by all such Malefactors themselves I know not if one of a hundred thousand can be excepted and the punishment of such is justifiable as all generally acknowledge but to kill sober honest good Men meerly for their Conscience is quite contrary to the Doctrine of Christ as has been elsewhere upon other occasions largely demonstrated This being premised I shall briefly apply the same to the several sorts of Christians that thence may be observed whose Principles do most exactly agree with and lead to that Universal Love and Charity so much in words commended by all and for the want of which every sort take so much liberty to judge and condemn each other There are many other particulars by which the several Sects may be tryed in this respect but these two fore-mentioned being the principal I shall chiefly insist upon them in this present application To begin then with the Papists there is nothing more commonly acknowledged and assented to among them then that Maxim Extra Ecclesiam nulla Salus without the Church there is no Salvation which Maxim in a sence I confess to be true as shall hereafter appear but according as it is understood among them it does utterly destroy this Universal Love and Charity for by this Church without which there is no Salvation they precisely understand the Church of Rome reckoning that whosoever are not of her Fellowship are not saved and this must needs necessarily follow upon their Principles seeing they make the Ceremonial Imbodying in this Church so necessarity to Salvation that they exclude from it the very Children begotten and brought forth by their own Members unless formally received by the Sprinkling or Baptisme of Water And Albeit they have a certain place more tolerable than Hell for these Unbaptized Infants yet hence is manifest how small their Charity is and how much it is confined to their particular Ceremonies and forms since if they think Children born among them for want of this Circumstance are excluded from Heaven Albeit never guilty of actual Transgression they must needs judge that such as both want it and also are guilty of many sins as they believe all men are who are come to age especially such as are not in the Church go without remedy to Hell Secondly All Dissenters and Seperatists from the Church Infidels Turks and Heriticks which in short are all that profess not fellowship and Communion with the Church of Rome and own her not as their Mother are in a most solemn manner yearly Excommunicated by the Pope and it were a most gross inconsistency to suppose that such as are so Cursed and Excommunicated and given over to the Devil by the Father and chief Bishop of the Church can in the judgment of the Members be saved especially while they think he is approved of God and led by an Infallible Spirit in his so Excommunicating them And lastly To suppose any such Universal Love or Charity as extending to Persons either without the compass of their own Society or dissenting and separating from them so as to reckon them in a capacity or possibility of Salvation were to destroy and overturn the very Bassis and Foundation of the Roman Church which stands in acknowledging the Superiority and Precedency of Peter and his Successors and in believing that Infallibility is annexed thereunto Now such as are not of the Roman Society cannot do this and those that do not thus are such to whom the Church of Rome can have no Charity but must look upon them as without the Church and consequently as uncapable of Salvation while there abiding If it be objected that the Church of Rome professeth Charity to the Greek Armenian and Ethiopian Churches Albeit vastly differing in many things from them I Answer that whatsoever Charity the Church of Rome either doth or ever hath professed to any of these shall be found to be always upon a supposed acknowledgment made by them to the See of Rome as the mother-Mother-Church and Apostolick Seat from thence seeking the Confirmation and Authority of their Patriarches at least as the Romanists have sought to make the World believe how true is not my present business to enquire and all these differences of Ceremonies that are betwixt them are only approved by the Romanists as such which are indulged to them by the Pope who pretends out of a Fatherly care and compassion to yield these things unto them which if it be true is done by him rather to uphold the shew of his Authority and because distance of place and other incommodities hinders him from pressing more upon them since in places nearer hand and where fitter opportunities hath been presented he hath shewn himself very Zealous and Violent to bring all to a ready obedience to the least of his Commands as by many examples could be largely proved yet some are of the mind that all these Stories and pretended acknowledgments of Patriarchs to the Romish Sea are but the meer effects of the Policy of that Court to uphold their Grandure and nothing better but pretty Comedies to amuse the Vulgar and Credulous and augment their Reverence towards the Pope and his Clergy but what-ever be in this it is abundantly manifest that there can be nothing more contrary to this Universal Love and Charity than Romish Principles and that no man of that Religion without deserting his Principles can pretend to it As to the other Principle of Persecution how much it is Preached and practised in the Church of Rome will need no great Probation Those that are acquainted with or have heard of the Spanish Inquisition of the many Inhumain Butcheries and Massacres committed both in France and the Netherlands upon Men meerly for the matter of their Consciences the many Plots Consultations Combinings and Wars contrived fomented and carryed on by the Bishops of Rome themselves and the chief of their Clergy yielding large and voluntary Contributions thereto for to ruin and root out the Dissenters from the Romish Society after Luther appeared cannot but see how natural and consequential it is to Romish Principles so to do And thence also observe how contrary and opposite these things are to Universal Love and Charity and how much they act the Hypocrite when they pretend Christian Charity to any that differ from them And this manifestly appears in these two which none of them that has understanding to know or honesty to confess their Principles can deny I might also add a third which Albeit by some Popish Doctors in some Nations it be denyed yet is no less firmly believed and contended for by other eminent Persons among them especially Bellarmine and approved by the Pope himself to wit the Popes power to depose Princes in case of Heresie and give their Kingdoms to others allowing them upon that account to fight against them and accounting their so purchaseing of them lawful Small offences heretofore would have provoked to this Sentence as appeared in the example of Hildebrand and others
are naturally of a careless indifferent Gallio-like temper in such things and therefore behave more forbearingly and civilly towards such as dissent from them not because of any Vertue but because such things do not much trouble or touch them Neither then of these Vertues as they are incident to particular Persons are so justly chargeable upon a Sect or People as from thence to make a positive judgment of their Universal Charity or not seeing these are not the consequences of their Principles or that which necessary comes from them as relating to this or that Society but the meer product of their natural and private humours how far any particular or singular Persons among the several Sects have attained to the performance of that true Love and Zeal formerly described I shall not determine neither does it necessarily belong to this Question for if any should be found to do any thing which were so far from being the consequence of their Principles as to be quite contrary their Brethren would not suffer their Principles from thence to be improved so neither can the excellency of any singular Persons while not proceeding upon their Principles approve them as justifiable in this respect As for instance where it is the Universal Principle and general practice of a Sect to persecute even to the utmost those that differ from them as in the Church of Rome should there be found one or two or a very few of a more moderate spirit that should profess an aversion from such sort of severity and also practice it in their station according to their Capacity who would ascribe this moderation and Charity to the Church of Rome would take his measures but badly and on the other hand where it is the Universal Principle and general practices of a People not at all to persecute for the matter of Conscience should any private Persons of that Society be carryed by their fury and heat to the practice of any such thing though directly contrary to their Principles who would charge this upon the whole People and thence measure them would make also a bad consequence Nevertheless I shall not deny but some Principles are so pernitious and so strait and narrow that they seem by a certain Malignity generally to influence all their followers as shall after be observed But I shall now proceed to the fore-mentioned Examination SECT IV. An Examination of the Principles of several sorts of the so called Christans compared with this Universal Love and found defective As 1. of Papists 2. of Protestants in general 3. of Socinians AS there are two ways chiefly whereby a People or Society do signifie their Charity or Love towards others that differ from them so by these two also is signified their contrary Principles and practice The first is by a favourable and Charitable judgment of the condition of Mens Souls Albeit of different and contrary principles from them in supposing or at least not absolutely denying but that they may even upon their own Principles if faithful thereto obtain Peace with God and Life Eternal The Second is by a Friendly and Neighbourly deportment towards Mens Persons in not seeking to ruin and destroy them whether in Life Liberty or Estate Albeit their judgment concerning God and things Spiritual in the Nature and Manner of the exercise of their Worship be both contrary and different where the defect of any of these two is there of necessity must be wanting Universal Love and Charity for thou that hast bound up and tyed the means of Salvation to thy Principles and Doctrines so as to exclude from Salvation all that differ from thee or contradict thee has certainly declared thy Charity exceeds not the limits of thy own form and that the best Opinion and highest esteem thou hast of any that differ from thee for any vertues or excellencies that may appear to be in them resolves at last in no better then this Conclusion For all this they must be Damned neither will it serve to prove the Universal Charity of any People in this respect that some of them may Problematically affirm that Salvation may be possible to some such Dissenters living in remote parts who are excluded from the benefit of all means of knowing their Principles making this possibility only as an effect of Gods Omnipotency and so purely miraculous alledging they will not deny but God in a miraculous and extraordinary way may bring some to Heaven for this shews no Charity at all either in the Principle or People but is only a meer seeming acknowledgment of God's Omnipotency from a sight of the gross absurdity that would follow from affirming otherwise Those only can be esteemed Charitable in point of Doctrine and truly to commend the Love of God whose Principle is of that extent as naturally to take in within the compass of it both such as have not arrived to their discoveries and who are also different in judgment from them and that without any extraordinary and miraculous conveyance as being the common means and order of Salvation appointed by God for all and truly reaching all Moreover in the second place far less canst thou pretend to have Charity for me that wilt rob me of my Life Goods or Liberty because I cannot jump with thee in my judgment in Religious matters to say thou dost it for good and out of the Love thou bearest to my soul is an Argument too ridiculous to be answered unless that the so doing did infallably produce always a change in judgment the very contrary whereof experience has abundantly shewn and to this day doth shew seeing such severities do oftner confirm men in their Principles then drive them from them and then by thy own confession thou dost not only destroy my body but my soul also and cannot avoid thinking upon thy own Principle but I must be Damned if I persist in my judgment which for thee to be the very immediate occasion and Author of is certainly the greatest act of Malice and Envy that can be imagined seeing thou dost what in thee lyeth through the heat of thy Zeal and Fury to cut me off from obtaining that place of Repentance which for ought thou knowest it might please God to afford me were not my days thus shortned by thee To alledge the example of putting to Death Murderers and other such Profligate Malefactors which is allowably done by the general judgment of almost all Christians from thence urging that as this is not accounted a breach of Christian Charity so neither the other will no way serve the purpose nor yet be a sufficient cover for this kind of Unchristian cruelty because the Crimes for which these are thus punished are such as are not justified as matters of Conscience or Conscientiously practised which are unanimously Condemned not only by the consent of all Christians but of all men as being destructive to the very Nature of Man-kind and to all humane Society and 't is confessed even
they judge that the light of Nature can carry them through to the end and accomplish the work or that they suppose the improving of it will procure any such Miraculous Revelation do not truly Preach or establish Universal Love because the same is not founded upon the true Love of God but is an exalting of the Nature and Reason of Man which is really defiled and proceeds from Self Since these Men for the most part do look upon Grace or the operation of the Spirit in the Saints as but a meer fancy so I say these men do not commend the true Love of God which is contrary to Self but only their own corrupt Nature and Reason and do therefore really oppose and slight the Universal Love of God in that they suppose Man capable of himself to save himself without Christ the alone Mediator in and by whom the Universal Love of God to all is only extended for whom ever God loves he loves them in Christ and no other ways and this Love of God in Christ cannot be truly received and entertained to the Salvation of the Soul but as the Old Man the first Man with his deeds which are altogether corrupted and can claim no share in Mans Salvation is put off and done away and as the New Man that proceeds from a Divine Spiritual Seed which is not of nor from Mans Nature comes to be born and brought forth in the soul. But much more do they contradict and declare themselves void of and Strangers to the Universal Love who hold the precise decree of Reprobation with the other principles depending thereupon in believing that the far greater number not only of Man-kind but even of those that profess the Name of Christ are necessarily damn'd and that by Vertue of God's absolute decree who from all Eternity ordained to Create them for that very end and appointed them to walk in such Wickedness for which he might Condemn them and punish them Eternally So that not only such as are ignorant of the History of Christ and of the Scriptures are certainly Damned but even most of those who have the benefit of this Knowledge are notwithstanding Damned also for not right using and applying the same which miserable Crime they necessarily fall in because that God Albeit He publickly and by his revealed Will doth invite them all to Salvation yet by a secret Will unknown to Men He doth with-hold from them all Power and Grace so to do Now I say whoever are of this mind as all Calvinists generally are cannot justly pretend to Universal Love for seeing they limit the Love of God to a small number making all the rest only objects of his Wrath and Indignation they must by consequence so limit their own Love also For God being the Fountain and Author of Love no man can extend true Christian Love beyond his yea the greatest and highest Love of any Man falls infinitely short of the Love of God even as far as a little drop of water falls short of the great Ocean Now none of these Men without manifestly contradicting their own Principles can pretend to have Love to any of those that are thus predestinated to Death for what sottishness were it and inconsistency to pretend Charity to such so as to suppose a possibility of Salvation for those whom God hath appointed to be Damned and to be Sons of Predition for to say we ought to have Charity to all because we know not who is appointed to Life or may be called to it saith nothing to solve this difficulty because even to such as may be supposed to be Elected I am not to have Charity so long as I see them in Wickedness and in any unconverted state for that were to walk against all true judgment and a putting light for darkness and darkness for light a calling good evil and evil good which is expresly forbidden Next this were to make true Christian-Love as blind as the heathens supposed their god of their Lustful Love to be for I ought to love Men for some real good I see in them as feeling them to partake of and grow in the Love of God and not upon a meer perhaps God may do them good perhaps they may be called unless I believed there were something of God in all given them in order to call them Thirdly Seeing these Men do believe and affirm that God in this case appoints the end so he doth the means also they are not only obliged upon their Principle without all Charity to conclude as Damned and appointed to Damnation all such as have not the benefit of these means they think needful but even all such among themselves enjoying these means in whom appears not according to their notion of it true and convincing tokens of Conversion And as this Doctrin naturally leads from any thing like Universal Love So as I observed before it so leaveneth and defileth with an unlovely humour such as strictly and precisely hold it that for most part they are observed to be Men of peevish and persecuting spirits For these two Principles to wit that of there being no Salvation without the Church among Papists as precisely understanding it of the Church of Rome and this of absolute Reprobation among Protestants are the very root and spring from whence flows that Bloody and Antichristian tenet of Persecution for the case of Conscience and therefore both it and they are directly contrary and diametrically opposite to the true Catholick-Christian Love of God SECT V. Some Principles of Christianity proposed as they are held by a great body of People and whole gathered Churches in Brittain and Ireland which do very well agree with true Universal Love SUch as most commonly complain for the want of Universal Love do alledg this defect to proceed from the nature of a Sect unto which they think this want of Charity so peculiar that from thence they conclude that it is impossible either for any Sect universally to have this Universal Love or for any Member of a Sect so long as he stands to his Principles or is strictly bound up and tyed to a Sect to have this Universal Love and indeed this in a great measure is too true if the nature of a Sect be rightly understood and therefore to avoid mistakes it will be fit to enquire somewhat in this matter A Sect is commonly and universally taken in the worst part and alwayes so understood where it is mentioned in the Scripture as being either really understood of such as are justly so termed Act. 5. 17. Ch. 5. 5. Ch. 26. 5. or reproachfully cast upon such as ought not to have been so denominated Act. 24. 5. Ch. 28. 22. For a Sect is a company of People following the Opinions and Inventions of a particular Man or Men to which they adhere more and for which they are more Zealous than for the simple plain and necessary Doctrine of Christ. But such as are not a Sect nor of
come to deal with a Heathen or any such against whom they cannot urge any thing from Scripture or Tradition as being Principles not acknowledged by them then they are always forced to recur to an inward innate light in the soul to which they labour to make manifest their Principles albeit they differ about the nature and sufficiency of it yet they are forced to concede that this is God's Love to Man-kind and that in this the Universal Love of God is extended to all so that to every one to whom they come to Preach they may find something by which they may urge or commend their Doctrine of which I shall give one singular example out of the words of Franciscus Xaverius a Jesuit whom that Tribe for the high esteem they have of him term the Apostle of the Indies as it is Recorded in Bernhardus Varenus his Descriptio Regni Japoniae p. 195. cap. 8. where he puts down the words of Francis Xaviers Letter thus p. 247. The Amargurians before they received Baptisme were straitned with an odious and troublesome scruple to wit That God seemed not unto them merciful and benigne who had condemned all the Japonians before our coming to Eternal Punishment especially who ever did not Worship God according as we Preached and therefore they said that He to wit God had wholly neglected the Salvation of all their Predecessors in permitting that these miserable souls should altogether be destitute to their utter ruin of the knowledge of saving Truth This most odious thought did much draw them back from the Worship of the true God but by the help of God this error and scruple was taken from them for we first did demonstrate unto them that the Divine Law was the oldest of all yea before any Law was made by the Antients the Japans knew by the teaching of Nature that it was unlawful to Kill Steal Forswear and other things contained in the ten Divine Laws as was evident in that when any of them committed these Crimes they were tormented by the Pricks of their Consciences that hence Reason it self doth teach to flee the Evil and follow the Good and therefore was implanted in the minds of all Men by Nature so that all have the knowledge of the Divine Law from Nature and of God the Author of Nature before Discipline be added of which were it doubted tryal might be made in some body altogether void of Discipline who has been educated in some Mountain or Wilderness without any knowledge of the Laws of his Country For if such an one thus altogether ignorant and unacquainted with Humane Discipline were asked Whether to Kill a Man to Steal and these other things which the Law of God forbids were sinful or not or if they were not right to forbear these things Truly I say such an one utterly ignorant of Humane Discipline would so answer that it would easily appear that he were not void of the Law of God From whence then shall we judge he has drawn his Notion unless from God himself the Author of Nature If then this be manifest in Barbarous Men how much more in Men civiliz'd and well Educated which being so it necessarily follows that the Divine Law was implanted in Mans heart before all Laws made by Man This Reason was so manifest to them that they were fully satisfied and so being delivered form these snares did easily subject themselves to the sweet Yoak of Christ. Thus far Xaverius Thus it may seem that to satisfie these Japonians that their Fore-fathers were not all necessarily Damned and to shew that the Universal Love of God reached unto them to put them in a capacity of Salvation This cunning Jesuite could not find another way then by asserting this Principle albeit it be no ways Congruous to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome for these Antient Japonians could not be esteemed Members of the Church of Rome and as not being such according to the Romish Principle who say there is no Salvation without the Church that is without the Church of Rome must needs have been Damned Secondly That Notion and definition of a Church which naturally arises from this Principle and is accordingly believed by the Assertors of it doth also both very well agree to and establish this Doctrine of Universal Love for where by vertue of this Seed and Light purchased and extended by Christ unto the hearts of all it being supposed that Men may be truly Converted and consequentially united to Christ it naturally follows that such become Members of the Church else none of Old but the Families of the Patriarchs and of the Jews could have been judged to be saved nor yet any during all the time of the Apostacy which as it is false in it self will be hardly affirmed by any and therefore since such might be saved they must be esteemed Members of the Church without which in this large sence there can be no Salvation as including the whole Body of Christ of which Body who are not are certainly excluded and therefore it is that the Church Catholick or Universal is not so confined to any Sect Form or external Profession as that those that are not initiated in those forms are excluded absolutely from being Members of the Church unless it be upon refusal or resistance of the will of God really manifest to them as drawing them to the practice of particular things for it hath pleased God at several times to require several things both of particular Churches and Persons which he has not of others As to the Jewish Converts to abstain from things Strangled and Blood and to the Churches of the Gentiles not to Circumcise which was permitted to the Christian-Jews for a time and from particular Persons many particular things have been required which albeit they were not general Obligations upon all Christians yet in so far as manifested to and required of them were sufficiently obligatory and their disobedience to them should have been in them a breach of their general obligation of Obedience which we owe to God in all things He requires and consequently pernicious how-ever others to whom they have never been revealed nor required might have been saved without them Thirdly As the asserting of Principles which commend the Love of God and shew the great extent of it to Mankind do most agree with Universal Love so this People in another chief Principle of theirs do greatly shew it for as by the Preaching of this Universal Principle of the Light they shew the extension of God's Love to all so by Preaching that God both doth and is willing to reveal his Will immediately by his own Spirit in the hearts of all those that receive his Light that so they may be guided acted and lead thereby and know the Mind of God thus inwardly immediately in themselves they hold forth the intension of God's Love to all those that follow and obey him so that they neither bind up this being lead
Universal Love CONSIDERED And established upon its Right Foundation BEING A serious enquiry how far Charity may and ought to be extended towards persons of different Judgments in matters of RELIGION AND Whose Principles among the several Sects of Christians do most naturally lead to that due moderation required Writ in the Spirit of Love and Meekness for the removing of Stumbling-blocks out of the Way of the Simple by a lover of the Souls of all Men. Robert Barclay 1 Joh. 4. 16. God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God 1 Jo. 5. 2. For this is the Love of God that we keep his Commandements Printed in the Year 1677. The CONTENTS Sect. I. THe Introduction giving an account of the Authors experience in this matter with the Reasons moving him to treat thereof p. I. Sect. II. The nature of Christian Love and Charity demonstrated the consistency of true Zeal therewith its distinction from false Zeal p. 4. Sect. III. The Controversie stated with respect to the different sort of Christians how it is to be fetcht from the nature of their Principles and not from the practice of particular persons p. 9. Sect. IV. An Examination of the Principles of several sorts of those called Christians compared with this Universal Love and found defective As 1. Of Papists 2. Of Protestants in general 3. Of Socinians p. 14. Sect. V. Some Principles of Christianity proposed as they are held by a great body of People and whole gathered Churches in Great Brittain and Ireland which do very well agree with true Universal Love p. 30. The Reader is desired to Correct with his Pen these Mistakes for the better understanding of the matter PAge 3. line 28 for pretented read pretended p. 7. l. 22. for sar r. far l. 29. for Saul David r. Saul David l. 36. for dâ—ffers r. differ p. 8. l. 35. for so that r. so but that p. 11. l. 27. blot out in p. 13. l. 16. for necessary r. necessarily l. 26. for Improved r. disapproved p. 14. l. 2. for practices r. practice p. 15. l. 6. for has r hast p. 16. l. 7. for thinking r thinking p. 12. l. 21. for necessarity r necessary p. 18 l. 14. for bassis r bases p. 11 l. 5. for hinders r binder l. 6. for hath r have l. 14 for Comodies r Comedies p. 22 l. 31. for hut r but p. 23. l. 10 for is r he is l. 15. for has r. have p. 24. l. 14. for is r are l. 23. for Chaty r Charity p. 31. l. 3. for incerted r inserted 32. in Margent 2d line r. as well in doctrines l. 5. r external band p. 33. l. 12. for Monites r Mentionites p. 35. l. 21. for Now r. Nor p. 36 l. 1. for recideth r. resideth p. 39. l. 12 for they r. it Books lately Printed for a general service to the Truth ISaac Penningtous Naked Truth or Truth Nakedly manifesting it self in several particulars for the removing of hindrances out of the way of the simple hearted that they may come to true Knowledge Life Liberty Peace and Joy in the Lord through the vertue and power of his precious Truth revealed and working in them by way of Question and Answer The Flesh and Blood of Christ both in the Mystery and in the outward testified to by I. P. R. Barclay's Truth cleared of Calumnies The Staggering Instability of the Pretended Stable-Christians discovered by R. B. against William Mitchel An account of a Dispute between the Students of Divinity of Aberdeen and the People called Quakers by R. B. G. K. Quakerism confirmed in Answer to Quakerism canvassed The Anarchy of the Ranters and other Libertines the Hierarchy of the Romanists and other pretended Churches equally refused and refuted in a two-fold Apology for the Church and People of God called in derision Quakers by R. Barclay G. Fox to all the Kings and Princes and Governours in the whole World The Spiritual Man Christ Jesus the Blessed Seed Light of Life Purger of Conscience by G. Fox Christian Liberty commended and Persecution condemned A small Treatise concerning Swearing its use in the Law and end in the Gospel by G. Fox The beginning of Tythes in the Law and ending in the Gospel A Testimony to all Masters of Ships and Sea-men by G. Fox Thomas Bayles Testimony to the Universal Love of God in Christ Jesus to the Sons of Men. A Warning against the Deceit of setting up Man's Reason as Judge in Spiritual matters Translated out of Low Dutch by Stephen Crisp. Immediate Revelation not ceased by G. Keith The Universal free grace of the Gospel asserted by G. Keith Quakerisme no Popery by G. Keith Universal Love c. SECT I. The Introduction Giving an account of the Authors Experience in this Matter with the Reasons moving him to treat thereof ALbeit it were very desirable that Man could from his very tender Age upwards receive so living an Impression not only of the truest and surest Principles of the Doctrines of Christ but also of the Life and Power of Godliness to leaven the whole Mind and Affections unto the pure and holy Nature of Jesus yet seeing that this Happiness befalls to few most of Men being by the prejudice of Education either pre-possessed or defiled with wrong notions or else those who come to receive even at first a right Impression in their Understandings as to Opinion or Principle do either by the power of inward Corruption working upon their Natural Complexions or by other Temptations from without oftentimes fall exceeding short of this pure Life the best way to Redeem the Time and to repair that Loss is from the experience we have had of the Evil and the Memory we retain of how far we have been wrong to confirm and strengthen our selves in the good now revealed and imbraced which by the powerful working of God's Infinite Goodness turning all to the advantage of those that love and follow Him makes the Ministry of such the more effectual as in the example of Paul and others was manifest It being then so that the condition of my life hitherto Albeit I as yet am but a young Man gives me experience more then perhaps to many others to treat of this subject Therefore finding a true freedom and liberty in my spirit I have willingly undertaken for the sake of some to write something briefly and yet I hope clearly thereof that my experience herein if the Lord will by His Blessing may be made useful to others My first Education from my Infancy up fell amongst the strictest sort of Calvinists those of our Country being generally acknowledged to be the severest of that Sect in the heat of Zeal surpassing not only Geneva from whence they derive their Pedigree but all other the Reformed Churches abroad so called so that some of the French Protestants being upbraided with the fruits of this Zeal as it appeared in Jo. Knox Buchanan and others do besides what is peculiar to their Principles
in him 1 Jo. 2. 4. So may be also said He that saith he loves God and keeps not his Commandment is a Lyar and the Truth is not in him according as the same Apostle saith I Jo. 5. 3. For this is the Love of God that we keep his Commandements Hence it is apparent that Love without Purity is but a false pretence and that whatsoever hinders from the practice of this Love of God or with draws from the obedience of the least of his Commands is to be denyed and no ways to be entertained as being either the love of the Devil the love of the World or the love of Self and not the love of the Father and as from the true love of God having taken place both upon the Understanding and Will there ariseth a great fervency and desire of Mind that it may be wholly united with the Lord and made conformable unto his Will in all things So from hence ariseth also a certain Aversion from Indignation of and even Hatred to whatsoever is contrary thereunto or has a tendency to lead from it which is commonly called Zeal which Zeal having a right bottom and foundation and proceeding purely from the Love of God is a great Virtue greatly to be commended and pressed after and the defect thereof is justly reproveable in a Christian That Zeal then thus considered is a thing excellent pure and holy of it self appears in that it is ascribed to God himself 2 King 19. 13. Isa. 9. 7. Where the performance of the Blessed Evangelical promises is to be performed by the Zeal of the Lord Isa. 19. 17. He is said to be Cloathed with Zeal as with a Cloak and 63. 15. His Zeal is numbred with his Bowels and Mercies next David recommends himself to God for that the Zeal of his House had eaten him up Psal. 69. 9. and 119. 139. And Paul commends the Corinthians for their Zeal 2 Cor. 7. 11. 1 Cor. 14. 12. and for this end has the Grace of God appeared unto all that there might be a People gathered Zealous of good Works Tit 2. 14. And as this is commended and recommended on the one hand so is the contrary thereof to wit Indifferency and Lukewarmness reproved and rebuked as a thing displeasing to the Lord of many instances whereof that might be given that unto the Church of Laodicea may serve at present Rev. 13. 15. 16. Because for a Remedy against this Evil she is Exhorted v. 19. to be Zealous and Repent But as there is a true Zeal so is there a false one and it is not more needful to have the one then iâ— is to avoid the other Now as the true Zeal proceedeth only from the pure Love of God and single Regard to his Honour and Glory so the false Zeal proceedeth from the Love of something else and the regard to other things And of this false Zeal there are several kinds as well as degrees all of which though they ought to be shunned yet some are far more hurtful and pernitious than others the worst and highest of these is when as Men through the height of Pride Lust Ambition or Envy shew themselves furious and Zealous to satisfie and fulfill their desires and affections this is the highest Zeal for self From this Zeal did Cain flay Abel Ishmael mocked Isaac and Esau hated Jacob Pharoah Persecuted the Children of Israel Saul David and Jezabel the true Prophets of the Lord. A second kind is when as Men that are not true and faithful even to those principles of Religion they profess themselves to acknowledge as true as being Conscious to themselves and also publickly known to be such as are Vitious and Profligate yet do violently persecute and oppress others that differs from them though they be not only equal to them but even by their own acknowledgment exceed them in Temperance and Virtue having nothing to charge them with but that they agree not with them in judgment and practice in matters of Religion This apparently is a false Zeal and not of God for if it proceeded from the true Love of God it would first operate in themselves to the removing of all those things which they acknowledge to be contrary to this Love of God before it exerted it self towards others seeing as the Proverb is Charity begins at home And like unto this was the Zeal of the Scribes and Pharisees who Persecuted Christ for a breaker of the Law which themselves did not fulfil As is also the Zeal both of the Papists and Protestants in their Persecutions at this day A third sort is of such who do indeed walk strictly and closely to their own Principles making Conscience of their way but yet being blinded in their understanding do Persecute Truth supposing it to be Error Of this number was Paul before his Conversion Being as to the Law blameless and Persecuting the Saints out of Zeal Act. 22. 3. Gal. 1. 14. And therefore in this Class he numbers his Country-men saying They have a Zeal for God but not according to knowledge Rom. 10. 2. And perhaps among these such may be numbred of whom Christ speaketh saying to his Disciples and when they kill you they shall think to do God good Service A fourth or last sort is when as Men being truly enlightned in their Understanding but their Will Heart and Affections not being throughly leavened with the Love of God do condemn things justly reproveable but not out of the pure drawings of Divine Love but even from a mixture of self in the forwardness of their own will as not suffering any to be contrary unto them This is the most innocent kind of wrong Zeal yet not so that it ought to be watched against and of those few that are guilty of it it were fit they waited to be Redeemed from it but the pure undefiled Zeal that is acceptable to God is that which proceeds not only from a pure and clear understanding but also from a renewed and sanctified Will which moves not of nor from Self but from and for the Lord. SECT III. The Controversie stated with respect to the different sort of Christians how it is to be fetched from the nature of their Principles and not from the practice of particular persons THe sun of what is said is that true Christian Love and Charity is the most excellent of Virtues most needful to be sought after and attained that it is never joyned but with purity which it naturally leads to and there-from doth consequentially arise an Indignation and Zeal against Unrighteousness which true Zeal is justly commendable and really distinguishable from all false and ignorant Zeal For the more clear stating of the Controversie in proceeding in this matter these following assertions relating thereto may be proposed and affirmed I. That whatsoever Love is consistent with the pure Love of God may be safely exercised towards all sorts as well of Men as Christians II. That whatsoever Love or Charity
a Sect are those that follow the Faith and Doctrines of Christ and receive and believe the same as purely Preached and held forth by him unto them and not as by the recommendation of Man as clouded and encumbred with their interpretations and additions and so are meer Christians and yet true and faithful Ones too yea the most True and Faithful Now which of the several sorts of Christians are to be accounted Sects and which not is a great Question and would take a larger Discourse than is proper to be incerted in this Place truly to enquire into it and therefore it shall suffice me at this time to have Asserted this in General which I judge will be generally accorded to by All and leave the Application to each understanding Reader for the clearing which there may several weighty Observations fall in hereafter Probably this will be almost granted by All and I am sure may be truly affirmed that whatsoever people hold forth and preach Doctrines which in the Nature of them contradict and are inconsistent with true Universal Love Such may truly be termed a Sect which may be easily applyed to those heretofore-mentioned and so consequently who ever hold forth Principles and Doctrines consistent and agreeable thereunto are and may truly be esteemed meer Christians and no Sect. Next the Nature of a People's Society and the Causes drawing them together with the Method of their being gathered does much contribute to evidence whether they are to be esteemed a Sect or not first whose Fellowship stands meerly in Judgment and in that which reacheth the Understanding and so are joyned together in and for one Opinion are only to be esteemed a Sect however true their Notions may be supposed to be for the true Principles and Doctrines of Christ. Albeit they do truly reach the Understanding and require its Assent yet they are of an opperative Nature however they may be held by one or two Members of the Church without working upon their Hearts yet cannot be held nor never was by any entire Society without purifying their Souls and reaching to and working upon their Hearts to a true and real Conversion I mean upon the greatest and most considerable part but false Doctrines may be firmly believed by a whole Society without having any Operation for the gathering of the Apostles and Primitive Christians was an uniting of Hearts and not of Heads only Those three Thousand Converts were pricked in their Hearts and not in their Heads only yea where there may be a Dissent in some things in point of Judgment if there be this Unity of Heart through the prevailing of the same Life of Righteousness yet the true Fellowship is not broken as appeared in the Example of the Apostles themselves Now these People who hold forth the Principles and Doctrines here-after to be mentioned were not gathered together by an Unity of Opinion or by a tedious and particular Disquisition of Notions and Opinions requiring an Assent to them and binding themselves by Leagues and Covenants thereto but the manner of their gathering was by a secret Want which many truly tender and serious Souls in divers and sundry Sects found in themselves which put each Sect upon the search of something beyond all Opinion which might satisfie their weary Souls even the Revelation of God's righteous Judgment in their Heart to burn up the unrighteous Root and Fruits thereof that the same being destroyed and done away the inward Peace and Joy of the Holy Spirit in the Soul might be felt to abound and thence Power and Life to follow him in all his Commandments and so many came to be joyned and united together in Heart and Spirit in this one Life of Righteousness who had long been wandring in the several Sects and by the inward Unity came to be gathered in one Body from whence by degrees they came to find themselves agreed in the plain and simple Doctrines of Christ and as this inward Power they longed for and felt to give them victory over Sin and bring the Peace that follows thereon was that whereby they were brought unto that Unity and Community together so they came first thence to accord in the Universal Preaching of this power to all and directing all unto it which is their first and chiefest principle and most agreeable to this Universal Love as I shall hereafter shew And it is very observable that as those whose gathering and fellowship arises from this meer unity of Notions and Opinions do usually derive their name and designation from the first Authors Inventers and Fomenters of those Opinions as of old the Arians Nestorians Manicheans c. And of late the Lutherans Calvinists Arminians Socinians Monites c. So those people whose unity and fellowship did arise from their mutual sense of this Power working in and upon their souls so that Society derives not their name from any particular Man and therefore are providentially delivered from that great mark of a Sect but as the Ungodly will be always throwing some name of Reproach upon the Children and Servants of God it being observed that through the deep and inward operation of this power in them a dread took hold on them not only to the begetting of God's fear in their hearts but even to the reaching and instructing of their outward Man hence the name of Quakers or Tremblers hath been cast upon them which serveth to distinguish them from others though not assumed by them yet as the Christians of old albeit the name of Christian was cast upon them by way of Reproach gloryed in it as desiring above all things to be accounted the Followers of Christ so they also are glad that the World reproacheth them as such who tremble before the Lord and who work out their Salvation in fear and trembling And truly the Lord seems by his Prophets of old to have fore-told that his Children should be so reproached as Isa. 66. 5. Hear the Word of the Lord ye that Tremble at his Word your Brethren that hated you that cast you out for my Name sake said Let the Lord be glorified and He shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed Where a joyful appearance of God is promised to these Hated and Reproached Tremblers or Quakars and Jer. 33. 9. does more clearly Prophesie how this Reproachful Name when cast upon his Children shall be owned and countenanced by the Lord in these very plain and comfortable words And it shall become a Name of joy and praise and an honour before all the Nattons of the Earth which shall hear all the good that I do unto them and they shall fear and Tremble or Duake for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I procure unto it As the nature of a Sect ariseth from the love of Self and its production so in the last place there can be no more signal or certain mark of a Sect then when a People seek to advance and