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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30895	An apology for the true Christian divinity, as the same is held forth, and preached by the people, called, in scorn, Quakers being a full explanation and vindication of their principles and doctrines, by many arguments, deduced from Scripture and right reason, and the testimony of famous authors, both ancient and modern, with a full answer to the strongest objections usually made against them, presented to the King / written and published in Latine, for the information of strangers, by Robert Barclay ; and now put into our own language, for the benefit of his country-men.; Theologiae verè Christianae apologia. English	Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690.	1678 (1678)	Wing B721; ESTC R1740	415,337	436

that hid his Talent and did not improve it Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into utter darkness If then their not improving of the Talent made the man unprofitable and he was therefore cast into utter darkness it will follow by the Rule of Contraries so far at least that the improving made the other profitable seeing if our Adversaries will allow us to believe Christ's Words this is made a reason and so at left a cause instrumental of their acceptance Well done good and faithful Servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Obj. Secondly they object those sayings of the Apostle where he excludes the deeds of the Law from Justification as first Rom. 3.20 because by the deeds of the Law there shall be no flesh justified in his sight And ver 28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law Answ. Answ. We have shewn already what place we give to works even to the best of works in justification and how we ascribe its immediate and formal cause to the worker brought forth in us but not to the works But in answer to this objection I say there is a great difference betwixt the works of the Law and those of Grace or of the Gospel The first are excluded the second not but are necessary The first are those which are performed in man's own will and by his strength in a conformity to the outward Law and Letter and therefore are men's own imperfect works or works of the Law which makes nothing perfect And to this belong all the Ceremonies Purifications Washings and Traditions of the Jews The second are the works of the Spirit of Grace wrought in the Heart wrought in conformity to the Inward and Spiritual Law which works are not wrought in man's will nor by his power and ability but in and by the Power and Spirit of Christ in us and therefore are pure and perfect in their kind as shall hereafter be proved and may be called Christ's works for that he is the immediate author and worker of them Such works we affirm absolutely necessary to justification so that a man cannot be justified without them and all faith without them is dead and useless as the Apostle James saith Now that such a distinction is to be admitted and that the works excluded by the Apostle in the matter of Justification are of the first kind will appear if we consider the occasion of the Apostle mentioning this as well here as throughout in his Epistle to the Galatians where he speaks of this matter and to this purpose at large which was this That whereas many of the Gentiles that were not of the Race nor Seed of Abraham as concerning the Flesh were come to be converted to the Christian Faith and believe in him some of those that were of the Jewish Proselites thought to subject the faithful and believing Gentiles to the legal Ceremonies and Observations as necessary to their Justification This gave the Apostle Paul occasion at length in his Epistle to the Romans Galatians and elsewhere to shew the use and tendency of the Law and of its works and to contradistinguish them from the Faith of Christ and Righteousness thereof shewing how the former was ceased and become ineffectual the other remaining and yet necessary And that the works excluded by the Apostle are of this kind of works of the Law appears by the whole strain of his Epistle to the Galatians chap. 1 2 3 and 4. for after in the 4 chapter he upbraideth them for their returning unto the observation of daies and times and that in the beginning of the 5 chapter he sheweth them their folly and the evil consequence of adhering to the Ceremonies of Circumcision then he adds v. 6. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision availeth but Faith which worketh by love and thus he concludes again chap. 6. v. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth nor Vncircumcision but a new Creature From which places appeareth that distinction of works aforementioned whereof the one is excluded the other necessary to Justification For the Apostle sheweth here that Circumcision which word is often used to comprehend the whole Ceremonies and legal Performances of the Jews is not necessary nor doth avail Here are then the works which are excluded by which no man is justified but Faith which worketh by love but the new Creature this is that which availeth which is absolutely necessary for Faith that worketh by love cannot be without works for as is said in the same 5 chapter v. 22. Love is a work of the Spirit Also the New Creature if it avail and be necessary cannot be without works seeing it is natural for it to bring forth works of Righteousness Again that the Apostle no waies intends to exclude such good works appears in that in the same Epistle he exhorts the Galatians to them and holds forth the usefulness and necessity of them and that very plainly c. 6. v. 7 8 9. Be not deceived saith he God is not mocked for what soever man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth in the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting And let us not be weary of well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Doth it not hereby appear how necessary the Apostle would have the Galatians know that he esteemed good works to be to wit not the outward testimony and tradition of the Law but the fruits of the Spirit mentioned a little before by which Spirit he would have them to be led and walk in those good works As also how much he ascribed to these good works by which he affirms Life Everlasting is reaped Now that cannot be useless to man's Justification which capaciates him to reap so rich a harvest But lastly for a full answer to this objection and for the establishing of this Doctrin of good works I shall instance another saying of the same Apostle Paul which our adversaries also in the blindness of their minds make use of against us to wit Tit. 3.5 Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost It is generally granted by all that saved is here all one as if it had been said justified Now there are two kinds of works here mentioned one by which we are not saved that is not justified and another by which we are saved or justified The first the works of Righteousness which we have wrought that is which we in our first faln nature by our own strength have wrought our own legal performances and therefore may truly and properly be called ours whatever specious appearances they may seem to have And that it must needs

such as their Converting of the Nations to the Christian Faith their gathering of the Churches their Writing of the Holy Scriptures yea and their Offering up and Sacrificing of their Lives for the Testimony of Jesus What may our Adversaries think of this Argument whereby it will follow that the Holy Scriptures whose perfection and excellency they seem so much to magnifie are proved to be impure and imperfect because they came through impure and imperfect Vessels It appears by the confessions of Protestants that the Fathers did frequently attribute unto works of this kind that Instrumental work which we have spoken of in Justification albeit some ignorant persons cry out it is Popery and also divers and that Famous Protestants do of themselves confess it Amandus Polanus in his Symphonia Catholica cap. 27. de remissione peccatorum pag. 651. places this These as the common opinion of Protestants most agreeable to the Doctrine of the Fathers We obtain the remission of sins by Repentance Confession Prayers and Tears proceeding from Faith but do not merit to speak properly and therefore we obtain remission of sins not by the merit of our Repentance and Prayers but by the mercy and goodness of God Innocentius Gentiletus a Lawyer of great same among Protestants in his examin of the Council of Trent pag. 66 67. of Justification having before spoken of Faith and Works adds these words But seeing the one cannot be without the other we call them both conjunctly instrumental causes Zanchius in his 5 book De Natura Dei saith We do not simply deny that good works are the cause of Salvation to wit the instrumental rather than the efficient cause which they call sine qua non And afterwards Good Works are the instrumental cause of the possession of Life Eternal for by these as by a means and a lawful way God leads unto the possession of Life Eternal G. Amesius saith that our obedience albeit it be not the principal and meritorius cause of Life Eternal is nevertheless a cause in some respect administring helping and advancing towards the possession of the life Also Richard Baxter in the book above cited pag. 155. saith that we are justified by works in the same kind of causality as by Faith to wit as being both causes sine qua non or conditions of the New Covenant on our part requisite to Justification And pag. 195. he saith It is needless to teach any Schollar who hath read the Writings of Papists how this Doctrine differs from them But lastly because it is fit here to say something of the merit and reward of works I shall add something in this place of our sense and belief concerning that matter we are far from thinking or believing that man merits any thing by his works from God all being of Free Grace and therefore do we and always have denyed that Popish notion of meritum excondigno nevertheless we cannot deny but that God out of his infinite goodness wherewith he hath loved mankind after he communicates to him his Holy Grace and Spirit doth according to his own will recompence and reward the good works of his Children and therefore this merit of congruity or reward in so far as the Scripture is plain and positive for it we may not deny neither wholly reject the word in so far as the Scripture makes use of it For the same Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies merit is also in those places where the Translators express it worth or worthy as Matth. 3.8 1 Thess. 2.12 2 Thess. 1.5 8. concerning which Richard Baxter saith in the above cited book pag. 8. But in a larger sense as promise is an Obligation and the thing promised is said to be debt so the performers of the conditions are called worthy and that which they perform Merit although properly all be of Grace and not of Debt Also those who are called the Fathers of the Church frequently used this word of merit whose sayings concerning this matter I think not needful to insert because it is not doubted but evident that many Protestants are not averse from this word in the sense that we use it The Apology for the Augustine Confession Art 20. hath these words We agree that works are truly meritorius not of remission of sins or Justification but they are meritorious of other rewards Corporal and Spiritual which are indeed as well in this Life as after this Life And further Seeing works are a certain fulfilling of the Law they are rightly said to be meritorious it is rightly said that a reward is due to them In the acts of the conference of Oldenburgh the Electoral Divines pag. 110 265. say In this sense our Churches also are not averse from the word merit used by the Fathers neither therefore do they defend the Popish Doctrine of merit G. Vossius in his Theological These concerning the merits of good works saith We have not adventured to condemn the word merit wholly as being that which both many of the Ancients use and also the reformed Churches have used in their confessions Now that God judgeth and accepteth men according to their works is beyond doubt to those that seriously will read and consider these Scriptures Matth. 17.26 Rom. 2.6 7 10. 2 Cor. 5.10 Ja. 1.25 Heb. 10.35 1 Pet. 1.17 Rev. 22.12 § XIII And to conclude this Theam let none be so bold as to mock God supposing themselves justified and accepted in the sight of God by vertue of Christ's Death and Sufferings while they remain unsanctified and unjustified in their own Hearts and polluted in their Sins lest their hope prove that of the Hypocrite which perisheth Neither let any foolishly imagine that they can by their own works or by the performance of any Ceremonies or Traditions or by the giving of Gold or Money or by afflicting their bodies in Will-worship and voluntary humility or foolishly striving to conform their way to the outward Letter of the Law flatter themselves that they merit before God or draw a debt upon him or that any man or men have Power to make such kind of things effectual to their Justification lest they be found foolish boasters and strangers to Christ and his Righteousness indeed But blessed for ever are they that having truly had a sense of their own unworthyness and sinfulness and having seen all their own endeavours and performances fruitless and vain and beheld their own emptyness and the vanity of their vain Hopes Faith and Confidence while they remained inwardly pricked pursued and condemned by God's Holy Witness in their Hearts and so having applyed themselves thereto and suffered his Grace to work in them are become changed and renewed in the Spirit of their minds past from death to Life and know Jesus arisen in them working both the will and the deed and so having put on the Lord Jesus Christ in effect are cloathed with him and partake of his Righteousness and Nature such

matter § VII Their first Objection is usually drawn from Isaiah 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no Light in them Now this Law Testimony and Word they plead to be the Scriptures To which I answer that That is to beg the thing in question and remains yet unproved Nor do I know for what reason we may not safely affirm this Law and Word to be inward But suppose it was outward it proves not the case at all for them neither makes it against us for it may be confessed without any prejudice to our cause that the outward Law was more particularly to the Jews a Rule and more principally than to us seeing their Law was outward and literal but ours under the New Covenant as hath been already said is expresly affirmed to be inward and Spiritual So that this Scripture is so far from making against us that it makes for us for if the Jews were directed to try all things by their Law which was without them written in tables of stone then if we will have this advice of the Prophet to reach us we must make it hold parallel to that dispensation of the Gospel which we are under So that we are to try all things in the first place by that Word of Faith which is preached unto us which the Apostle saith is in the heart and by that Law which God hath given us which the Apostle saith also expresly is written and placed in the mind Lastly If we look to this place according to the Greek interpretation of the Septuagint our adversaries shall have nothing from thence to carp yea it will favour as much for there it is said that the Law is given us for a help which very well agrees with what is above asserted Their second objection is from Joh. 5.39 Search the Scriptures c. Here say they we are commanded by Christ himself to search the Scriptures I answer First That the Scriptures ought to be searched we do not at all deny but are very willing to be tryed by them as hath been above declared But the question is Whether they be the only and principal Rule which this is so far from proving that it proveth the contrary for Christ checks them here for too high an esteem of the Scriptures and neglecting of him that was to be preferr'd before them and to whom they bore witness as the following words declare For in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me and ye will not come unto me that ye may have life This shewes that while they thought they had eternal life in the Scriptures they neglected to come unto Christ to have Life of which the Scriptures bore witness This answers well to our purpose since our adversaries now do also exalt the Scriptures and think to have life in them which is no more than to look upon them as the only principal rule and way to Life and yet refuse to come unto the Spirit of which they testifie even the inward Spiritual Law which could give them Life So that the cause of this Peoples ignorance and unbelief was not their want of respect to the Scriptures which though they knew and had a high esteem of yet Christ testifies in the former verses that they had neither seen the Eather nor heard his voice at any time neither had his word abiding in them which had they then had then they had believed in the Son Moreover that place may be taken in the Indicative mood Ye search the Scriptures which interpretation the Greek word will bear and so Pasor translateth it which by the reproof following seemeth also to be the more genuine interpretation as Cyrillus long ago hath observed § VIII Their third objection is from these words Acts 17.11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so Here say they the Beroeans are commended for searching the Scriptures and making them the Rule I answer That the Scriptures either are the principal or only Rule will not at all from this follow neither will their searching the Scriptures or being commended for it infer any such thing for we recommended and approve the use of them in that respect as much as any yet will it not follow that we affirm them to be the principal and only Rule Secondly It is to be observed that these were the Jews of Beroea to whom these Scriptures which were the Law and the Prophets were more particularly a Rule and the thing under examination was whether the Birth Life Works and sufferings of Christ did answer to the Prophecies that went before of him so that it was most proper for them being Jews to examine the Apostles Doctrine by the Scriptures seeing he pleaded it to be a fulfilling of them It is said nevertheless in the first place that they received the Word with chearfulness and in the second place they searched the Scriptures not that they searched the Scriptures and then received the Word for then could not they have prevailed to convert them had they not first minded the Word abiding in them which opened their understandings no more than the Scribes and Pharisees who as in the former objection we observed searched the Scriptures and exalted them and yet remained in their unbelief because they had not the Word abiding in them But lastly If this commendation of the Jewish Beroeans might infer that the Scriptures were the only and prsncipal Rule to try the Apostles Doctrine by what should have become of the Gentiles How should they ever have come to received the Faith of Christ who neither knew the Scriptures nor believed them We see in the end of the same Chapter how the Apostle preaching to the Athenians took another method and directed them to somewhat of God within themselves that they might feel after him He did not first go about to Prosolite them to the Jewish Religion and to the belief of the Law and the Prophets and from thence to prove the coming of Christ. Nay he took a nearer way Now certainly the principal and only Rule is not different one to the Jews and another to the Gentiles but is vniversal reaching both though secondary and subordinate Rules and means may be various and diversly suted according as the people they are used to are stated and circumstantiated Even so we see that the Apostle to the Athenians used a Testimony of one of their own Poets which he judged would have credit with them and no doubt such Testimonys whose Authors they esteemed had more weight with them than all the sayings of Moses and the Prophets whom they neither knew nor would have cared for Now because the Apostle used the Testimony of a Poet to the Athenians will it therefore follow he made that the Principal or

was no other than of unjust to be made just through the Grace of God for Christ. He mentioneth more but this may suffice to our purpose § VIII Having thus sufficiently proved that by justification is to be understood a really being made righteous I do boldly affirm and that not only from a notional knowledg but from a real inward experimental feeling of the thing that the immediate nearest or formal cause if we must in condescendence to some use this word of a man's justification in the sight of God is the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Soul changing altering and renewing the mind by whom even the Author of this inward work thus formed and revealed we are truly justified and accepted in the sight of God For it is as we are thus covered and cloathed with him in whom the Father is alwaies well pleased that we may draw near to God and stand with confidence before his throne being purged by the blood of Jesus inwardly poured into our Souls and cloathed with his Life and Righteousness therein revealed And this is that order and method of Salvation held forth by the Apostle in that Divine saying Rom. 5.10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life For the Apostle first holding forth the reconciliation wrought by the death of Christ wherein God is near to receive and redeem man holds forth his Salvation and Justification to be by the Life of Jesus Now that this Life is an inward Spiritual thing revealed in the Soul whereby it is renewed and brought forth out of death where it naturally has been by the fall and so quickned and made alive unto God The same Apostle shews Eph. 2.5 Even when we were dead in sins and trespasses he hath quickened us together in Christ by whose Grace ye are saved and hath raised us up together Now this none will deny to be the inward work of renovation and therefore the Apostle gives that reason of their being saved by Grace which is the inward Vertue and Power of Christ in the Soul but of this place more hereafter Of the Revelation of this inward Life the Apostle also speaketh 2 Cor. 4.10 That the Life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our Bodies and ver 11. That the Life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal Flesh. Now this inward Life of Jesus is that whereby as is before observed he saith We are saved Secondly That it is by this revelation of Jesus Christ and the new Creation in us that we are justified doth evidently appear from that excellent saying of the Apostle included in the Proposition it self Tit. 3.5 according to his mercy he hath saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost c. Now that whereby we are saved that we are also no doubt justified by which words are in this respect synonimous Here the Apostle clearly ascribes the immediate cause of Justification to this inward work of Regeneration which is Jesus Christ revealed in the Soul as being that which formerly states us in a capacity of being reconciled with God the washing or regeneration being that inward Power and Vertue whereby the Soul is cleansed and cloathed with the Righteousness of Christ so as to be made fit to appear before God Thirdly This Doctrin is manifest from 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your own selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates First it appears here how earnest the Apostle was that they should know Christ in them so that he presses this exhortation upon them and inculcates it three times Secondly he makes the cause of reprobation or not-justification the want of Christ thus revealed and known in the Soul whereby it necessarily follows by the rule of contraries where the parity is alike as in this case it is evident that where Christ is inwardly known there the persons subjected to him are approved and justified For there can be nothing more plain than this that if we must know Christ in us except we be reprobates ortunjustified persons that if we know him in us we are not reprobates and consequently justified ones Like unto this is that other saying of the same Apostle Gal. 4.19 My little Children of whom I travel in Birth again until Christ be formed in you and therefore the Apostle terms this Christ within the hope of Glory Col. 1.27.28 Now that which is the hope of Glory can be no other than that which we immediately and most nearly relie upon for our Justification and that whereby we are really and truly made Just. And as we do not hereby deny but the Original and Fundamental cause of our Justification is the Love of God manifested in the appearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh who by his Life Death Sufferings and Obedience made a way for our Reconciliation and became a Sacrifice for the remission of sins that are past and purchased unto us this Seed and Grace from which this birth arises and in which Jesus Christ is inwardly received formed and brought forth in us in his own pure and Holy Image of Righteousness by which our Souls live unto God ond are cloathed with him and have put him on even as the Scripture speaks Eph. 4.23 24. Gal. 3.27 We stand justified and saved in and by him and by his Spirit and Grace Rom. 3.24 1 Cor. 6.11 Tit. 3.7 So again reciprocally we are hereby made partakers of the fulness of his merits and his cleansing blood is near to wash away every sin and infirmity and to heal all our back-slidings as often as we turn towards him by unfeigned Repentance and become renewed by his Spirit Those then that find him thus raised and ruling in them have a true ground of hope to believe that they are Justified by his Blood But let not any deceive themselves so as to foster themselves in a vain hope and confidence that by the Death and Sufferings of Christ they are Justified so long as sin lies at their door Gen. 4. v. 7. Iniquity prevails and they remain yet unrenewed and unregenerate lest it be said unto them I know you not Let that saying of Christ be remembred not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter but he that doth the will of my Father Matth. 7.21 To which let these excellent sayings of the beloved Disciple be added Little Children let no man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is Righteous even as he is Righteous He that committeth sin is of the Devil because if our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things 1 Joh. 3.7 20. Many Famous Protestants bear witness to this inward Justification by Christ inwardly revealed and formed in man as 1. M. Borrhaeus In the Imputation saith he wherein Christ

more than these cometh of evil And saith James lest ye fall into Condemnation Which words both all and every one of them do make such a full prohibition and so free of all exception that it is strange how men that boast the Scripture is the Rule of their faith and life can counterfeit any exception Certainly reason ought to teach every one that it is not lawful to make void a general prohibition coming from God by such opposition unless the exception be as clearly and evidently expressed as the prohibition neither is it enough to endeavour to confirm it by consequences and probabilitys which are obscure and uncertain and not sufficient to bring quiet to the Conscience For if they say that there is therefore an exception and limitation in the words because there are found exceptions in the other general prohibition of this fifth chapter as in the forbidding of divorcement where Christ saith It hath been said Whosoever shall put away his Wife let him give her a writing of divorcement But I say unto you That whosoever shall put away his Wife saving for the cause of fornication causeth her to commit Adultery If I say they say this they not only labour in vain but also fight against themselves because they can produce no exception of this general command of not swearing expressed by God to any under the New Covenant after Christ gave this prohibition so clear as that which is made in the prohibition it self moreover if Christ would have excepted Oaths made before Magistrates certainly he had then expressed adding except in judgment before the Magistrate or the like as he did in that of divorcement by these words saving for the cause of fornication which being so it is not lawful for us to except or distinguish or which is all one make void this general prohibition of Christ it would be far less agreeable to Christian holyness to bring upon our heads the crimes of so many Oaths which by reason of this corruption and exception are so frequent among Christians Neither is it to be omitted that without doubt the most learned Doctors of each Sect know that these forementioned words were understood by the Antient Fathers of the first three hundred years after Christ to be a prohibition of all sorts of Oaths It is not then without reason that we wonder that the Popish Doctors and Priests bind themselves by an Oath to interpret the Holy Scriptures according to the universal exposition of the Holy Fathers who notwithstanding understood those controverted texts quite contrary to what these Modern Doctors do and from thence also doth clearly appear the vanity and foolish certainty so to speak of Popish traditions for if by the writings of the Fathers so called the faith of the Church of these ages may be demonstrated it is clear they have departed from the faith of the Church of the first three Ages in the point of swearing Moreover because not only Papists but also Lutherans and Calvinists and some others do restrict the words of Christs and James I think it needful to make manifest the vain foundation upon which their presumption in this matter is built Obj. § XI First they object That Christ only forbids these Oaths that are made by Creatures and things Created and they prove it thence because he numbers some of these things Secondly All rash and vain oaths in familiar discourses because he saith Let your communication be Yea Yea and Nay Nay To which I answer First that the Law did forbid all Oaths made answer 1 by the Creatures as also all vain and rash Oaths in our common Discourses commanding that men should only swear by the name of God and that neither falsly nor rashly for that is to take his Name in vain Secondly it is most evident that Christ forbids somewhat Answ. that was permitted under the Law to wit to swear by the Name of God because it was not lawful for any man to swear but by God himself and because he saith neither by Heaven because it is the Throne of God therefore he excludes all other Oaths even those which are made by God for he saith chap. 23.22 He that shall swear by Heaven sweareth by the Throne of God and by him that sitteth thereon whtch is also to be understood of the rest Lastly that he might put the matter beyond all controversie he answer 3 adds neither by any other oath Therefore seeing to swear before the Magistrate by God is an Oath it is here without doubt forbidden Secondly they object that by these words Oaths by Gods Name cannot be forbidden because the Heavenly Father hath commanded them Obj. for the Father and the Son are one which eould not be if the Son did forbid that which the Father commanded I answer They are indeed One Answ. and cannot contradict one another nevertheless the Father gave many things to the Jews for a time because of their infirmity under the old Covenant which had only a shaddow of good things to come not the very Substance of things until Christ should come who was the Substance and by whose coming all these things evanished to wit Sabbaths Circumcision the Paschal Lamb men used then Sacrifices who lived in controversies with God and one with other which all are abrogated in the coming of the Son who is the Substance Eternal Word and essential Oath and Amen in whom the promises of God are Yea and Amen who came that men might be redeemed out of strife and might make an end of controversie Thirdly they object But all Oaths are not Ceremonies Obj. nor any part of the Ceremonial Law I answer Except it be shewn to be an eternal immutable Answ. and moral preceept it withstands not neither are they of so old an origin as tithes and the offering of the first fruits of the ground which by Abel and Cain were offered long before the ceremonial Law or the use of Oaths which whatever may be alledged against it were no doubt ceremonies and therefore no doubt unlawful now to be practised Obj. Fourthly they object that to swear by the Name of God is a moral precept of continual duration because it is marked with his essential and moral worship Deut. 6.13 and 10.20 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him alone thou shalt cleave to him and swear by his Name Answ. I answer this proves not that it is a moral and eternal precept for Moses adds that to all the precepts and ceremonies in several places as Deut. 10.12 13. saying And now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul To keep the Commandments of the Lord and his Statutes which I command thee this day And chap 14. vers 23. the fear of the Lord is mentioned together with the Tithes And so also

that they shun to witness for Christ for fear of hurt to themselves lest they mistake them As for that private meeting of the Disciples we have only an account of the matter of fact but that suffices not to make of it a president for us and mens aptness to imitate them in that which for ought we know might have been an act of weakness and not in other things of the contrary nature shews that it is not a true zeal to be like those Disciples but indeed a desire to preserve themselves which moves them so to do Lastly as to that of Paul's being conveyed out of Damascus the case was singular and is not to be doubted but it was done by a special allowance from God who having designed him to be a principal Minister of his Gospel saw meet in hss Wisdom to disoppoint the wicked council of the Jews But our adversaries have no such pretext for fleeing whose fleeing proceeds from self preservation not from immediate revelation And that Paul made not this the method of his proceedure appears in that at another time notwithstanding the perswasion of his Friends and certain Prophecys of his sufferings to come he would not be disswaded to go up to Jerusalem which according to the fore-mentioned rule he should have done But lastly to conclude this matter Glory to God and our Lord Jesus Christ that now these twenty five years since we were known to be a distinct and separate People hath given us faithfully to suffer for his Name without shrinking or fleeing the Cross and what liberty we now enjoy it is by his Mercy and not by an outward working or procuring of our own but 't is he has wrought upon the hearts of our opposers nor was it any outward interest hath procured it unto us but the testimony of our harmlesness in the hearts of our Superiors for God hath preserved us hitherto in the patient suffering of Jesus that we have not given away our cause by persecuting any which few if any Christians that I know can say Now against our unparalleled yet innocent and Christian cause our malicious enemies have nothing to say but that if we had Power we would do so likewise This is a piece of meer unreasonable malice and a priviledg they take to judg of things to come which they have not by immediate revelation and surely it is the greatest heighth of harsh judgment to say men would do contrary to their professed Principle if they could who have from their practice hitherto given no ground for it and wherein they only judg others by themselves such conjectures cannot militate against us so long as we are innocent And if ever we prove guilty of persecution by forcing other men by corporal punishment to our way then let us be judged the greatest of Hypocrites and let not any spare to persecute us AMEN saith my Soul The Fifteenth Proposition Concerning Salutations and Recreations c. Seeing the chief end of all Religion is to redeem men from the Spirit and vain conversation of this World and to lead into inward communion with God before whom if we fear always we are accounted happy therefore all the vain customs and habits thereof both in word and deed are to be rejected and forsaken by those who come to this fear such as the taking off the Hat to a man the bowings and cringings of the body and such other Salutations of that kind with all the foolish and superstitious formalities attending them all which man has invented in his degenerate state to feed his Pride in the vain pomp and glory of this world as also the unprofitable Plays frivolous Recreations Sportings and Gaming 's which are invented to pass away the precious time and divert the mind from the witness of God in the heart and from the living sense of his fear and from that Evangelical Spirit wherewith Christians ought to be leavened and which leads into sobriety gravity and godly fear in which as we abide the blessing of the Lord is felt to attend us in those actions which we are necessarily ingaged in order to the taking care for the sustenance of the outward man § I. HAving hitherto treated of the Principles of Religion both relating to Doctrine and Worship I am now to speak of some practices which have been the product of this Principle in those Witnesses whom God hath raised up in this day to testifie for his Truth It will not a little commend them I suppose in the judgment of sober and judicious men that taking them generally even by the Confession of their Adversaries they are found to be free of those Abominations which abound among other Professors such as are Swearing Drunkenness Whoredom Riotousness c. And that generally the very coming among this People doth naturally work such a change so that many vitious and profane persons have been known by coming to this Truth to become sober and vertuous and many light vain and wanton ones to become grave and serious as our adversaries dare not deny yet that they may not want something to detract us for cease not to accuse us for those things which when found among themselves they highly commend thus our gravity they call sullenness our seriousness melancholly our silence sottishness Such as have been vitious and profane among them but by coming to us have left off those evils lest they should commend the truth of our profession they say that whereas they were profane before they are become worse in being hypocritical and spiritually proud If any before dissolute and profane among them by coming to the Truth with us become frugal and diligent then they will charge them with covetousness And if any eminent among them for seriousness piety and discoveries of God come unto us then they will say they were always subject to melancholly and to enthusiasm though before when among them it was esteem'd neither melancholly nor enthusiasm in an evil sense but Christian gravity and Divine revelation Our boldness and Christian suffering the call obstinacy and pertinacy though half as much if among themselves they would account Christian courage and nobility And though thus by their envy they strive to read all relating to us backwards counting these things vice in us which in themselves they would extol as vertues yet hath the strength of Truth extorted this confession often from them that we are generally a pure and clean people as to the outward conversation But this they say is but in policy to commend our heresie But such policy it is say I as Christ and his Apostles made use of and all good Christians ought to do yea so far hath Truth prevailed by the purity of his followers that if one that is called a Quaker do but that which is common among them as to laugh and be wanton speak at large and keep not his word punctually or be overtaken with hastyness or anger they presently say O!

this is against your profession As if indeed so to do were very consistent with theirs wherein though they speak the Truth yet they give away their cause But if they can find any under our name in any of those evils common among themselves as who can imagine but among so many thousands there will be some chaff since of twelve Apostles one was found so be a devil O! how will they insult and make more noise of the escape of one Quaker than of an hundred among themselves § II. But there are some singular things which most of all our adversaries plead for the lawfulness of and allow themselves in as no ways inconsistent with the Christian Religion which we have found to be no ways lawful unto us and have been commanded of the Lord to lay them aside though the doing thereof hath occasioned no small sufferings and buffetings and hath procured us much hatred and malice from the world And because the nature of these things is such that they do upon the very sight distinguish us and make us known so that we cannot hide our selves from any without proving unfaithful to our testimony our tryals and exercises have herethrough proved the more numerous and difficult as will after appear These I have laboured briefly to comprehend in this Proposition but they may more largely be exhibited in those Six following Propositions 1. That it is not lawful to give to men such flattering Titles as your Holyness your Majesty your Eminency your Excellency your Grace your Lordship your Honour c. nor use those flattering words commonly called COMPLEMENTS 2. That it is not lawful for Christians to kneel or prostrate themselves to any man or to bow the body or to uncover the head to them 3. That it is not lawful for a Christian to use superfluities in apparel as are of no use save for ornament and vanity 4. That it is not lawful to use games sports plays nor among other things Comedies among Christians under the notion of recreations which do not agree with Christian silence gravity and sobriety for laughing sporting gaming mocking jesting talking c. is not Christian liberty nor harmless mirth 5. That it is not lawful for Christians to swear at all under the Gospel not only not vainly and in their common discourse which was also forbidden under the Mosaical Law but even not in Judgment before the Magistrate 6. That it is not lawful for Christians to resist evil or to war or fight in any case Before I enter upon a particular disquisition of these things I shall first premise some general considerations to prevent all mistakes and next add some general considerations which equally respect all of them I would not have any judg that hereby we intend to destroy the mutual relation that either is betwixt Prince and people Master and servant Parents and children nay not at all We shall evidence that our Principle in these things hath no such tendency and that these natural relations are rather better established than any ways hurt by it Next let not any judge that from our opinion in these things any necessity of levelling will follow or that all men must have things in common Our Principle leaves every man to enjoy that peaceably which either his own industry or parents have purchased to him only he is thereby instructed to use it aright both for his own good and that of his brethren and all to the Glory of God In which also his acts are to be voluntary and no ways constrained And further we say not hereby that no man may use the creation more or less than another For we know that as it hath pleased God to dispense it diversly giving to some more and some less so they may use it accordingly The several conditions under which men are diversly stated together with their educations answering thereunto do sufficiently shew this the servant is not the same way educated as the Master nor the Tennant as the Land-lord nor the rich as the poor nor the Prince as the Peasant Now though it be not lawful for any however great abundance they may have or whatever their education may be to use that which is meerly superfluous yet seeing their education has accustomed them thereunto and their capacity enables them so to do without being profuse or extravagant they may use things better in their kind than such whose education hath neither accustomed them to such things nor their capacity will reach to compass them For it is beyond question that whatever thing the Creation affords is for the use of man and the moderate use of them is lawful yet per accidens they may be unlawful to some and not to others As for instance who by reason of his estate and education hath been used to eat flesh and drink wine to be cloathed with the finest wool if his estate bear it and he use it neither in superfluity nor immoderately he may do it and perhaps if he should apply himself to feed or be cloathed as are the peasants it might prejudice the health of his body and nothing advance his Soul But if a man whose estate and education had accustomed to both courser food and rayment should stretch himself beyond what he had or were used to to the manifest prejudice of his Family and Children no doubt it would be unlawful to him even so to eat or be cloathed as another in whom it is lawful for that that other may as much mortified and have denyed himself as much in coming down to that which this aspires to as he in willing to be like him aspires beyond what he either is able or hath accustomed to The safe place then is for such as have fulness to watch over themselves that they use it moderately and rescind all superfluities being willing so far as they can to help the need of those to whom Providence hath allotted a smaller allowance Let the brother of high degree rejoyce in that he is abased and such as God calls in a low degree to be content with their condition not envying those brethren who have greater abundance knowing they have received abundance as to the inward man which is chiefly to be regarded And therefore beware of such a temptation as to use their calling as an engine to be richer knowing they have this advantage beyond the rich and noble that are called that the Truth doth not any ways abase them nay not in the esteem of the world as it doth the other but that they are rather exalted thereby in that as to the inward and spiritual fellowship of the Saints they become the brethren and companion of the greatest and richest and in this respect let him of low degree rejoyce that he is exalted These things premised I would seriously propose unto all such as mind in reality to be Christians indeed and that in nature and not in name only whether it were not desirable and would not