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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87658	The pretended antidoe [sic] proved poyson: or, The true principles of the Christian & Protestant religion defended, and the four counterfit defenders thereof detected and discovered the names of which are James Allen, Joshua Moodey, Samuell Willard and Cotton Mather, who call themselves ministers of the Gospel in Boston, in their pretended answer to my book, called, The Presbyterian & independent visible churches in New-England, and else-where, brought to the test, &c. And G.K. cleared not to be guilty of any calumnies against these called teachers of New-England, &c. By George Keith. With an appendix by John Delavall, by way of animadversion on some passages in a discourse of Cotton Mathers before the General Court of Massachusetts, the 28th of the third moneth, 1690.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.; Delavall, John, d. 1693.	1690 (1690)	Wing K192A; ESTC W42984	110,748	234

self-evident and yet may be tryed by the warrantableness of Scriptu●e Rules but the warrantableness of a practice doth not prove in the least the impulse or m●tion to be divine for a wrong or evil Spirit may move a man to do a thing that is not unlawful or unwarrantable in it self as to take a Journey from England to America and yet if he obey such a motion or impulse he should not do well and might suffer great hurt thereby And if a divine impulse have no self-evidence or some inward self-evidencing Light to discover it to be divine it is good for nothing for it leaveth a man still in the dark and at uncertainty surely Gods inward leadings are sure certain as thousands to Gods praise can witness against all your ignorant but presumptious Assertions without ●●l Proof And ye say I tell you that Phillip Peter and others were extraordinaryly called to such and such Services where ye pervert my words for I do not say of these particular Services mentioned by me there that they w●re extraordinarily called un●o them for to go to a place or Persons to preach the Gospel is no extrao●dinary but ordinary inward Call of Gods Servants in all Ages though Peter and the other Apostles had in other cases extraordinary Calls and Revelations That place in James 4.15 If the Lord will ye u●derstand it only of divine Providence permitting any man to do what he wi●leth if not forbidden in Scripture But as this is meerly begged by you without all proof but your bare affirmation so it is altogether absurd for how many do rash and hurtful things both to themselves and their Families which yet are not forbidden by Scripture as for a man to leave one place and remove to another beyond Seas is not forbidden in Scripture and yet if he undertake such a thing meerly because divine Providence doth not outwardly stop him by some cross event without the inward sence and approbation of divine will inwardly permitting or allowing him he may have cause to repent it all his daye● for m●ny by so doing have fallen into g●eat Inconven●encies Ye are miserable comforters that wi●l not allow to People that priviledge that they may wait to know Gods divine good Will and Approbation in their hearts in their removals from one place to another and in other weighty concerns of this Life And as concerning Marriages ye do allow People to ask Gods mind and cou●sel with whom to joyn in Marriage and if they are not to expect a return of their Prayers otherwise than a bare outward permission of divine Providence What is this but to mock God and deceive poor People But to Gods praise many can say they have both sought and received Gods counsel with whom to joyn in Marriage and because thereof have found their Marriage made both blessed and comfortable unto them in the midst of all Tryals Pag. 17. Ye call my saying That God answers the returns of the Prayers of his People c. A Quakerism i. e. Non-sence I pity your Ignorance and want of Experience May not the frequent and reiterated Prayers of his People for the same thing be called the Returns of their Prayers as when a Child returneth again and again to seek a thing of his Father and that God answereth these reiterated and returning Prayers as in Pauls Case who Prayed for one thing thrice thousands can witness though to you this is Nonsen●e because ye have neither sence nor salt in your selves to descern it It is a great encouragement to pray unto God that we find him to answer us by his living voice and speech in us and when God speaketh to us Scripture words or promises by his living voice and speech in us it is a new Revelation and divine Inspiration to us although not of any new doctrine for there may be thousands of new and distinct Revelations of the same Doctrine as there may be a thousand sights and eyes beholding the same thing and a thousand Voices speaking the same thing and all these Voices are new and distinct and yet the thing spokon is one and the same and Ancient and not New Pag. 18. That the word of the Lord grew and multiplied ought to be understood as well extensively in respect of multitude of living Testimonies as Intensively in respect of Efficacy for there was both at that time and though there was no new Doctrines yet there were new and that manifold and frequent living Testimonies to the same Doctrine and therefore the Word it self was properly encreased and multiplied Ye blame me for saying Christ and his Apostles expounded the scriptures by Inspiration and yet taught no new Doctrine but it seemeth ye have forgot that Paul said the same Acts 26.22 for all that Christ and the Apostles taught and enjoyned was either declared or fore-told by the Prophets lo●g before therefore the Doctrine was the same for substance and the Gospel was preached to Abraham and to the Prophets but after Christs Resurrection the Dispensation of it was more clear and full Pag. 19. ye blame me for Charging that upon you in the 12th Article which ye never believed much less pro●essed viz. that the Scriptures ought to be believed only for their own outward evidence and Testimony and not for the inward Evidence and Testimony of the holy spirit in mens hearts But in this ye are equally impertinent as in most other things as I have showed in my Answer to Cotton Mather to which I refer more at large Ye say The scripture is the only Rule o● Faith and hath a Self-evidence but the inward Testimony and Witness of the Spirit hath no Self-evidence but as some have called it Medium incognitum assentiendi i. e. and unknown middle or mean of assenting and that ye deny all Inspiration and Revelation properly so called all this proveth you guilty in the sight of all impartial men for to talk of an evidence or witness among men that hath not a certainty or Self-evidencing Authority in it by it self is absurd and illegal he who is a witness or evidence among men must not borrow his evidence from another and to say the Spirit of God in his inward teaching and illumination hath no proper and self evidence as it derogates from the Glory of it so it is as absurd as to say the Suns light at noon day hath no evidence of its own but men must light a Candle to let people see the suns light at noon This is rare Logick of yours Ye insinuate I se●k out more sences of the word Logos than it can bear without Tautologi s but if these be Tautologies the English Translation of the bible hath made them and not I and yet a true difference can be assigned by School-boyes betwixt Communication as pass●ng betwixt two or more and words of talk and speech that may be of one when none doth answer Pag. 20. ye will have the word of God compared to

or beeing unless ye will say That a Creature is any part or measure o● Gods Beeing or Substance And whereas ye say Graces are substantial things and are not meer Accidents but Adjuncts And thus ye seek to hide you from the ignorant in the Thicket of some Loicgal and School Terms and Phrases but when ye say Graces are substantial things ye do not tell whether ye call them so properly or metaphorically as when ye call God Light ye say it is not properly but metaphorically And for your distinction of Adjuncts and Accidents I suppose I learned that thing ye call Logick that ye seem to glory in as well as ye and do remember what is any wise useful in it as well as ye and I never understood that either Logicians or Philosophers so called did hold that the Soul of man had any Adjuncts that was neither the real Essence and Substance of the Soul nor yet Accidents and therefore if the Grace of God in the Soul be no Accident but the Adjunct of the Soul it must be the Soul it self and this is Pelaganism and Socinianism with a Witness for Pelagius and Socinus denyed the need of any inward Grace that was not th● S●ul it self for the Attributes of every being and so of the Soul are such Adjuncts as are either essential to that being or accidental and for this I can and do appeal to all who have any ordinary taste of that called Logick or Metaphysick but I shall not insist on this School-nicity And for your Proof that Grace is a Creature or created Principle from Ephes 4.29 If you mean the virtues brought forth in the saints called the fruits of the Spirit as Faith Hope Love Temprance Righteousness c. we own them in the Scripture sence to be the new man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness but that they are such a Created Principle as are neither the Soul it self nor Christ nor Accidents but a substance of another nature from all these is a novelty that I have not formerly heard of As for our Doctrine concerning Grace it is plain according to Scripture the Seed or Original Principle of Grace in the Soul is a measure of the Spirit and Life of Christ and is not Properly a Creature as commonly taken but a Pure divine Emanation and stream from Christ the Fountain and is of the same nature with the Fountain and is substantial and every Soul that is by a true and living Faith joyned to this Seed and Principle of Gods Grace is partaker of it Substantially and none else and is there by made fruitful to bring forth heavenly and divine Fruits as Love Joy Peace Me●kness Temperance Humility c. which are Divine Effects and may be said to be the New Creation or the Image of Christ formed and brought forth in us and where these effects are yea where that Seed is neither God nor Christ can be separated from the same Pag. 69. 70. Ye say Nor doth the Doctrine of Dr. Owen or Mr. Rutherford in the words of theirs which he cites at all run into the Quakers Blasphemy Ans Ye do then hold it Blasphemy for the Quakers to say that God and Christ dwell in the Saints and true Believers and therefore to avoid this Blasphemy ye will not own that God and Christ dwell in them and then surely ye preach an absent God and Christ for if Christ dwell not in Believers he is absent from them And yet ye contradict your selves herein as your manner is ye say The Person of the Holy Ghost dwells in us by his Operations And thus ye would falsly gloss upon the words of J. O. and S. R. for J. O. h●ld a peculiar Perswasion far differing from his Brethren the Presbyterians for which Cauldrey severely taxed him that whereas they held it that the holy Ghost dwelt not by himsel● or personally as they phrase it in Believers but by his Operations Graces and Gifts J. O. in his Book of Perseverence useth many reasons and words to prove That the holy Ghost himself together with his Operations and Graces he as well as they dwelt in Believers and not the Graces without him and upon this he buildeth the Doctrine of Perseverance And S. R. said He will not have the Graces of Christ without Christ. But ye plead that the Graces of Christ are in the Saints but not Christ himself and therefore if our Doctrine be blasphemous ye must allow J. O. and S. R. equally guilty but the guilt of Blasphemy is yours who would exclude Christ from the Saints and divide the Graces of Christ from Christ which is impossible and is contrary to all sound Reason as well as Scripture to divide and seperate the Operator from his Operations Pag. 70. Ye do acknowledge That ye agree with the Ranters in that Principle viz. That God doth all and hath unchangeably ordered all things good and bad are we therefore Ranters say ye Answ Let impartial men judge seeing this is the fundamental Error of the Ranters and the Root and Base of all their other Ranting Principles and Practices Pag. 72. Ye most falsly charge me as if I were restoring Maniche●sm into the World as if there were two Principles or first Causes the one of Good the other of Evil for ye are very ignorant if ye know not that the Manichism Principle was That there was an Evil first Cause or Principle essentially evil uncreated eternal independent and equal to the good But we hold no such Doctrine there is one only first cause of all things originally that is essentially good and goodness and all things were originally good and all the Evil that came afterwards into the World was not any real Creation or Production of any substance for Evil in the abstract i. e. Sin is no substance but either a privation as the sin of Omission or some depraved mode or modification or alteration in the Cr●ature that the Creature it self is the Author of and therefore Christ said The Devil was a Lyar and Murderer from the beginning and when he speaketh a Lye he speaketh of himself Pag. 73. Ye require me to tell you How God did fore-know all evil Actions that should be done in Time unless he had pre-determined them Answ The way and manner of Gods fore-knowledge surpasseth all creaturely Understanding and therefore it is too great boldness and presumption in you to imagin ye can tell it and it is yet worse to think y● can tell it by a way that contradicts the Scripture and the invvard sense of God in mens hearts as Because God pre-determines all evil Actions Thefts Murders Adulteries therefore he fore-knoweth them This is to make God equally the Author of Evil as of Good It is suffici●nt to us to believe and know that the dec●ee of God is Permissive but not Pre-determinative of evil Actions and as he knoweth evil Actions that are at prese●t brought fo●th as they now are so

expr●sly affirmed pag. 112. Now let us hear your Answer ye say They had believed in a Christ to come though at present they knew not that ●e was come in the fl●sh till it was further rev●aled to them A●sw At this rate ye make all the Jews throughout the whole World true Believers in Christ because they all profess to believe i● a Christ to come even as ye say Nathaniel and Cornelius believed in a Christ to come But as it was the true Faith to believe in Christ to come before he was come so it was not the true Faith but a great mistake or error at least though pardonable to believe in Christ to come in flesh when the true Christ was already come for their Faith could not be the true Faith which had not the true Object for to believe in a Christ yet to come in the flesh is a false Faith such as the faith is of those hardened Jews who generally believe not in Christ who is already come in the flesh but in a Christ or Messiah whom they imagine yet to come in the flesh And before that Peter preached to Cornelius Christ was crucified and raised again And seeing ye grant Cornelius had not faith in Christ crucified until Peter preached unto him and yet was in a good state ye quite give away your cause Beside that ye meerly alledge it without proof That Cornelius had any sort of Faith of a Christ to come in the flesh at that time for it only appeareth that he was a devout and religious Gentile but no Proselite to the Jewish Religion A Third Instance I gave you of Christs Apostles who had not the true knowledge and faith of Christs Death and Resurrection for some time for it is expresly said in Scripture when Christ told them he was to be put to Death and to rise again the third day They understood it not and yet who will say they were altogether in a state of Damnation Ye are so pinched here that your Cause is desperate and that makes you so angry and fretful Ye say Faith in God without Christ viz. come in the Flesh and crucified c. is not saving citing John 14.6 Acts 4.12 I have answered you it is not in that degree so as to perfect the work of Salvation but yet it hath a preparatory work and may begin it otherwise ye must say the Apostles that were ignorant that Christ should dye were not in any state of Salvation Pag. 95. Ye imagine that ye have got a wonderful advantage saying What then shall we say to his New Doctrine that they may receive it after death Ye further say We shall have a new Quakers Purgatory erected ere long But if ye were not very partial ye might see I did principally argue so with you ad hominem because of your Principle according to your own Doctrine in your Conf ssion of Faith that saith The Souls of the Righteous after Death Note after Death being then made perfect in Holiness are received into the highest Heavens These are the expres● words of your Catechism as I told you cap. 32 sect 1. and that ye say It is a bold Vntruth for they say no such thing there I A●swer Let the Reader but be at the pains to read that place cited cap. 32. s 1. and he shall find it expresly so and therefore the bold Untruth is your own and not mine and if they contradict it in their shorter Catechism by saying at the instant o● death what is that to me they must answer for their own contradictions and not I for them And for my saying after Death it was by way of Hypothesis If I should say And whereas I brought you a Scripture out of Job cap. 33.22 23 24. to show the wonderful dealings workings of God with men on their death bed or at death without the outward Ministry of men to show unto them their Uprightness and the Ransom or Attonement see from v. 14. to v. 30. Even by his own speaking to them in a Dream in a Vision of the Night when deep sleep falleth upon men in slumberings upon the Bed then he openeth the Ears of men and as it is on the Margin he revealeth or uncovereth Heb. and sealeth their Instruction What say ye to this weighty place of Scripture that deserveth so great consideration as holding forth the wonderful love of God towards men in general for the word Man indefinitely is to be understood universally or generally see v. 29. Lo all these things worketh God often times with man and his care over them that where outward helps and means of mens Ministry fail he supplyeth by his own speaking to them yea when deep sleep falleth upon men whether that sleep be understood natural or figurative is not very material to determine and all to keep back their Souls from the Pit and that they may be enlightned with the Light of the living Certainly this place of Scripture hath much in it yea very much more than ye or most are aware of to prove that Gods love and care is exceeding great towards Mankind and his patience and long-suffering is greatly extended towards them to keep back their Souls from the Pit which altogether doth overturn that most cruel and Cannibal-like Doctrine of yours that saith God damneth many Infants to H●ll and universally all who have not have had Christ preached unto them by the Ministry o● men except in some singular cases of Abraham and some others that were Prophets But to this weighty place of Scripture ye say nothing at all but are as mute as a Fish it is a cunning way in you to pass by with a dry foot as ye phrase it that which most pincheth you lest by medling with it ye should not only wet your feet but be in danger to drown your sinking and desperate Cause All sober Protestants as well as others will condemn you for your great uncharity to Damn not only so many Millions of honest Gentiles but of poor Infants that ye say never sinned actually in thought word or deed but meerly for the sin of another that was forgiven to him and thousands more yea not only the Episcopal but many in the Church of Rome are not so uncharitable Your great Uncharitableness maketh you cruel and ha●d-hearted and this begetteth in you a spirit of Persecution But is it not a great sin in you to be so uncharitable when ye have no ground but your own mistakes of some place of Scripture hard to be understood Oh! Repent of this your great sin not only of Un●haritableness towards so great a part of Mankind but of your evil and sinful thoughts of God Almighty rendring him so cruel and so short in his Mercy who hath declared himself to be good unto all and his tender Mercies to be over all his Works and that he is slow to Wrath long-suffering and with much long-suffering he endureth the Vessels of Wrath perfected for

points at Christ as both God and Man that most excellent middle that unites God and Men together for in all the Creation we see how the wonderful Wisdom of God and his wonderful Power hath united extreams by certain means or middles and these do plainly point unto us how as the highest and lowest Creatures are united by a certain medium or mediating nature partaking of both extreams so God the Creator and most high over all is united with men the noblest of his visible Creatures by him that is both God and Man made like to us in all things but without si● and therefore behoved to dye and rise again to lay a Foundation for our Faith and Hope that though we dye we shall also rise again Nor is this my single Perswasion but that of very judicious and wise Men long before me and Paulus Ricius a Jew by Birth but who became a Christian in his Treatise de Coelesti Agricultura lib. 1. from pag. 40 to 52. showeth how there are many excellent Symboles in the Creation that as Types and Examples hold forth that great Mystery of Christ God Man that were to be united in one and that this man could be but one only single man in the intire nature of Man of Soul and Body in all essential parts who should be both God and Man and for this he citeth a saying in Aristotle which is this lib. 10. Metaph. In quolibet genere rerum daturmum maximum et omnium ahorum summum i. e. in every kind of things there is one the greatest and highest of all others And who is this but the Man Christ Jesus who only among all men is both God and Man and the Head of all m●n And by exce●lent Symboles and Examples he showeth how this one man was to dye for all othe● men rise again And therefore however strange it may seem unto you not only many things in the Creation but the whole Creation it self is a Book full of Symboles Vails and Figures pointing at Christ even the Man Christ who was to suffer Death and rise again for the Salvation of men and yet I do most freely acknowledge that the Books of Moses and the Prophets did mo●e fully and distinctly hold forth this great Mystery But seeing ye grant That the Vails and Types of the Ceremonial Law did suffice to the Jews and People of Israel so far as outward helps and means were requisit to shadow and hold ●orth Christ unto them the same may be said as concerning the Gentiles that in some sort sufficient as in respect of outward helps and means for that day and time until more knowledge should come into the World was the Book of the outward Creation together with that knowledge they had that they were to sacrifice unto God as is above said And as God gave to the Jews and People of Israel his good spirit to instruct them in the signification of the Mosaical and Ceremonial Law and the Types and Shadows thereof so no doubt he gave a measure of his good Spirit to instruct the Gentiles what these Types and Figures legible in the Book of the whole Creation did signifie for as the Book of Wisdom saith The incorruptible Spirit of God is in all that is confirmed by Scripture for God gave his Spirit unto and by his Spirit strove with the People of the old World and it is the Light of Christ the Word and of the Spirit that convinceth and reproveth of sin that lighteth every man that cometh into the World which however ye call it only natural and humane we have good cause to believe it is divine and supernatural yet lightning the dark nature of Man and as it is absurd for any to hold a Book to a mans face in the dark and bid him read therein when he hath no sufficient light to read with so it were absurd that God hath set so excellent a Book as the whole Creation before the Eyes of men universally I mean the Eyes of their understanding and not give them sufficient Light in some measure to enable them to understand what is writ therein and seeing that Book contains true and real Types and Symboles Figures and Shadows of Christ as he was to come in the flesh and suffer death and rise again it followeth God hath given all men so much inward Light as whereby they might read and understand what is written therein concerning the Man Christ altho the express Hebrew and Greek Names Messiah and Christ be not known to them in such an obscure way and manner as might serve to that time but the great Glory and Light of the Mystery of God manifest in flesh which is Jesus Christ come in the Flesh who is both God and Man and yet one Christ doth incomparably surpass not only what all Vails Types either of the Law or outward Creation can discover but all declaration of words and cannot be perfectly known but by a very high degree of divine Revelation and no doubt the full discovery of it is reserved to the Life to come where it shall be matter of eternal Admiration and Adoration to Saints and Angels And lest you should say This is some new Fancy of mine and some other late Writers or apostate Hereticks as ye use to say I shall recite a Testimony of a very antient Writer who is judged to be either Ambrose or Prosper above twelve hundred Years ago in that famous and noted Treatise De vocatione Gentium i. e. of the calling of the Gentiles much esteemed and cited by Protestants of great note and particularly by Vossius and Grotius learned and judicious Protestants In the said Treatise de vocatione Gentium lib. 2. cap. 1. ad fin he saith in express words citing Acts 14. And indeed he left not himself without a Witness giving Rains from Heaven and fruitfull Seasons filling Your hearts with Food and Gladness But what is this Testimony that was alwayes serviceable to the Lord and never was silent of his Goodness and Power but the very indeclarable Beauty of the whole World and the rich and orderly largition o● his indeclarable benefits by which cretain Tables o● his eternal Law were given to the hearts of men that the common and publick Doctrine of divine Institution might be read in the pages of the Elements and in the Volumns or Books of the Times therefore the Heavens and all heavenly things Sea and Land and all things in them by the ●armonious Consent of their kind and order did attest the Glory of God and by a perpetual preaching did speak the Majesty o● their Author But this is not all he further saith And yet the greatest number of men who were permitted to follow the ways of their own will did not understand and did not follow this Law and the Savour of Life which breathed or inspired unto Life Note is not this in some degree Evangelical was made unto them the savour of Death

and work of Sanctification is before good Works outwardly wrought in order of cau●e as the good Tree is before the Fruit. Pag. 108. That Faith is used in Scripture not only to signifie Gospel Doctrine as ye grant but Gospel Holiness and Virtues by a synecdoche of the part for the whole is clear to any who are not partial for the just shall live by Faith and said Paul the Life that I now live I live by Faith and yet certainly his Life was not only the Life of Faith but of Love and other divine Virtues And whereas the Faith of the Elders is frequently mentioned Heb. 11. is it only their single Faith that is there commended or rather the whole Body of divine Virtues whereof the Root as it were is Faith as when we name a Tree by the Root we understand the Branches included and when we number men by the Head we understand the Body also and Gal. 3.5 after that Faith is come that was not the Doctrine only but the Grace of Faith together with all the other accompanying Graces and Virtues and as Unbelief is put in Scripture for all other sin that men generally are under Rom. 11.32 so Faith signifieth the whole Body of the Christian Graces and Virtues but of this ye take no notice but pass it with a dry foot because ye can give no sollid Answer to it though mentioned in my first Book And that it may appear I am not Popish in the Doctrine of Justification hear the Judgment of James Durham a Presbyterian Preacher in his Commentary on the Revelations in one of his Digressions where he saith Who only place Repentance Conversion and Holiness c. but as Conditions necessary to Justification and but equally necessary as Faith and in the same respect with Faith or in words to that effect the are not to be accounted Popish and therefore hitherto ye cannot nor shall find in what ●emaineth any Doctrine asserted by me that is either ●opery or Heresie but what is defended by as good Protestants and better than your selves and which hath the Scripture Authority to warrant it Ye say Ye understand not the meaning of my Rant about a Christ divided a Christ without and a Christ within a Christ in Heaven and a Christ in the H●art we believe say ye that there is but one C●rist c. Here ye grosly misrepresent my words and pervert the sense of them as if I did divide Christ or hold two Christs one Christ in Heaven and another Christ in the Heart Let the Reader see my words in my Book and he will find that I am not for dividing Christ but blame them who do divide him either in his Offices or in himself nor do I use these words a Christ in Heaven and a Christ in the Heart as if they were two but I say it is one and the same Christ which is both in Heaven and also in the Hearts of his Children and seeing ye call this a Rant it is plain that ye do not own Christ at all in the Hearts of the Saints Let this be well remembred against you for ye call it a Rant to say Christ is both in the Heaven and in the Heart did not the Lord say He dwelleth in the High and Holy Places and also in the Hearts of them that are Contrite c Ye say He dwelleth in the Hearts of all his People by his Virtue Influence and Grace But I say his Virtue Influence and Grace cannot be in the heart without him and seperated from him for if by Grace ye mean Faith Hope Love they would fail wither and dye if he were not present to nourish preserve them And how sillily and foolishly do ye infer pag. 135. That I hold two Christs because I say That by the Spirit of Christ a man is joyned both to Christ in him and to Christ in Heaven and if two Vnions then two Christs say ye But ye fight against your own shadow I say nothing of two Unions nor do my words infer it more than when I say a Graft that is grafted into a Tree is united both to the Branch that it is grafted into and also to the whole Tree Doth it thence follow that there are here two Unions and two Trees or that the foot is both united to the Life or Soul in it and to the Life or Soul in the Head that therefore there are two Unions and two Heads This shallow way of your Reasoning showeth what learned Clarks ye are Pag. 108 109. Ye deny That Faith hath any assurance in the being and nature of it but only that which is Objective and not Subjective And thus with School-Terms and Phrases ye seek to cover your selves in the Clouds from Ignorant People But let me explain it in English what ye say which is this That Christ H●●piness hath the Assurance but the Faith hath no Assurance of Knowledge or Evidence in the Nature of it as who would say There is assuredly such a City as London or Paris but he who is going towards it hath no assurance he is in the true way that leads to it Ye say further This assurance may be had without extraordinary Revelation and so say I for it is ordinary to thousands of Gods Saints in all Ages but what is that to you who deny all Revelation both ordinary and extraordinary at present and say The former wayes of Gods revealing his will are ceased And yet many Protestants have acknowledged a Spirit of Prophecy in some of the Martyrs as in George Wisehart and others as is to be seen in Fox's Book of Martyrs which contradict the Confession of the Assembly espoused by you CAP. VIII PAg. 109. Ye commit a great Abuse when ye say I deny the Doctrine of Perseverance I own both the Doctrine and Grace of Perseverance to all to whom God doth give it and my earnest Prayer is frequent unto God for my self and Brethren every where yea all who love the ●ord in any measure is whatever Name they go u●der that he may be pleased to establish them in that which is good and crown them with that most noble Grace of Perseverance And upon this head ye and not I give a way the Cause though ye contradict your selves in so doing for ye grant That not only ●ommon and preparatory works that are wrought in men that work a Reformation in many things but also a Faith may be lost that is real and true and not false and hypocritical for ye say expresly Pag. 111. We must distinguish betwixt a false-Faith and one that is not saving So ye grant that Faith which is not false but true may be lost but whether it may be called saving is rather a strife of words than any thing else which I love n●t to contend about That it is not fin●lly and eventually saving is certain otherwise it would have continued but yet that it had a preparatory service and use and began