am one Newtyle the 8 of the fourth moneth 1678. Who in my measur travell for the redemption of the Seed of God in all Soules and in thine LILLIAS SKEIN A Catalogue Of some of the many downright Lyes and Calumnys which he asserts in the Index before his book to be the assertions of the Quakers All these things he asserts falsly of us 1. THat we arrogantly stile our selvs the servants of God 2. That we glory of the Title Quakers 3. That we account our selves the only Teachers of Truth equalizing our selvs to the Apostles 4. That we say we are perfect without sin 5. That we only tast see and smell the inward Light 6. That we assert our experiences in matters that can not be experienced 7. That we assert our selves to be equal with God 8. That we say all is done without the Spirit that is not done in our way 9. That we remain covered when they pray or praise really to mock 10. That we ascribe as much to our own writings as to the Scripturs 11. That we speak basely of Learned men 12. That we condemn the study of Original Languages 13. That we speak most basely of the Scripturs 14. That we say they are no Rule to us 15. That we call them imperfect 16. That we disswade from reading and studying them 17. That we say God only worketh a possibility of Salvation 18. That we say God ordaineth nothing from eternity 19. That we deny Christ's second coming 20. That we are not clear concerning Jesus of Nazareth his being the Son of God 21. That we acknowledge no Christ but a Christ within us 22. That we make him nothing but a meer holy man 23. That a Christ without us is but a carnal Christ with us 24. That we are unclear touching the sin of Adam and the fall 25. That we make Original Sin to be a substance 26. That we deny that Heathens have any thing of the Law written in their hearts 27. That we say a Pagan can perform all inward worship easily 28. That we confound Revelations with the gratious operations of the Spirit 29. That we succeed to the old Enthusiasts 30. That we turn the history of Christ's Death into allegorys 31. That we wildly describe it 32. That we say there is no more advantage to be had by the history of Christ's Death than by the history of other Saints 33. That we miserably mistake the judgment of the Orthodox about Reprobation 34. That in exaggerating the matter of Reprobation we miserably belch out against God 35. That we deny Faith and Repentance to be the gifts of God 36. That we vilify the vertue and efficacy of Christ's Satisfaction 37. That we deny all imputation of Righteousness 38. That we say the Patriarchs had no faith of the Messiah to come 39. That with us all members of the Church are Officers 40. That we say all Worship must be done by inward Inspirations as to time place and duration 41. That we make no use of the Scripturs in our Worship 42. That in our Worship we unchristian and unman our selves 43. That we deny Magistrates to be lawfull that are not of our way 44. That we are against giving of all honour and respect to Superiors or equals 45. That we assert no Heaven nor Hell but what is within us I could have noted several others which are direct enough lyes set down in the Index besides not a few he has in the book which are not in his Index and which the Reader will in this Vindication observe There are also several in the Index which are false and not owned by us in the terms he writeth them of which I shall give the Reader a few examples that he may judge thereby of his fallacy in most of the rest as where he saith 1. That we say the knowledge of the Fall is not necessary Now this is false for we hold it necessary for all to be sensible of their loss and want onely we say a distinck knowledge of the history of Adam's fall is not of absolute necessity to such as God never afforded the means of knowing it 2. That we deny bodily death to be a punishment for sin This is also false only we say that it is not a punishment for sin unto all but rather a pleasur and satisfaction according to the Apostle's words to me to dye is gain 3. That with us the preaching of the Gospel is not necessary This is a meer fallacy for we say the preaching of the Gospel is absolutely necessary onely we do not think the external knowledge of Christ to be only the preaching of the Gospel and that the preaching of the Gospel has been or may be where this is wanting If I should go through the rest of the Index thus I should find very few particulars in which there is not some such perversion or fallacy so that very few are set down as they are truely owned by us some indeed are such as 1st That we deny men to be Christians by birth for we believe that men by nature are born children of wrath and yet this may have exceptions as in the case of Jeremiah and John the Baptist who are said to be sanctified from their mothers womb 2. That we would have Ministers learning Trades whereby to live We truely think it were no disparagement for Ministers to work with their hands as the honest Apostle Paul did who commended the same to the Elders of Ephesus Act. 20 34. And yet we think a man may be a good Minister though he have not a trade and work none but yet never the worse if he have one 3. That in Worship we think men should be silent in the first place Yes for Silence goes before all solemn actions of speaking 4. That we think to command men to pray without the Spirit is to command men to see without eyes Yes because we know not what to pray for as we ought without it Rom. 8 26. and no man should be commanded to pray as he ought not But as to these which are indeed owned by us thou wilt find them at large vindicated by Scriptur and Reason either in my Apology or in this Treatise I could have made a further remark in this his Index to shew thee how many of them he sets down as our assertions are not nor ever were asserted by any of us nor by him affirmed to be so where he has them in his book but only his own meer conjecturs and consequences but I am loath to detain thee any longer in this by looking the pages to which he referreth thou mayst easily observe it FINIS Pag. 2 3. Prov. 25 ver 21. Matth. 5 44. Rom. 12 20. Rom. 7 2. Eph. 5 ver 25. Arg. Answ. * The Examiners of the Westminster Confession †Some Lutherans