as thou dost who make a Trade of their words Ans. First I say that here you forget our order we do not first infer Uses and then Points but first Points Doctrines or Propositions and then Uses Secondly all that we do in this kind hath been the practice of the Church and her Teachers for many hundreds of years Thirdly none will deny but this is a profitable and useful way of teaching Fourthly it may be proved out of the Scriptures that all this hath been done by Christ and his Apostles For Christ preacheth to the Jews Luke 4. 18 c. out of Isaiah 61. 1 2 3 4. and to the Sadduces Matth. 22. 31. out of Exod. 3. 6. So doth Peter with his fellow-Apostles Act. 2. 16. out of Joel 2. 28. and Philip to the Eunuch Act. 8. 35. out of Isaiah 53. As for the Uses which we make of those Points we have our rule for them from the Apostles own mouth Rom. 15. 4. 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. Nor did Christ leave us without marks of tryal Joh. 8. 31. 13. 35. Finally he useth many motives himself to keep us from the distracting cares of this world Matth. 6. 25 -34. Yet are we not so in love with this way of ours but that we would change it for a better if any can shew it us and make our hearers believe that it would be more advantagious for them Finally this trade of interpreting the Scriptures is an old and a good trade Job 32. 23. Psal. 78. 2 3. Prov. 1. 6. Acts 8. 3. And so often as you speak sense you do the same thing though ignorantly which you blame in us 20 Quaery Whether thou dost speak as thou art moved by the Holy Ghost as they did who spake forth the Scriptures Answ. I have answered to this already that I usually do speak at the motion or in the assistance of the Holy Ghost I praise God for it but dare not say that I do it in that degree that the Prophets and Apostles did who spake and wrote the holy Scriptures nor doth it yet appear to me that James Parnel or any of his fellow-prophets do speak or write in that high way of spiritual dictation and instinct in all things though I shall be ready to acknowledge Gods gift unto and working in the meanest of his servants without envy or disparagement yea with all humility and thankfulnesse to God for them 21 Quaery What Scripture hast thou for sprinckling Infants with water in the face and whether all are Christians and in the faith of Christ to whom it is so done or what doth it profit Answ. To the first demand in this quaery I say I hold not the Baptisme of Infants absolutely necessary but lawful onely It is sufficient that I have no command in Scripture against the sprinckling of Infants in the face with baptismal water but I have the commandment of Governours whether Civil or Ecclesiastical for it seeing I am commanded to be subject to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supream or unto Governours as those that are sent by him c. 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. Yet have we an universal Promise that all Nations in the Earth should be blessed in the seed of promise Gen. 12. 5. 18. 18. 22. 18. which promise is made to us and our children Act. 2. 39. If children then be within the Covenant why may not they receive the seal of the Covenant Christ himself saith also that of such is the Kingdome of heaven Mark 10 14. why may not such then receive the badges of the children of the Kingdome Yea the Apostle affirms That all which came out of Egypt under Moses children as well as parents were baptized in the cloud and in the Sea 1 Cor. 10. 1 2. which is no contemptible ground for Infant-Baptisme Christs inviting and encouraging those that brought little children his embracing them and praying for them discovers his affection to such and his rebuking of his Disciples who would have kept them back makes not for you and the Antipaedobaptists but against you all To the second demand I say That actual faith is required onely in men and women of some years and capacity to hear the Word But Infants may be in Christ and Christ in them if he lightens every one that comes into the world especially since some are sanctified from the womb as John the Baptist was Luk. 1. 13. And if Christ be in them then they are Christians indeed and not in profession onely To the third and last demand I say That the prayers of the Minister and the Saints in the Congregation who pray for the regeneration preservation and salvation of the child for the present may profit and benefit the Infant The Lord also may with the outward washing even then give his Spirit to the child And though he do not yet that washing may prove as good a document to the person baptized for the time to come as Circumcision did in times past to the Jews when they were grown up though administred in their Infancy To say nothing that it is a great satisfaction to the Christian parents that their children are admitted into the body of the visible Church and have received a distinguishing badge and cognizance of Christianity And the child it self hath from thence no small motive or instigation to be a follower of Christ in his death and resurrection 22. Quaery What is the estate and condition of a Christian Answ. As there are 3. ages steps and degrees of Christians according to their interest and progresse in the work of regeneration so their estate is various and different even in this world for the Babes in Christ are new begotten of the Father in the hatred of sin and love of righteousnesse and by him brought to the knowledge hope and love of redemption from all iniquity and renovation in all righteousnesse who also have their sins forgiven them which they have repented of and left 1 Joh. 2. 12. Their estate lyeth in a renewed understanding and will especially The young men in Christ are become strong in him and have the Word abiding in them through whom they overcome the wicked one 1 Joh. 2. 13 14. These differ from the former in stature and strength But the old or dayed men which are such in deed and growth and not in years only have attained to much more wisdome power and righteousnesse in the Spirit and know the Father and his counsels more intimately then either of the other 1 Joh. 2. 13 14. Now it is no small confusion to make these 3. one nor lesse presumption to take the first or second for the last as I fear many among you and the other Sectarians do 23 Quaery What doth the faith which thou professeth differ from the faith of the hypocrite and what is the faith of the hypocrite Answ. My faith which I professe is a trust in the Lord Jesus
to be holpen up again from the fall or to be saved from the hands of mine enemies or of all that hate me and so to be renewed through him that I may be enabled to serve him chearfully and without slavish fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of my life Luke 1. 71 72 73 74 75 c. This faith worketh by love brings forth obedience purifies the heart makes us conformable to Jesus Christ So that I hope for no benefit by his death unlesse I dye with him to all known sins Rom. 6. 8. and it makes us patiently wait for the hope of righteousnesse But the faith of the hypocrite for so you mean though you write otherwise seeks alwayes something else by or through Christ then what it should seek to wit the putting off the old man and the putting on the new which is created after God in righteousnesse and holinesse of truth Ephes. 4. 21 22 23. And herein differs my faith from the hypocrites and perhaps from James Parnels also 24 Quaery Whether all that thou givest bread and wine unto which you call a Sacrament do discern the Lords Body Ans. I hope most of those to whom I give bread and wine have some understanding of the true body and blood of Christ whatsoever James Parnel or his Comerades have for I have often declared the mystery of both unto them more distinctly and evidently then any thing that I have yet read in their writings And as for calling these a Sacrament the word imports two things first an holy mystery which I think you will not here deny and secondly a military oath wherein the spiritual Souldier is obliged to love obey and follow his General in life and death which most lively sets forth our duty in remembring the example of Christs death and following him therein And therefore do not quarrel with the word or thing which you understand not clearly 25 Quaery Whether thou dost not give bread and wine to natural men and women Ans. First I can give nothing but the elements of bread and wine with the signification of the same Secondly those I give to natural men and women and to spiritual ones Thirdly I give the same not onely to those that are spiritual but to a mixt company as Christ himself did to all the twelve Disciples Luk. 22. 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22. whereof Judas was one and as the Apostle for a time gave the same to those that professed repentance faith and new obedience but fell away afterwards 1 Cor. 11. 18 19. 1 Joh. 2. 19. 26 Quaery Can any be set free from sin while they are upon earth And when must they be cleansed if not upon the earth Ans. There is an earth or earthly being which is sin it self Colos. 3. 5. Mortifie therefore your members which are upon earth In this earth there is not a man that sinneth not Eccles. 7. 20. yea there is not a man upon the outward earth which hath not often sinned Christ himself excepted But when I look upon one main end of Christs coming which is to redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2. 14. Ephes. 5. 24 25 26. upon his power to do the work Matth. 28. 18. Heb. 7. 25. and upon the promises to that effect Amos 9. 8. Micha 7. 19. Luke 1. 70 71 72 73 74 c. 2 Pet. 1. 4. I cannot but acknowledge that all iniquit both may and ought to be subdued here Nor do I know any other place of purgation after we are out of the body And these things have been held forth by my self and others long before we heard any thing of the Quakers yet we shall own that or any other Truth that comes from them 27 Quaery What Scripture hast thou for thy Rule to give Davids conditions to the world to be sung in metre Answ. First all are not of the world whom you take to be of the world to wit who are no Quakers or counted and called such Secondly Israel in the general to whom David gave his Psalmes to be sung were for the greater part unregenerate and men of the world as ye call them Thirdly he gave them in metre or measures to be sung as the learned in the Hebrew tongue know well though perhaps none of your new Schooles understood so much Fourthly what condition was David in into which every man may not come in time Fifthly are not Davids Psalmes part of the holy Scriptures which are permitted to all men and are profitable for all men to read Sixthly the Jewes did read all the Old Testament in publick with a singing voice as the Learned know Seventhly Did not the Lord by his servant Moses teach all Israel a song of his own making to convince them of his goodnesse and their own wickednesse for the time to come even then when they should depart from the Lord corrupt themselves and become mere men of the world Deut. 31. 19 20 21 22 which Song is contained at large Deut. 32. 1 2 c. Now you will not deny but Davids Psalmes may have the same use and effect even upon the wicked when they find how far they are from his godly wayes spiritual frame and growth His prayers may teach them to pray his hymnes may reach them to laud the Lord His afflictions may order support and comfort them when they are in the like condition His prophecies and promises may be the strengthening of their faith Finally his zeal to God and his love to righteousnesse may provoke many So that scarce any book in the whole Bible or Volume of the Scriptures is more universally profitable to be read said or sung then this will prove for all sorts and estates of men So that here you and your friends who are of the same opinion with you discover your great ignorance and weaknesse 28 Quaery What is the Word and whether it is visible to the carnal eye or invisible and where the Scripture speaks of any other Word of God then one Answ. I must for true order sake speak to the last part of your quaery first wherein again you lay open your great ignorance For the Scripture speaks clearly of a manifold Word of God As first there is the eternal essential powerful and living Word by which all things were made Joh. 1. 1 2 3. and are upheld Heb. 1. 1 2 3. and in whom they subsist Col. 1. 15 16 17. Secondly there is the ingiven or inspoken Word which usually came to the Prophets and Messengers of God Jer. 2. 1. 4. 11 13. Thirdly there is the out-spoken Word Psal. 68. 11. And lastly there is the written Word of the Lord 2 Tim. 3. 16. To the former part I say that none of these save the last named Word is visible to the carnal eye and that in the letter onely All the other are invisible and not invisible as you learnedly write to that eye but in the Spirit the first is both
visible and audible The second also is audible as all men do or may know in their own hearts where his voice is often heard but too little regarded 29 Quaery What is the end of Christs coming and what is the Redemption Answ. Each of them is manifold though it seems James Parnel knowes it not who yet pretends to be one of those teachers who is as infallible as those Prophets and Apostles were who gave forth the holy Scriptures As for the first of these the ends of Christs coming they are these among others One is to destroy or abolish the work of the Devil 1 Joh. 3. 8. or to redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2. 14. A second is to sive us from our other enemies even out of the hands of all that hate us Luke 1. 71. A third is that the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled in us Rom. 8. 4. A fourth is to redeem us from the curse of the Law Gal. 3. 13. A fifth is to deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 15. A sixth is That he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2. 17 18. A seventh was to set us a perfect example both of active and passive obedience 1 Pet. 2. 21. An eighth was that he might for our comfort give us an example of victory over the wicked world and the Prince of it even for our encouragement to fight the same battel Joh. 16. 33. A ninth was that he might break down the partition-wall betwixt the Jewes and the Gentiles Ephes. 2. 14 15 16. The tenth was to be the first-begotten from the dead Colos. 1. 18. or the first-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. 20. The eleventh is that he might be the Judge of the world John 5. 22. Acts 17. 31. Lastly to omit many other that he might be the Head of the Church Ephes. 1. 22 23. and Lord of the dead and the living Rom. 14. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Now concerning Christs Redemption it is manifold likewise For first there is a spiritual Redemption from sin by his blood and Spirit Tit. 2. 14. Luke 1. 71. Secondly a positive Redemption in the same kind Ephes. 1. 14. or the recovering of the divine nature again through him 2 Pet. 1. 4. Thirdly there is a redemption from the curse of the Law Gal. 3. 13. or a saving of us from the wrath to come 1 Thess. 1. 10. Fourthly there is the Redemption of our body Rom 8. 23. Fifthly there is the Redemption from the guilt of our sins as well as from the power Ephes. 1. 7. Colos. 1. 14. Lastly there is a Redemption from all evil Gen 48. 16. 30 Quaery Whether thou wilt own this That Christ hath inlightened every one that cometh into the world and whether they that know that light need any man to teach them And whether thou leadest any man up under this Ministery that they need not thee to teach them Answ. First I own that Christ inlighteneth every man by his coming into the world yea that he inlighteneth every man that comes into the world for the Apostle affirms it Joh. 1. 9. Secondly I say that they which have attained to the full knowledge of this light need not that any man should teach them for they are sufficiently taught of God Jer. 31. 34. but I deny that you are so taught or in such a measure and your new friends give no full evidence that they have attained to the fulnesse and clearnesse of this day from heaven as yet though the Day-dawn may be risen in some of their hearts for ought I know But till that full light shine in them or us we may have other helps and teachers as the Apostle shewes 2 Pet. 1. 19 20. And those may not onely be convenient but in some sort necessary for us otherwise the Lord would not have caused so many Books of holy Scriptures to be written nor have sent so many Prophets Apostles and Messengers of his into the world as he hath done Yea John who speaks of the sufficiency of this Unction to teach us 1 John 2. 27. might have spared all his pains in preaching and writing and much more may James Parnel and his fellowes keep silence if there be no necessity for or use of his or their teaching Lastly I say that my hearers can witnesse for me that I have often and earnestly stirred them to regard and obey the light that shines forth and teacheth or speaketh in them and to grow up to that pitch that they may behold the clear and full light of the day from heaven wherein they shall not need mine or any other mans teaching from thenceforth 31 Quaery Whether they be not the deceivers who cry Lo here or lo there who draw people to look for a Christ in a heaven without them and afar off or at Hierusalem afar off whereas they that cannot witnesse Christ within them are Reprobates Answ. I hope you will not deny that Christ according to the flesh was at Hierusalem without us and from us in England nor that he is in an heaven without us and far remote from us since his presence fills heaven and earth Howbeit Christ must also be within us to inlighten purge strengthen and renew us And though they that cannot experimentally so witnesse him to be and work within them are for the present in a reprobate condition yet I dare not say that all such are final reprobates Nor will I say that all who speak of a Christ within them shall be saved For many who prophesie in his Name do great works yet in the end being found workers of iniquity perish Matth. 7. 21 22 23. Howbeit I grant that those teachers which point only to a Christ without them or to any other spiritual Kingdome of God then what must be within them saying Lo here is Christ and lo there is his Kingdom may be both deceivers and deceived themselves for the present And how near you come to such who say Lo here among the people called the Quakers Christ alone is to be found and no where else let the impartial judge 32 Quaery Whether they be not out of the Faith of Christ that receive honour or respect persons Answ. Men may receive honour from others for their vertues graces or good services and yet be in the faith of Christ So Timothy and Titus did often of Paul Phil. 2. 19 20. 2 Cor. 8. 16 17. So are the Corinthians commended by him 1 Cor. 11. 1 2 3. and other Brethren also 2 Cor. 8. 23. Yea which of the Churches is it to whom that Apostle wrote who are not in some things commended by him See Rom. 1. 8. 15. 14. Gal. 4. 14 15. Phil. 4. 10. 1 Thess.