they cry it is a Preclous VVord tho no sense nor truth deliver'd You that talk so much of Free Grace Remember it is free tho Devils and Damned Souls be not at last sav'd as some here say Tho all Men the worst of Men go not to Heaven when they dye as that Fool that Calls himself Elijah the Prophet says Who hath Written an Aurea Clavis about Miracles to confirm his Faith that he is the Elijah promis'd Yet this Barber cannot talk English and will not say it positively he is Elijah Shall his Lying Miracles convince us that he says do not make him conclusive Every Idle Jack now shall be ready to flee in the Face of Ministers and leave them as no Gospel Preachers tho never so serious sound or accurate This Barbers Doctrine is That God is the Author of Sin and when they haâ—â— serv'd his end be makes them amends and takes them to Heaven Antinomianisut is a lovely thing with now not a few We read of such of Old I enquire whether the words we Translate Sons of Belial which the Septuagint sometimes render Lawless Children or Sons against Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 2.12 Might not be rendred by our Translatours had they known such a Tribe as we do The Antinomian Children When the Angels in Heaven thus turn'd Antinominians Heaven was no place for them And when these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pestilent Children by which the Septungint elsewhere calls Sons of Belial perswaded our first Parents to turn Antinomians to Gen. 3.1 4 5. Yea hath God said Paradise was no place for them And when some among us turn Antinomians may it not be a Query whether the Church should any longor be a plaâ—e for them I affirm Dr. Crisp doth often question the usual methods of Conversion confirmed by Scripture Divines and all Christians Experience whether they marr'd not all the work till he hung out his new light I humbly pray our Accusers to be at leasure for a while and not for Expeditions sake pass sentence on us before they hear our Cause For such as are come to that higth Ministers and People that they will not some Confess Sin others not Pray for Pardon I think they are of all Creatures most miserable You as your Old Brethren the Crucifyers of the Lord Jesus are not Christ Exalters but D basers you do as they Bow the Knee before him with a Hail but all but a Mockery You say you put the Crown on the Head of Jesus Christ but it is one of Thorns and the Scepter in his hand but it is a Reâ—den one Mat 27.28 29. You kiss Christ as one did But He may say to you as to him Judas betrayest thou the Son of Mun with a kiss When Mr. Baxter saw so many Armed Men turn Antinomians and Justifying-Faith was to believe a Man was justified And after all their strictness grew Licentious he in a great Zeal and Fury wrote his Aphorisms of Justification When this Book cause out he was not then known in Oxon and they thought it was a Jesuit tiâ—â— they saw his Infant Church Membership and baptism came forth the best Booâ— by the way that ever was Written oâ— that Subject they began to valuâ— him Many Presbyterians follow'd him and still do but none under that Denomination that I know of followed Crisp Some unwary Independents in as great Zeal and Fury follow Crisp none of them Mr. Baxter that I know of And now between these two Contenders Tâ—â— Question is Which is in the right 〈◊〉 Which brings to my mind a Story Sir W. Rawleigh in his History tell us When two were contending which was the best Soldier The Frenchman or the Spaniard one standing by after all said the Englishman So the Calvinists say I or Old Protestant But to return to our Right Antinomian for remember I am far from Condemning all that are so call'd that cry down all sadness for sin c. Pray Sirs yet I Pray That that Jesus the Lord and King startle not at this who in the Days of his Flesh cur'd many Demoniacks That he would take you in cure tho your Evil Spirits Name be Legion we are many Should we now be silent the stories of the Streets may cry out against us A word is sufficient Remember the followers of Mr. D. your Meteor Lantren hath lead your Preachers into Confusion in their Pulpit Harangues He that looks for a Connexion or Correspondency either of sense or truth may look in Vain And for you it hath led you into Lakes and Precipices and there left you Your Preachers coming any where is Omnious as is said of a Comet or the coming of a Whale into a River Your Arguments are of no Value too mean for any Man to insist much on a solution of them yet if I cannot put your passions and my own to a demur I know not what I may in time be forst to do I close this part of my work with a known certain story a worthy Congregational Minister lately wrote thus to one of the same perswasion I ever valued you which made me at last take up with your Antinomian Principles I often Preached them up to this Congregation to which I belong which I found a sober People but now I have Preacht a Congregation of Christians into a Congregation of Devils * Two of my hearers went away and committed uncleanness immediately I therefore resolve to Preach up the Old Protestant Doctrine c. May you all thus repent and reform as this Man Amen Amen As I ever have been careful to decline Stories upon common fame not because I doubted them but could not prove and therefore mention what I know I shall now take the like method about our Mecanick Preachers such as I knew One with whom I was acquainted when Dead I saw his Notes after he had been a Preacher Thirty Years the Text was Heb. 11.6 For without Faith it is impossible to please him He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him In these words saith he are these three things 1. An impossibility for without Faith it is impossible to please God 2. A proposition with a direction He that cometh to God must believe that he is 3. Here is a reward and a rewarder of them that diligently seek him I shall enquire saith this Shooe-maker for such he had been 1. What God is 2 What Faith is 1. God is an Omnipotent Omniscient and Omnipresent God 2. He is an Almighty God c. There are two sorts of Faith 1. The Faith of adherence 2. The Faith of relyance And you may easily imagine how all was prov'd and spelt Another Preacht in a Town to which I was no stranger on that Text God hateth the wicked He said it appear'd God hated them 1. Because he did not Love them 2. Because he could not endure them 3. Because he was
men especially when they see so little conversion work elsewhere if they must preach others must hear and countenance them suffering in their righteous cause yet I question not the Integrity of many Liturgical ceremonial men and hope yours in particular God often accepts the man when not the worship I dar'd not accost a Persenage of your figure and character I thank you you were pleased to write the first Letter and that you do not so triumph in your Ceremonies as to give them anctuary from our Exammation Many Arguments I could assonate with and annex to these of the same complexion against your modes of Worship but the fewer the better You see my plainness without any dress of words to set off my apprehensions with your Church above all other Protestant Churches shews herself such a Plenipotentiary as some observe as if tâ— could turn all things tho never so odd into Orthodox as what is Fabled Midas toucht was Gold many of your Bishops those great little men are better acquainted with their Service Booâ— and Ceremonies than with the Bible I will nor say all I know of this I saw an instance of this when a smart Boy of eighteen years old suddenly gagmd a Bishop having thousands by the year yet alive as you would confess should I tell you the Story when the Bishop sent for him to his chamber and was pressing him to conformity What beauty sits on the face of Gospel simplicity Would some men as Mervil expresseth it if commanded by your Church carry Salt bags on their backs to put them in mind of having salt in themselves or as Zanchy wrote to Queen Elizabeth were her Subjects bound to put on Turkish weeds or Garments if she commanded them Saith he No much less he adds the execrable Garments of Mass Priests It is now past Eleven of the Clock I received your Letter abroad this Afternoon and came not home till between eight or nine of the Clock I take your Question to be comprehensive and therefore have taken the more liberty I find our friend Mr. K. and others could wish we proceeded not I told them I was not very desirous to disturb you in greater more necessary or more useful work wherein you have obliged the World therefore writing once more I thought I would write my mind fully and plainly If you see fit to Reply you may to what you please and let other things alone And I intend to be concise and follow you where you please to lead me or if you think a private conference before a few judicious Persons best your pleasure in this is a Law to your Servant I greatly honour your old famous Advocates as Hooker Fisher the blind Cambridge man his Dialogue between Ireneus add Novatus Sprins Cassander Anglicanus or others who exercised my mind several years But for Patrick's Friendly Debate and now Bishop King and others make woful work in comparison of the Old Workmen Durel and such writers I am greatly offended with who tell the world of I know not what stories of the Presbyterians neglect of the Lords Supper in the Inter-Regnum I know the contrary where I have been they once a month administred that-Ordinance and Mr. Hickman in a Latin Tract Apologia pro Ministris in Anglia vulgo Non Conformistis hath sufficiently answered that charge I only add what I have known that where some Presbyterian Ministers came into some Parishes they hardly could find a man but what was guilty of gross ignorance or Prophanness Then they did forbear according to your order tho not practice till Religion might take place where was not common civility before for you know K. C. the I. and Bishop Laud by the Book of sports and other ungodly proceedings had banisht almost all Religion and Good manners out of the Nation In Oxford they thought it not enough to be a Member of a Colledge to be so of a Church Therefore several serious Persons receiv'd some of one Famous Doctor or Preacher some of another and so did many Towns People Men and Women I knew This perhaps occasion'd not doing it in some Churches where Persons disown'd by your good constitution would be ready thrust in Your Ministers ought to forbear where men be Ignorant Scandalous or Contentious If I have erred in any thing I have written or given you any occasion of offence I beg your Pardon as not a thing Ex in-dustria To tell you that I greatly value you would be but an Idle Complement Did you never hear that Doct. F. pleaded in a Sermon in Oxford for Reverence and said Eleazer when he pray'd made the Camels to Kneel Or of one desiring a Minister to read Prayers of Thanksgiving for Recovery from a Bull Gooring read the Prayer for Purification We thank thee for delivering this thy Servant from the great pain and peril of Bull Gooring Or of one whose House being on fire sent for the Parson to read the Prayer for Rain and when he read gentle showrs The man cryed out Good Lord Buckets full Yet your Prayers are said to be such that the wit of men or Angels cannot mend I am displeas'd with some Dissenters broken Prayers as much as you some few of them are almost as confus'd as your Liturgy Conformist YOur Argument that we may be guilty of adding to Gods Law tho not as Gods Law else the Pharisaical Men of Old and the Papist in most of their Ceremonies were not guilty say you Guilty of what There are other Guilts besides that of adding to Gods Law and even as to Ceremonies they may be too many insignificant and burdensome and men may lay too great stress upon them beyond the Nature of the things and yet come not to the length of adding them to Gods Law which the Pharisees did by those traditions which they said were delivered by Moses on the Mount and descended orally down to their times and therefore of as great Authority as the Written Law which gave occasion to the oral traditions of the Church of Rome Again some of their traditions did point blank contradict the Law of God as that of Corban Mat. 15.6 And some tho not contradicting the Law of God yet in practice were prefer'd to the Law of God and these traditions our Saviour did confirm only Corrected the abuse These things ye ought to have done said he but not to leave the other undone Now there are several Errors men may commit as to the Ceremonies but all are not alike all may be reprehended and redress desir'd with the decency and regard which is due to our Superiors But all are not sufficient cause for Schism and that is the only point which I now pursue I say none are a sufficient cause for Schism except those which are injoyn'd as part of Gods Law or which are appointed as means of Grace which includes both the former There may be many burdensome and inconvenient Laws of the Land and Redress may be sought
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath set you free and be not again intangled with the yoke of bondage It seems too narrow to say from Ceremonies God once appointed if Men may bring in theirs when he hath thrown out his Paul saith Be ye not the servants of men if your Injunctions were indifferent yet the imposing them on the weak is forbidden 14 Rom. What Man on Earth can take me off from Pauls Determination at large Let us judge one another no more a Chapter as if written on purpose against your Act of Vniformity 2 Collos 14. Did God nail to the Cross of Christ his own Ceremonies Did he call them beggarly Rudiments carnal Ordinances What worse Names do yours deserve that are of a base Descent and Badges of abominable Superstitions If I must have Ceremonies give me the Old Jewish ones of Gods own making that were once good not yours of whose making shall I say that were never good If it becomes not a grave chast Matron to be found in a Whorish Dress it becomes not us to use Mass Priests Sacred Garments What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols deserves consideration here I take Clerick Conformity to be a very great sin and Lay Conformity to be no small one the former for these reasons Church-Wardens must be again sworn if occasion be What one Man of them did or can keep his Oath Must Ministers study ways to drive Men to Hell as it they did not run fast enough of themselves I could write at large here but Verbum sat Sapienti This one thing convinceth me beyond all doubt or dispute some Men are falsly called Fathers in God who rather are Fathers in the Swear they must again if occasion be to persecute the best of Men that they may be Excommunicated and delivered to the Devil about a Toy and Ceremony Swear must I to obey my Ordinary in his Injunctions and how far pro re Nata I will not now determine Would you dare to deal thus with Austin for some of his Opinions and other Fathers were they alive for some of theirs contrary to yours as well as B. Hooper was Imprison'd for scrupling your Ceremonies and Calvin is almost damned for an Heretick and Traytor Your great Hooker says That in his Eccles Pol. that would necessitate him to be a Non conformist if now alive I affirm I were bound by my Oath to read a Writ of Excommunication against Arminians were I a Parish Priest which I dared not do tho they be very Erroneous and Condenmed by your Church Are Seven Years spent in a Grammar-School and Seven more in the University to bring a Minister to this pass to be a Reader and a lazy Prelates Curate Who now examines before Admission to the Sacrament or keeps off the Scandalous Who are they that have Ears if not Mouths for all Discourse It is Accounted a high Commendation of such a Minister now to say He is an honest Man When honesty will bring the Hearers or them to Heaven we may all be content with an honest Minister Sanctification by a Man 's own free will Justification by his own Righteousness salvation by his own works is no strange Doctrine now Thus some not only build Wood Hay Stubble on the Foundation but make the Foundation it self so that make sanctification so and build Justification on it Whatever talk of Curious Structures and Churches Uniformity Order there is whilst the Members and Communicants there are Deists or Drunkards all is nothing Thus were there Serpents and Crocodiles within the Egyptian Temples when beautiful without What an Advocate for the Church of England was Parker's E. Pol. What Atheistical Blasphemous Expressions had he He was notwithstanding greatly magnified by some Men when as the Mouth of that Church he discover'd his own and their sanguinary is one said affections to us as if both like Romulus and Remus had been Nursed up by some Woolf. The Dissenters need no other Commendation but to be hated and maligned by such What Stories tell they saith he of Communion between them and the Lord Christ I am forced to write of some things in haste as they occur to my mind I must do my work this Evening knowing I shall have unusual and extraordinary business the next Week I Pray you therefore Pardon my not putting every thing in its order or doing some things Ex abundanti Some things I have mention'd as contrary to several places of Scripture are so to more Whatsoever things says Paul are comely and of good report Offend not thy Brother shun the appearance of Evil. If you say some may be better then they before censur'd A Quia me vestigia terrent To return to the Consideration of Ceremonies c. Moses and David and Solomon about the work of Gods House and the Council of Jerusalem did and imposed what seem'd good to God not themselves to the Holy Ghost not their own fancies Things of a civil Nature common to Men 〈◊〉 â—ell as Christians to civil Aâ—â—â—â— as well as Religious as Love feasts Kiss of Charity may be done without Divine appointment All our Anti-Ceremonial Men with one conseut grant to all the world the natural signs of Devotion as the lifting up the Eyes and Hands to Heaven bowing the Knee before God if not injoyned tho they are so might be used Also civil signs of Subjection as Eleazers laying his hand under Abrahams Thigh things done by Divine Instiust things extorted by necessity and extraordinary Providences are no precedent to us as Anointing with Oil which was pro tempore as was the miracle annexed to it these things are affirmed by Ames and others I pray by the way give over boasting Hooker was never answer'd till Dr. Ames's Fresh Suit be so Had it been the mind of God to teach his Church by Ceremonies would not he himself have appointed them as once he did What place may not or cannot the Cross be used in Did Dr Stillingfleet well answer Mr. Stillingfleet's Irenirum or the excellent Preface thereto I suppose you do remember The Church's power to appoint Ceremonies was not in the old 39 Articles How came they in the new ones 147 Psalm To make the power of the Church to bind the consciences of of Men was put in the Contents by some Innovators to make it canonical seeing they could not find it in the Text. It is often said by the Papists and truly I think when you plead against them you use our arguments and when you plead against us you use theirs God never made Ceremonies under the Law antecedently necessary or in their own nature but consequently so by virtue of a Divine Command Shall human commands make things thus necessary that a Divine Command once did May men thus usurp Gods Throne and when there act Satan's part If Clerick conformity be very unlawful for reasons before given no power on earth can take ministers off their work or make them as private