Sloath It may be they do for they will not so much as pray to God Except when they Incline to it by a free motion and Instigation within The Quakers in the Close of their query require us to distinguish betwixt Temporal Babylon and Egypt and Spiritual Babylon and Egypt Ans I have hitherto abundantly vindicated our Church from the Aspersion of being a Spiritual Babylon wherewith the Quakers do ordinarily and wickedly traduce her and it is the scope of this Epilogue of their Queries they must end as they began slandering and accusing the Brethren and it may be also seen in their Confession of Faith pag. 122 124. Upon the other hand I have charged home the Quakers with their Errors Blasphemies Contradictions and shall do in a Post-script with their Papism and with Irresistible Evidence have made good every Article of my charge against them Only in the general to this part of the Query I Answer that Temporal Babylon and Egypt are understood properly of the places so called by the Inhabitants and were a tipe of the Spiritual but Spiritual Babylon and Egypt are mystically and improperly understood and are the Anti-tipe of the other And hitherto the Quakers possibly will consent But we will surely discord in the Application for the Quakers make that great Babylon Spiritually and mystically so called so much spoken of in the Book of Revelation to be only inward in the hearts of people See their Confession pag. 114 115 121 122 138 140. Where they alleadge that great Spiritual Babylon to be within in the hearts of people and affirm the great Whore and mystery Babylon to be our wisdom and the Beast be our will whereupon our wisdom sits I Confess the Pope is deeply obliged to the Quakers and belike some of them are asmuch obliged to him he is not so unreasonable as to make them work for nothing The whole Protestant Church hath hitherto proclaimed the Pope to be the great Antichrist and Beast and the Church of Rome to be that mystery Babylon great Whore and Mother of Harlots The Quakers are so tender of his and her credit as to Contribute their best endeavors by a new Invention because all other devices have long since failed for Enervating our Churches libel and for wiping the reproach from off them both But go to is mystery-Babylon our wisdom and the Beast and Antichrist our will Let the Quakers then Answer these few following Arguments First albeit all Hereticks are Commonly called Antichrists 1 Joh. 2 18. yet the great Antichrist singularly and Eminently so called was not revealed in the time of the Apostles but to be afterwards revealed 2 Thes 2 3 5 6 7 8. But it cannot be said that the Corrupt wills of men were not then revealed Secondly it cannot be understood how the Kings who give their power for a season to the Beast Revel 17 12 13 and afterwards destroy the Whore ver 16. there shall destroy the carnal wisdom of all men so that it shall be found no more at all as it is said of that great Whore Babylon after these Kings have destroyed her Revel 18 21. Thirdly seeing they will have our wisdom to be Babylon the great Whore what then are these Seven mountains whereupon that Whore sits and what are these Seven Kings Five whereof were fallen before the Book of Revelation was written one then was and another was not then come which are the Seven heads of that whores Beast and what again are these Ten Kings which are the horns of that Beast Revel 17.3 5 9 10 12. how shall these things be applyed to the Seat Heads and Horns of our wisdom and will Such an application will be an excellent Romance I le warrand Fourthly the great whore Babylon hath in her Harpers Pipers Trumpeters Craftmen Milstones Bridegrooms Brides c. Revel 18 22 23. But are all these things in peoples hearts in their wisdom The Quakers would make Heraclitus turn a plain Democritus nay almost a dead man to laugh himself alive by their jocund and facetious humor Lastly the place where Babylon stood becomes an Habitation of Devils the hold of every foul Spirit and a Cage of every unclean and hateful Bird after her destruction by the ten Kings Revel 18 2. But I would think that after the destruction of our carnal and corrupt wisdom that the Devil and all his foul Spirits should get the less access unto and worse lodging into our hearts where our carnal wisdom before remained Hence we see what a wild Romance the Quakers gloss upon the Beast and great whore amounts unto and upon how Ridiculous a fiction their apology for the Pope and Church of Rome is founded and yet I think the great Doctors of the Quakers deserves rewards at their hands for they have done what they could and who can do more Albeit the success and event which who can help does not answer their desires And now I hope that boisterous wind of Arrogance and storm of pride wherewith that supercilious Inscription of the Quakers the haughty Harbinger of these Queries did Insolently swell is a little calm'd and I trust I have by the evidence of Irrestible truth so overturned their Bulwarks and dashed the force of their Heretical Armado of falshoods that they shall not so confidently hereafter Summon the Armies of Israel with a defiance But if their courage be so undaunted that no routing of their Forces can abate it nor Impose silence upon them but they will still be smattering and will yet rally upon us with the new supply of a Reply then I must require them at the Instance of all rational Creatures to speak Reason and sense for in earnest not in jest I say it they are often so obscure in their Aenigmatical Riddles and abstruse Expressions of mysterious and Cloudy non-sense that they transcend and over-reach the most Metaphysical capacity of all mortals This demand is so exceedingly reasonable that I presume if any Quaker shall as yet have the boldness to Compear in the defence of their heretical Interest it will without further pressing be accepted and granted Another thing I must desire of the Quakers viz. That they trouble us not with new controversies as their manner is when they are overpower'd and non-plus'd in any one purpose to skip away to another and from that again to a third without either yeilding or satisfying untill they have First methodically in form and order answered and satisfied this Survey of their present Queries and this I expect to see at the Greek calends let the Quakers then who I have often heard are Threatening a reply perform these Conditions therein which most justly I demand or else I assure them for ought I yet know I will trouble my self no more with their Confuse Rapsodies of nauseous non-sense A Postscript for George Keith which I divide into two Sections The first shall wipe off his calumnies of Popery cast upon us The Second shall fix Popery upon
MY Lord Bishop of Edinburgh laving appointed me to reveiw and examine a Book Compiled by Mr. John Alexander Preacher of the Gospel Intituled Jesuitico Quakerism Examin'd or Quakers Confuted These are assuring that it not only Contains nothing contrary to the Christian Religion to the Doctrine Worship or Government of the Church of Scotland but that it exactly though briefly compriseth the Marrow of many great Truths in order to the vindication of those solid Articles of our Faith ignorantly and unreasonably invaded by that Heretical fry of Quakers and that with knowledge and care the Author hath Refuted their Irreligious and Blasphemous Positions so that it may prove a very useful Book And therefore I humbly judge it very deserving to be Imprinted This is Testified by John Hamilton Leith Octob. 16. 1679. Jesuitico-Quakerism Examined OR A CONFUTATION OF The Blasphemous and unreasonable Principles of THE QUAKERS With a Vindication of the Church of God IN BRITAIN FROM Their Malicious Clamours and Slanderous Aspersions By John Alexander Preacher of the Gospel Isaiah 8.20 Te the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Luk. 16.29 31. They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead 1 John 4.1 Beloved believe not every Spirit but trie the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman at the Sign of the Kings Arms in the Poultry 1680. To the Right Honorable Sir Robert Clayton Knight Lord Mayor of the Famous City of London the Author wisheth Grace Mercy and Peace MY Lord this ensuing Treatise comes to Salute the World and appear upon the publick Stage under the Honorable Shade and Patrociny of your name not presuming to add any Lustre thereunto whereof it is uncapable and whereof your Lordships Prudence and Vertues have been such publick Heraulds to the World that I shall rather impose a Cessation to my Pen and enjoyn my self a necessary silence as my highest Encomium than be Guilty with Apelles in forming of the Image of interweaving the constrained Failzeurs of my best Rhetorick with your Lordships deserved Commendation But knowing the hazard of these publick Scenes and the Worlds view where there is always a Momus ready to carp it comes to seek shelter under your Lordships favorable Protection whereunto it is also encouraged with good hopes of obtaining the cheerful Countenance of your Authority because of your Pious and Laudable Zeal against all the enemies of our Orthodox Faith and the Divine Truth especially these pernicious and beyond all Heathens most inhumane Proto-plasta's of Quakerism I mean the Jesuits unto whom the latter Profession owes the Founding of their Order and a great many of their Principles be they never so shie and nice to Confess it It doth also with Modest humility lay claim to one interest into your Lordships Tutelage because albeit it was elsewhere conceived and had the form of one Embryo yet it hath received its just measures for a regular Birth within the precinct of your Honorable Jurisdiction and though of Scottish Parentage yet it is truly London Born I know very well there are many in this declining Age of Christianity who account all Disputations about Principles of Religion how necessary soever providing men live well to be but vain Jangling wherein they exactly Homologate the Quakers as I well know but their provision though it were granted to be enough which it is not is impossible if people be misled in necessary Principles seeing no man can live well who mistakes his Rode-way and follows wrong directions and lies and therefore as we are very heartily willing to Discharge all Debates about Opinions which yield no fruit to Edification and make us no sounder Christians so their great care is to have all the other Cashiered also But when the most necessary Truths are boldly invaded and our common Faith in danger to be supplanted it looks not like Christian Courage or Zeal but is rather a plain betraying of Truth for us to hold our peace and suffer the enemy how contemptible soever they may seem by their real Triumphs though but counterfeited Trophees of a pretended Victory erected meerly upon our Cowardise and Sloth not the overthrow of our Cause or their Strength to gather Proselytes and increase their numbers This is not to be valiant for the Truth upon the Earth Christ did not so let the Sadduces a contemptible and foolish people pass without a demonstrative Confutation Paul also fought with Beasts at Ephesus and his Epistles declare what care he took at the Spirits direction too to redargue the Errors of his time This Tractate shall not much value the obloquy and Sarcasms of these men nor of any other whom nothing can please which is not either the fruit of their proper Invention or else at least adequately adjusted to their prejudicate apprehensions and foreconceived Opinions if it be but which is its great ambition acceptable to your Lordship and Edifying to such as desire to know and love the Truth And though reflecting upon the Brutish absurdity of the party against whom I have Embarqu'd in this Province not only renouncing all true Principles of Religion but also stifling their very faculties of reason my adopting of this piece so high may almost seem unsutable yet when I contemplate the great Worth and Excellency of the Subject Matter and Theme I am to treat upon being no less then the whole Divine Ordinances of the Gospel and the most precious and many of them most necessary Truths of Jesus I hope my Nuncupation shall no ways be thought incongruous if I have but been so happy as rightly to encounter the Adversaries and dextrously to vindicate and display the Standard of the Sacred Truth which with what force and evidence I have done I submit to your Lordships Vmpirage and Judgment whom that God may bless and make prosperous here and eternally happy hereafter is the earnest Prayer of your Lordships most Obedient Servant John Alexander TO THE READER THese seventeen following Queries of the Quakers having come to my hand with a direction bearing my Name I did for some time stand in Bivio doubting with my self if it should be worth the while to bring them to the Anvil one while fearing lest Truth through my weakness should be at a disadvantage and another while accounting it almost an unnecessary undertaking to offer to redargue such distracted and Brutish Errors the very Grossness whereof might alone be sufficient to overthrow and Crush their Reputation with every man not depriv'd of sense and rob'd of a sound mind But after more mature and due consideration that an undervalued and neglected enemy proves ordinarily the most dangerous and that unsavory Hemlock except it be digged out and Exfundat may grow and
wilful Seducers and malicious Opposers of the Truth whose Blasphemous Mouths must be stopt and their Heretical fury repressed that the Truth may not be Troden under foot and the simple Seduced who are easily ensnared where such men get way and are not Redargued That which hath deceived and been a Snare unto many simple and ignorant people is some hairy Garments of a few and but a few external Duties of the second Table of the Law wherewith these Instruments of Satan have Clothed themselves But such should remember that false Apostles and Ministers of Satan do Transform themselves into the Apostles of Christ and Ministers of Righteousness even as Satan also Transforms himself into an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11.13 14 15. and false Prophets being inwardly Wolves do notwithstanding come in Sheeps Clothing Mat. 7.15 and even Resisters of the Truth put on a form of Godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 8. and however these Doctors of the Quakers Mask and Vizorn themselves with some few externals of the second Table yet how even in Doctrine they trample generally upon the whole Moral Law but more especially upon the first Table thereof which yet in reason ought to have the first room is not obscure For as for the First Commandment it is notour to all acquaint with the Principles of the Quakers how manifestly even in Doctrine they contradict and oppose the same while they Impudently deny that any man who hath not received the Spirit ought to Worship God This is so known a Tenet of the Quakers that we need hardly to produce Testimonies thereof but it may be seen in a Book of theirs Published in the year 1668 entituled The Principles of Truth or a Declaration of their Faith in the 81 82 and 92 pages whereof they expresly Teach and I shall repeat their very words That all men ought First to wait Vntil they receive the Spirit in Truth Then in the same Truth to worship God in Spirit who is a Spirit In plain Terms that is to say men must first wait until they receive the Spirit before they offer to meddle in worshipping of God The same also may be seen in a most virulent Printed Pamphlet of theirs Intituled in the beginning of the Chapters or Sections thereof for I had it without a Title page The Principles of the Priest so they call the Ministers of Scotland of whom they there speak of such a Place and such a Place in the 14. and 15 pages whereof they directly Impugn and oppose this Position and Principle alledged by them to have been Taught by Mr. John Carstairs Minister at Glasgow viz. That all men whatsoever ought to Worship God Unto this their Atheistical Doctrine is Subalternate that other impious Principle of theirs That no man ought to Pray to God till he be actually moved thereunto and Influenced by the Spirit otherwise Mr. George Keith one of their Chief Apostles affirms it is but Will-worship and Superstition in his Quakerism no Popery page 99. and 100. Good Reader allow me to take a small word of these Mad Principles and I shall do it very briefly Therefore first all men whatsoever they be are bound to Fear Reverence Love and praise God say the Contrary who dare but these are all most principal Arts or parts of the Worship of God Therefore this Principle of the Quakers is both False and Prophane Secondly Obedience to God Essentially and Indispensably includes worshipping of God seeing it includes a subjecting and stooping to his Yoke and Soveraignity and a doing of Homage and Honour unto him and this also includes Reverence all which are no mean parts of his most Substantial and Moral worship Well then if no man ought to Worship God until first he receive the Spirit then no man ought to obey God until first he receive the Spirit seeing obedience Essentially includes Worship and cannot be performed without it as is shewed but it is utterly Atheistical Profane and Absurd to say that no man ought to obey God until first he receive the Spirit for then no unrenewed man ought to obey God seeing such men have not received the Spirit Joh. 14.17 Rom. 8.9 if then unrenewed men ought not to obey God then they are not under any Law of God and he requires no obedience of them for if they be under any Law of his and if he requires any Duty of them I am sure the Quakers will never get them exempted from it Well then if unrenewed men be not under any Command or Law of God and he requires no Duty of them then it follows Infallibly first that let unrenewed men do what they will they cannot sin against God seeing such as are not under any Command or Law of God cannot trasgress any Law of his and so sin against him see Rom. 4.15 1 Joh. 3.4 Such men then in the Quakers Principles may deny disown reject hate and Contemn God Worship the Devil and Debauch at their pleasure and yet they cannot sin against God for all that seeing they are not under any Law of God Secondly it follows thereupon that Reprobates are all most unjustly Condemned for their sinning against God seeing they not having received the Spirit are not under Law to God as is supposed and so cannot be Guilty of sinning against him Thirdly it follows thereupon that unrenewed men cannot sin albeit they should never so much Counte-ract and Contraveen all the Precepts of the second Table of the Law also seeing these that Transgress no Law of God nor any Command of his cannot be sinners seeing Sin is a Transgression of the Law and where no Law is there is no Transgression they are not capable of Trangressng a Law who are not under it and bound to obey it Hence then in the Quakers Principles unrenewed men may Lawfully Dishonour and Defame all men Murder commit Adultery Steal bear false Witness and what not Is not that a sweet Doctrine that tends so directly to all mischief and wickedness losing all men that have not received the Spirit from all Bonds of God and cutting asunder all the Divine Cords of their Duty are not the Sage Doctors of these black Mysteries of Satan very Divinely Inspired Do they not seem to be very Pious Would it not be a sweet world if these Principles were put in practise God preserve us from from so Impious a Piety and such stark Mad Inspirations which I am sure are the very quintessence of the Devils whole Treasury and the utmost of his strength and endeavour Hence falls that other Lewd and Prophane Principle of the Quakers subalternate to their Doctrine here presently Confuted viz. That no man ought to Pray to God until he be actually moved and influenced thereunto by the Spirit seeing calling upon God is a part of Moral Worship or of our Obedience to the Moral Law whereunto all men are obliged Pour out thy wrath upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Kingdoms that call not on thy
outward things Doth he not bring them off things that are seen to things that are not seen And whether or not ye ever intend ye your selves called Ministers or your hearers shall come any nearer to Christs Death and Die and be Buried with him but only to take Bread and Wine in remembrance of Christs Death lest ye and they should come to forget Christs Death Answer us plainly these things Yea or Nay Twelfth QUERY What is Original sin Whether it be not the Devil yea or nay For doth not the Original signifie the beginning And what did Christ come to Destroy Was it not the Devil and his works Thirteenth QUERY Whether or not did Christ die for all the ungodly in the world and Sinners that they should live and die in their ungodliness and sins or live unto him and whether or not did Christ shed his blood for all men and was a Propitiation for the sins of all men and whether or not these that do not hold this are these that make Sects and are out of the same Spirit and Doctrine of the Apostles Fourteenth QUERY What makes a Believer Whether or not is it by believing in the Light according to Christs Doctrine who says He is the Light of the World and doth enlighten every one that comes into the world that all men through him might Believe and who follows him shall not walk in darkness for he is the Light and says That he that believes is saved Then is not the Light saving which he believes and he that does not believe in the Light is damned already Then is not the Light or his disobedience to it his Condemnation Yea or Nay Fifteenth QUERY Can any man be saved by his own works Self-righteousness Will-worship and are not all men in the Self-righteousness that are not in the Righteousness of Christ Jesus and are not all of their own works that be out of the Light and the Faith that is the Gift of God and are not all in their Will-worships that are not in the worship that Jesus Christ the heavenly man set up above Sixteen hundred years since that is in the Spirit and the Truth So must not every man come to the Truth and to the Spirit in their own hearts if they come to the worship Jesus Christ set up and are not your Catechisms Confessions of Faith and Directories your own works and your own worship which ye have set down for people to fall down and do worship to and be saved by and have ye not set up this since the Apostles days and since Christ set up his worship Sixteenth QUERY Whether or not your Directory and Catechism and Confession of Faith be Gospel yea or nay And if so whether it be not another Gospel then that which the Apostles Preached who said the Gospel was the power of God Rom. 1.16 Seventeenth QUERY Whether or not the Scriptures do not say that he that believes hath ceased from his own works as God did from his and entred into his rest and whether or not your Directory and Church-maid Faith and Catechisms and Confessions be not your own works and ye follow them and worship them and not cease from them And whether or not in so doing ye keep people and your selves in your own works and from the Rest or we desire you shew us what difference their is betwixt Spiritual Babylon and Sodom and Egypts works of their hands and Temporal Babylon and Sodom and Egypts works of their hands and their worship Of each distinguish I desire you Distinguish the mystery from a plain outward Idol These Queries were Subscribed I. S. and I could fill up his Name at length but I forbear for some reasons that I think more pertinent to Conceal than Divulge unto the world This is the true Transcript of their Queries which were directed unto me as is said which I can Attest by many others that saw and read them before they came to my hand and some after that knows they owned them and they are also the true Pourtraiture of their known Principles and beside I have in this Controversie carried along two of their most famous Books yet extant the Positions whereof which I always Cite do exactly agree with the Scope and Import of these Queries viz. their Confession of Faith Subscribed by Eight or Nine of their most famous Ring-leaders in England by them called The Principles of Truth or a Declaration of their Faith and their Quakerism no Popery written by Mr. George Keith and Subscribed both by him and Mr. Robert Barclay two of their chiefest Luminaries and greatest Apostles forsooth in Scotland This Book Mr. Keith writes against Reverend Mr. Menzies Professor of Theology at Aberdeen a man of so great Veneration and Learning that it may be justly thought a daring boldness for him to have meddled against him So that no man knowing the Quakers Principles or searching these grounds will in the least doubt the faithfulness of my Transcription beside what Credit may be allowed unto my own Ingenuity who never loved the straining of any mans Principle too sore in Consequences unclear and remote much less the fixing of Principles falsly upon such as disclaimed them But of this I need say no more for the Quakers Principles are known and these Queries they will own An Alphaâ—â—â—ical TABLE A GRacious Acts necessarily require gracious Principles proved pag. 157. Adam a common Representative head of Mankind pag. 134. The Analogy of Faith what it is pag. 78. Apocryphal Books not Canonical or of immediate Inspiration pag. 209. Apostacy of the Saints confuted pag. 162. Christian assurance needs not immediate Dictates p. 32. Authority of the Scripture-rule over all other Rules proved ibid. The Pope before the Reformation had Church-Authority and how pag. 199. B THe Baptism of John and the Apostles the same in substance p. 69. Baptism with Water of Divine Institution under the Gospel p. 68. Baptism with Water only properly called Baptism p. 78. Baptism with Water meant in the Text of Matthew Matthew 28.19 proved p. 76. Baptism with Water necessary to Salvation and how p. 74. Baptism with Water not an Old-Testament Ceremony p. 68. Baptism succeeded in the room of Circumcision p. 86. Baptism of Believers Infants a Divine Institution under the Gospel ibid. Baptism the Initiating Seal proved ibid. Probable Evidences enough for admission to Baptism p. 88. The great Beast mentioned in the Revel not our will pag. 195. Bilocation pregnant with Contradictions p. 191. Blasphemies reported in Scripture not Scripture-sentence p. 20. C EXtraordinary calls attended with extraordinary Furniture pag. 7. An inward call not necessary to the validity of Ministerial Acts. pag. 202. A Catechism requisite in a Church and why pag. 123. Our Westminster Catechism aimed at materially Scripture-sentence pag. 129. How the Command is said to be nigh unto us Deut. 30.14 p. 37. Christs coming again mentioned 1 Cor. 11.26 not meaned of his coming at the Pentecost but at the
knowledge of these Truths amongst men of such Capacity though they should never so much Peruse the Scriptures than amongst Americans that never heard of them and in vain should such men be appointed to take heed to the Scriptures Isai 8.20 Luk. 16.29 Joh. 5.39 2 Pet. 1.19 if the Scriptures were every where so difficult and obscure that they could no ways understand them Thirdly I must premise that for Gods Holy and Wise ends for a view whereof see Mr. Durhams excellent Key presixed to his Exposition of the Song of Solomon pages 32 33 34. the Style of the Scriptures are in many other places so difficult and dark I mean in respect of our understanding that until they be Interpreted by men called of God though mediately and furnisht with Gifts for that end their particular meaning cannot be reached by men of no mean understanding yea even those of the greatest gift do not without much diligence joyned with great capacity nor yet fully as to all particulars understand them as is evident by the Song of Solomon and the many Mystical Prophecies contained in the Books of Ezekiel Daniel Zechariah Revelation c. And yet these same obscure places if they be skilfully Interpreted according to the Analogy of Faith in general and by comparison with other parallel places of Scripture more perspicuous and plain or by the scope connexion dependance and circumstances of the place it self will without difficulty be understood and the sence delivered from the foresaid grounds understood to be the true meaning of the Text by Men of very ordinary Judgment for many can discern the truth of an Exposition when the clear grounds thereof are represented distinctly before their eyes who cannot by themselves search out the methods to find these grounds and apply them thereunto as is both clear in all experience and also the one work in reason is much easier than the other Yea the Doctrine and grounds of a Scripture-Text not a little perspicuous being skilfully compared which a well gifted Interpreter and whose daily work it is is much more able to do than Men of ordinary reach common Endowments and other Imploys with the Doctrine and grounds delivered in other parallel places of Scripture in any measure clear though none of the clearest they do by their consociated beams and united rays more powerfully shine and more copiously send forth their light than any one of them apart could ever have done even as a number of bright shining Stars being placed into one Constellation do more powerfully shine than any one of them apart could have done Lastly I shall add that the whole Scriptures were written for our Learning and are useful for Edification as appears from Rom. 15.4 2 Tim. 3.16 These things premised I Assert against the Quakers who both here and many a time to my face have denied it That Scripture-Interpretation is necessary in the Church for Peoples understanding or better understanding of the Scriptures and Edification or further Edification by them and I prove it because If there be many Scriptures profitable for Edification and written for the Churches Learning which at least a great part yea the far most part of the Church cannot without Interpretation particularly understand or so fully understand and so be edified or so far edified by them and with the help of Interpretation may in some measure particularly understand or more fully understand and so receive edification or a further edification by them then Scripture Interpretation is needful in the Church that such People may understand or further understand these Scriptures and so be edified or further edified by them as is most evident But the former is true by our premised Discourse preceeding therefore the latter also must be true Secondly The Levites Expounded the Scriptures to the People Nehem. 8.7 8. Philip Expounded them to the Eunuch Act. 8.30 31 34 35. Christ Expounded his Parables which are now a part of the Scriptures to his Disciples Mark 4.34 He Expounded the Scriptures to the two Disciples Luk. 24.27 and albeit this was Christ Expounding them as the Quakers impertinently use to reply unto our Argument yet his expounding of them shews that Scripture-Interpretation is useful and necessary in the Church otherwise his Expounding had been a needless and idle work which is a piece of Blasphemy Matth. 12.36 Therefore Scripture-Interpretation is needful in the Church otherwise the Expounding thereof by the foresaid Persons had been a meer needless and idle work and the need thereof is yet further evident seeing it is plainly shewed Neh. 8.8 that Exposition is a mean for peoples understanding the Scriptures Nor did Christs own Disciples frequently understand his Parables until he Expounded them Matth. 13.36 Luk. 8.9 nor did the Eunuch understand what he read Act. 8.30 31. until it was Expounded to him Thirdly Peter affirms 2 Pet. 3.16 That there are some things in Pauls Epistles which are Scripture hard to be understood which the unlearned and unstable wrest together with several other Scriptures to their own destruction Therefore there is need of Scripture-Interpretation in the Church seeing Scriptures hard to be understood do need explaining that they may be understood and People instructed and edified by them for which purpose they were written and it 's needful to prevent as much as can be the mistaking and wresting of them and Peoples falling into Soul-destroying Errors thereby though all this happens through Mens ignorance and wavering humor as the Text says and is not the Scriptures fault Nor can it be answered as some do That by some things here Peter does not mean some of the Doctrine taught by Paul but some of the Extrinsecal Objects represented thereby seeing the things hard to be understood here mentioned are such as are liable to wresting which therefore must be understood of the Doctrine it self seeing that may be wrested but the Extrinsecal Objects cannot for wresting is a changing of the Sence which belongs to Discourse and Sayings Again where Peter says That the unlearned wrest these things hard to be understood as also they do the other Scriptures he plainly intimates that these things hard to be understood are themselves Scriptures too otherwise the Sence runs very ill I think viz. the unlearned wrest some of the External Objects of Pauls Doctrine as also they do the other Scriptures Fourthly I must enquire of the Quakers if in their Principles Men of mean capacities understand the Scriptures every where as for example all that is written in the Canticles Ezechiel Daniel Zechariah Revelation c. which yet was written and is useful for our Learning and Instruction if they say Yea I shall need no more to bring their Principles in discredit with all Men seeing the whole Christian World knoweth the contrary If they say Nay then there is need of Scripture-Interpretation in the Church for explaining such Scriptures by the foresaid means that People may understand them and be edified by them which is
Affirmer only be bound to prove his Affirmation yet until they do that I shall confirm our Negation Therefore first If Christ Died for and Redeemed Reprobates upon condition of their Believing then God intended that seeing Christ did not Dye for or Redeem any man either against or beside Gods intention But God never intended that Christ should Dye for or Redeem any Reprobate upon condition of Believing seeing so he should have intended the Redemption of Reprobates and that upon a condition which he infallibly foresaw would never come to pass which sort of Intention cannot even befall any may of sound mind much less can it befall the Infinitly-Wise God Secondly According to this Doctrine whereby Christ is said by his Death to have Redeemed all men whatsoever Conditionally Christ shall by his Death have purchased Redemption upon condition of their Believing for these who long before his Death were already actually damned in Hell for whom there was no place left for Redemption which is extreamly absurd that a price should be exacted from the Redeemer for these who themselves were then Suffering and Eternally without hope to suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire for their Sins This cannot stand with Justice Thirdly If Christ hath Redeemed Reprobates Conditionally then the performance of the Condition viz. Believing is either in their own power or else it is a gift of God whether purchased by Christs Death or by God bestowed without being thereby purchased all is one to our present Argument It is not in their own power Joh. 6.44 and 15.5 1 Cor. 2.14 Eph. 2.8 Philip 1.29 Heb. 12.2 If then the Condition be a gift of God then God either bestows it upon Reprobates or not if he doth then he either bestows it upon them Absolutely or else Conditionally if Absolutely then Reprobates shall thereby be made believers and so be saved seeing as is supposed God doth Absolutely bestow saving Faith upon them if Conditionally then seeing Faith is the condition by the Adversaries own principles the sence hereof will be that God bestows Faith in Christ upon Reprobates upon condition that they first have Faith in him which is both nonsense and it also implies a contradiction that they should believe when they have no Faith as is supposed If then God doth not bestow Faith upon Reprobates then they cannot be said to be redeemed seing so their Redemption as is clear from what is now said depends upon a Condition which is neither in their own power nor yet doth God bestow it upon them and so it is utterly impossible for them ever to perform And will any Man say that a Man is Redeemed when yet his Redemption is not made so much as possible to him his Redemption is upon the suppositions and grounds now laid down as impossible for him as when a Man says if ye will bring down the Stars I will give you my Daughter the Marriage with his Daughter is impossible How then comes it to be a thing actual when yet it is impossible I confess that object would be worth the seeing that were at once actual and yet impossible Fourthly if Christ by his death Redeemed all men whatsover only upon Condition of believing and otherwise Redeemed them not then he by his death Redeemed only believers and none else as is manifest But all men whatsoever are not believers therefore Christ did not by his death redeem all men whatsoever from the Adversaries own principles and yet they contend that Christ by his death Redeemed all men whatsoever and so they directly contradict themselves and their universal Conditional Redemption is repugnant Lastly for I will stand no longer upon a negative especially if Christ died for all men whatsoever give it what name they will then he satisfied Justice for all mens sins whatsoever But the Consequent is most false and absurd therefore so is the antecedent from which it follows The falshood of the Consequent and its absurdity are obvious for if Christ satisfied Justice for all Mens sins whatsoever then all Reprobates are most unjustly Condemned Seing their sins for which they are Condemned are by Christ satisfied for and so their Condemnation is an Act of great injustice done both to Christ and them which cannot be charged upon God without extream Blasphemy I Prove the Connexion of the Major because the very immediate end and Intention of Christ dying for any Man was to satisfie Justice for his sins as appears from Isaia 53 8 9 10. Mat. 26 28. Rom. 4 25. and 5 9 10 2 Cor. 5 21. Galat. 3 13. Heb. 9.26 28 and 10 12. 1 Pet. 2 24. In all which places it is manifest that for whomsoever Christ died he died to satisfie Justice for their sins for it is expresly asserted in these Texts that He was smitton for their Transgressions made his Soul an offering for their sins Shed his Blood for the Remission of their sins reconciled them to God by his Blood was delivered to die for their Offences was made sin for them was made a curse for them to deliver them from the curse appeared to put away their sin by the Sacrifice of himself Offered himself a Sacrifice for their sins bare their sins in his Body on the Tree All which declares that for whomsoever Christ died he died to satisfie Justice for their sins If they Answer that Christ satisfied for all Mens sins whatsoever upon condition of their beleiving as they use and otherwise not Unto this I shall subsume that not all Men whatsoever beleive but only some Few Therefore from the Enemies own principles he did not satisfie for all Mens sins whatsoever but only for believers sins and none else and so their principles involves a Contradiction viz. he satisfied for all Mens sins whatsoever say they and yet from these same very principles he did not satisfie for all Mens sins whatsoever but only for believers sins Secondly seeing misbelief is a chief and Mother-sin Christ hath surely satisfied for it also amongst the rest for all for whose sins he did satisfie otherwise he could not at all have Redeemed them from the curse if he had left any of their sins unsatisfied for and so if Christ died and satisfied for any Man that is for all that Condemned then still that Man is Condemned for that which yet is satisfied for which is an Act of extream injustice What did not Christ satisfie for all their sins for whom he satisfied if not how came he to satisfie for a part and not the rest and how are they said to be Redeemed by a partial satisfaction which cannot Redeem any Man and who should satisfie for the rest of their sins If then which is certain Christ satisfied for all their sins for whom he did satisfie and so for their misbelief among the rest I would gladly know if Christ satisfied for all Men whatsoever for what Reprobates are Condemned for it cannot without the greatest injustice be for their sins which as is
supposed are all satisfied for misbelief and all I cannot stand no longer upon this But who so pleases may see this universal Conditional Redemption very solidly and yet very breifly Confuted in worthy Mr. Durhams Exposition of the Book of the Rev. from pag. 299 the pag. 326. Objections Answered But now we must hear what our Adversaries have to say for themselves Therefore First they instance that Scripture 1 Joh. 2 2. where it s said that Christ was a Propitiation for the sins of the whole World that is as they will for the sins of all Men whatsoever Ans By the whole World John does not mean all Men whatsoever without exception but his meaning is that Christs death was not only a Propitiation for the sins of the Jewes and Men of their Nation but also of the Nations of the Gentiles throughout the whole World and for that cause he calls it the whole World because the benefit of Christs death was not any more restricted and limited to the Nation of the Jewes with their few Proselyts as it was before but was extended to any Nation throughout the World as well as to them And that this must be the meaning of this Text the Scripture arguments which are already produced against universal Redemption from which the Adversaries can make no evasion as is shewed by the confetation of their Chiefest devices and answers doe Evidently prove seeing this Text of the Scripture does not contradict these but is explained by them Beside the whole world and all Men doe not always in the Scriptures signifie all Men whatsoever without exception as may be easily seen Isai 40 5 Joel 2 28 Joh. 12 32. Rev. 13 3. Secondly they object from 1 Cor. 15 22. where its said For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive Say they Christ died for all men whatsoever Ans If they will have this Scripture to be meant of all men whatsoever without exception it will prove that all men whatsoever shall be made eventually to live in Christ for the sence of this Text is plainly eventual They shall be made alive in Christ says it But the Adversaries themselves know that all men whatsoever are not made eventually alive in Christ and so they cannot urge this Text as meant of all men whatsoever but only of these who eventually are made partakers of Life The meaning thereof is That all that Dye Dye in Adam and he by his fall is the Author of their Death So all that again get Life they get it in Christ and he is the Author thereof unto them seeing out of him there is no Life Act. 4.12 Thirdly They object That Christ is the Saviour of all Men especially of them that believe 1 Tim. 4 1◠Therefore Christ Died for all men whatsoever The Text cited for answer is meant only of Gods general providence which he hath over all men in this Life in preserving them and providing for them which is chiefly extended towards Believers otherwise in the sence of the Adversaries who mean it by the objection of Eternal Salvation it will prove that all men whatsoever are Eternally saved especially Believers which I am sure the Adversaries will acknowledge to be false and absurd too Fourthly They object That if Adam hath lost more than Christ hath restored then Adam was stronger than Christ which is most absurd Ans This Argument endeavours to prove that the number of them that are eventually saved is greater than of the eventually damned contrary to the Scriptures Matth. 7.13 14. and 20.16 for as long as the number of the eventually lost is more than that of the saved Adam hath still lost more than are by Christ restored Secondly Christs Death was indeed sufficient to have expiated the sins of all men and to have restored all that Adam lost but it was not appointed to expiate all mens sins whatsoever but only of the Elect and so the Argument reaches not that which it aims at Lastly It is an act of much greater power to quicken one dead man than to kill many Millions of living men for Adam was able to destroy many Millions but not to restore one man and so still the Consequence comes short Fifthly God will have all men to be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 Therefore Christ died for all men whatsoever Ans The Apostle by all men means not of all men whatsoever but of all Sorts Ranks and Degrees of men as the word all is frequently in the Scripture understood as I partly before shewed and as it is expresly explained Revel 13.16 and so the word all is meant of Genera singulorum that is all kinds of Men Not of Singula generum that is every Individual man An answer of the same kind may be given to the Objection which they draw from Heb. 2.9 where we have it turned Christ tasted Death for every Man But the truth is there is no more in the Original in this Text but that Christ tasted Death for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the word Men is not in the Original and so it may be as well supplied in our Language with the word Elect or Believers as with the word Men or albeit it be supplied with the word Men yet it must be understood as is said of men of every Sort Station Condition Calling Quality and Degree not of every Individual Man seeing by our foregoing Arguments that would be utterly false Sixthly We are forbidden to destroy him for whom Christ Died Rom. 14.15 and again there are some 2 Pet. 2.1 that deny the Lord that bought them Therefore Christ Died for some who for all that may be destroyed and damned Ans The Apostle in the first cited Text means plainly of laying a scandal before a weak Brother of whom he there speaks whereby we destroy him as much as in us and gives him an occasion and temptation to destroy himself if that could be but it is not meant that any for whom Christ Died do or can eventually perish yea in that same Chapter Ver. 4. the Apostle expresly says the contrary where he confidently affirms That he shall be holden up The second place cited does not mean of these mens being bought and redeemed from Hell but of their being bought redeemed or delivered from the ignorance of the World in a Moral or Historical sence through some common Illuminations and from the external pollutions of the World through some common Operations from all which they did once seem to the Church to be also bought and redeemed from Hell and were so in her Judgment of Charity according to which respects the Apostle there speaks most part whereof may be seen in that same Chapter Ver. 18.20.21 where the Apostle says That these men had escaped the Error of the World and the Pollutions thereof and had got some knowledge of the way of Righteousness viz. an External Moral and Historical knowledge and the rest of it is declared by John 1