that they might avoid persecution that in Christ Iesus neyther circumcision avayleth any thing nor vncircumcision but a new creature meaning that such as were graffed into Christ by faith vnto salvation from their syns they need not care in this estate for having or wanting the outward Jewish signe of circumcision but labour for that which it signified namely to become new creatures dying dayly vnto syn and living vnto righteousnes which fruits ar vndoubted testimonies that they ar in Christ. But H. N. corrupteth the words first saying Ther avayleth before God and then adding in Christ Iesus wrought in the Love meaning that a new creature in Christ which Christ is wrought in the Love for so he thinketh Christ to be the Lovely Being in vs as before is shewed this new creature avayleth before God for righteousnes and safe-making from our syns as his words elswhere are Thus careth he not how he wrest or what he add vnto the scriptures so as they may seem to serve his turn That the reader may see his deceit I wil shew what is his veyn and manner of reasoning Two things are given vs of God through Christ. 1. justification and 2. sanctification Justification is by the forgivnes of our syns for Christs sake and for the death that he once suffred for vs himself alone on the crosse whervpon followeth our blessednes and salvation and this justification we apprehend by faith alone After which foloweth the work of Christ in vs by sanctifying our bodies sowles and spirits and making vs conformable to his death burial and resurrection and furnishing vs with fruits and graces of the Spirit which being fruits of faith in Christ following the same are no cause of our justification or blessednes for that we have freely before given vs of grace Now coÌ„meth H. N. and he taketh this latter point of Sanctification and al such scriptures as speak therof and putteth it in place of the former to weet our justification making this our new birth and these fruits of faith to be the very cause of our happines righteousnes it self yea and Christ himself Which deceitful reasoning of his may further be manifested by a type and shadow of our redemtion shewed to our fathers traveling towards their outward rest in Canaan as we do now travel towards our eternal rest in heaven They in their journey were stung by fyrie serpents and many of them died To save them from this death a serpent of brasse was set vp on which who so looked was without any other salves or medicines healed of his deadly wound Then being thus healed they went forward on their way fought against the Amorites and other enimies and won the promised land and this they were to doe before they could have possession of the same If H. N. had then lived and should have perswaded the people that not the looking vp to the brazen serpent but their after journeyes and battel 's against the Amorites did heal them of their stings should he not haue belyed the work of Gods grace who without any work or war of theirs did heal them freely even so doth he in this The venim of Synn by the fyrie serpents the Devils tormenteth men and bringeth them to death Jesus Christ is lifted vp vnto vs as was the Serpent in the wildernes vnto whom we looking vp by faith are throughly healed After this God unployeth vs in a holy life and Christian warfare to subdue our lusts and affections and bring forth fruites of the spirit in sanctification Now coÌ„meth H. N. and telleth vs this holy life this Christian warfare is our righteousnes our safemaking from our syns and is Christ himself Thus is he an enimie vnto the grace of God and hinderer oâ—â—mans salvation seeking to procure it by the works of the law by which no flesh shal be saved and in stead of Christ would give vs an idol of his own fiction After this as vnsavourly and to as little purpose he alledgeth an other scripture wher Christ as he sayth in the day of judgemeÌ„ts shal find faulty al flesh in their righteousnes as he saith I shal rebuke the world of their righteousnes Ioh. 16. First it is to be observed that Christ spake these words of the Comforter the Holy Ghost which he being gone away would send to his Apostles Ioh 16. 7. as after came to passe Act. 2. 33. and sayth when he is come he will reprove the world c. but H. N. allegeth this that Christ himself should do it and falsifyeth our Lords words putting I for He the reason wherof seemeth to be for that H. N. holdeth not a distinctioÌ„ of the three persons in the Godhed as we professe according to the scriptures but ignorantly shuffleth and confoundeth al. Secondlly he addeth to the scripture saying their righteousnes wheras Christ sayth onely that the Holy Ghost should convince the world of righteousnes which may as wel if not better be vnderstood of Christs righteousnes then of the worlds especially seing the reason therof is rendred thus Of righteousnes because I goe to my Father Now though one may vnderstand it otherweise of the worlds feighned righteousnes yet is it overmuch boldnes in H. N. to put his own vnderstanding in sted of the text it self for this is the meanes to corrupt Gods pure word even as the mans hart is most corrupt Thirdly he referreth this to the day of judgements which is far from Christs meaning for he promiseth the efficacy and power of the Holy Ghost in his servants whiles he is absent from them before the day of judgemeÌ„t as the text sheweth to any wise hart But wherfore doth H. N. put in this may we think Doubtlesse to draw men vnto himself for he is the Comforter promised yea he is Christ himself and this day and time of his preaching is the day of judgements This is evident by his own words otherwhere For in his First Exhortation he thus writeth According to al the testimonies of the holy spirit of Love this gracious word and his service of Love is the Light and the day of the true judgement wherwith God with his holy ones accomplisheth and wherwith also he wil accomplish his judgement vpon the earth according to the truth In the Gospel of H. N. it is also thus written For behold in this present day the glorious coming of our Lord Iesu Christ with the many thowsaÌ„ds of his Saincts becommeth manifested which hath set himself now vpon the seat of his majesty for to judge in this same day which the Lord hath ordeyned or appointed the whol world with equity and with faithfulnes and truth according to his righteousnes And agayn in the same book Behold and consider my beloved how wonderfully God worketh in his holy ones and how that now in this day or light of the Love the judgement seat of Christ
AN EPISTLE SENT VNTO TVVO daughters of VVarwick from H. N. THE OLDEST Father of the Familie of Love VVith a refutation of the errors that are therin by H. A. Rescue me Lord and deliver me from the hand of strangers whose mouth talketh vanity and their right-hand is a right-hand of falshood Psal. 144. 11. Imprinted at Amsterdam by Giles Thorp 1608. To the Christian reader wisdome grace AS ther are many enimies of the truth of the gospel and many that write to broach and spread their errors so is it needful that some write against them least troden truth be quite forsaken and silly sowles be wrapped in error vnto perdition It is not easy for al men to espie Satans subtilties nor the deceitful sophismes of his ministers both he they can trāsforme themselves like Angels of light Such therfore as discern them through the grace of God should give warning vnto others that as the foolish womā is troublesome babling lowd inviting her ghests to the depth of hel so the maidens of wisdom may lift vp also their voice and make their crie be heard on the highest places of the citie What wormwood and bitternes even deadly poison is sparsed abroad in Henry Nicholas his writings who caleth himself the Father of the Family of Love the children of wisdome that do read the same may by the light of Gods law soon perceive yet with faire and flattering speeches he hath beguiled many vnstable sowles such as have had no love to the truth have been givē over vnto his lies And never had Satan a fitter time to work his malicious wil on the sons of Adam then in these last evil dayes when Atheisme and iniquity doe so much abound Never had he a fitter religion for Atheists and carnal hypocrites then that which H. N. out of his corrupt and fleshly hart hath set abroach It taketh away the crosse of Christ persecution for righteousnes sake and teacheth men to cōmunicate with al religions services and ceremonies so as they cleave in hart to his feighned service of the Love It maketh them pure and without al syn in their own foolish imaginations yea more then which the Serpent himself did never teach it deifieth them with God In a word it bringeth a fretting leprosie vpon al religion overthroweth the grounds of faith layd in holy scriptures which H. N. by foolish allegories perverteth to the destruction of himself and his Family And for the principles of theologie he hath written more blasphemously and absurdly then ever did Mahomet in his Alcoran For this cause in answering this his letter as I was requested by some that heard how much it was boasted of among the Nicholaitans I have touched by the way some of the impious heresies that are in his other writings without knowledge wherof his frawd in this Epistle cannot easily be perceived For as a child of darknes he laboureth to be obscure in his words y t men may admire the deepnes of Satan by which he speaketh and himself when he is folowed can no other way escape may have this for his last refuge that men vnderstand him not But al things when they are reproved of the light are manifest for the light is that which maketh al things manifest Now the word of the Lord is a lantern his Law a light by it therfore have I assayed to discover the snares of this seducer not doubting but God who causeth the Morning to know his place that it may take hold of the corners of the earth that the wicked may be shaken out of it wil notwithstanding al the dark delphick speeches and glozing allegories of these falsers declare their works and manifest their impieties and wil turn the night in the darknes wherof they think to be shrowded and they shal be destroyed Let therfore the prudent reader make trial of that which on both sides is said by the word of truth least as the serpent beguiled Evah through his subtilty so their harts be withdrawn from the sincerity of Christ. And the Lord give them vnderstanding in al things and preserve them from this generation for ever for the wicked walk on every side whiles vilenes is extolled among the sons of Adam Henry Ainsworth The preface made by some of H. N. his disciples THis Epistle was written by the author vnto two maydens that were before purposed out of zele to have suffred death for the confession sake of the Christiā ceremonies which as he saith in divers places of his works are no more but outward meanes set forth by God his ministers to direct people to the inward righteous life of Christ in the spirit supposing therin that they should rightly have obeyed fulfilled the cōmandemēt of Christ who willeth vs to forsake our own lives for his sake But vpon better consideration therof through the grace of God and these distinct godly testimonies and reasons both touching that point and divers others herein conteyned their mindes as it hath bene reported by some of that followship wer altered herin to an other vnderstanding of the matter and they did willingly indevour themselves afterwards to follow his good counsel Answer THe drift of this Epistle being at the best to disswade from the pacient and cōstant witnessing of the truth of Christ especially in the outward ordinances of the gospel and open profession of the same Under a colour of inward and spiritual confession and service of God in the holy Ghost it shal not be amisse to look a little into the sleights of Satan wherby as it seemeth he hath deceived and would stil deceive the simple and to shew the weaknes and insufficiencie of the reasons alleged in this Letter as also to manifest how the outward obedience of the body must be conjoyned with the inward of the mind and spirit and the external ordinances of Christs testament professed and practised if we would have the spirit and life which is of God And howsoever H. N. accounteth the ordinances of the gospel but ceremonies yet in that he confesseth them to be outward meanes set forth by God to direct people to the inward righteous life of Christ in the spirit he manifesteth himself to be but a seducer in perswading the two maydens not to suffer death for the confession sake of them seing the outward meanes of mans salvation and of the righteous Christian life is to be stood for vnto the death as in handling the particulars shal by Gods grace appear And if by the authors counsel those daughters were drawn as here is insinuated from their outward confession suffring affliction for the ordinances of Christ against the Romish Antichristian doctrines ceremonies their faith was but weak they forsook the inward righteous life of Christ in the spirit and their mindes were perverted to a very evil vnderstanding If also they assented to other points of H. Ns. heresies
and folowed his corrupt counsel then were they led captive as the Apostle sayth being simple women laden with synns and led with divers lusts From which estate God keep al his people direct their feet in the wayes of life peace AN EPISTLE Sent vnto two daughters of Warwick From H. N. THe wisdome of the Father through the Love of Christ in the power of the holy Ghost in the second birth out of the new life of the heavenlie being be vnto every one which with an vnpartial hart seeketh the godlynes in Iesus Christ to a harty salvation Because that every one which seeketh God with hart mought know the right diversitie betwixt the heavenly and the earthly betwixt the spirit the flesh betwixt the light and the darknes betwixt the death the life and betwixt the righteousnes of the spirit and the righteousnes of the elementish things and then to love the same That grant vs the Almightie God through his love Amen 1. Because ye mought through the spirit of Christ inherit the same gift and meere affection or goodwillingnes to the godly life I do bear or cary the same gift God is my witnes before al men But now am I compelled through the love of Christ severally to open the same gift vnto two yong daughters of a certayn place named Warwick The Lord give his prosperitie and grace thervnto for that his righteousnes which is wrought through the Spirit of Christ mought be knowen of them and that the life of Christ which by many is sought after the flesh might be knowen and inherited of them according to the spirit even like as God which is blessed is a Spirit Ioh. 4. 2 Cor. 3. H. A. OUr saviour Christ the wisdome of the Father hath warned vs to beware of false prophets which come vnto vs in sheeps clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves The Apostles through the love of Christ in the power of the holy Ghost have foretold vs that in the latter times some should depart from the faith and give heed vnto spirits of error and doctrines of Divils speaking lies through hypocrisie and having their consciences burned-with-a-hot-yron and therfore counselled vs not to beleev everie spirit but to trie the spirits whither they ar of God because many false prophets were even then gone out into the world The evil that they should enterprise is privilie to bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that hath bought them the maner of their cariage should be to vse feighned words fayr flattering and good speech swelling words of vanity promises of liberty and the like The effect of their doctrine should be deceiving of the harts of the simple even of many yea if it were possible of the verie elect and by those many that follow their damnable wayes the way of truth should be blasphemed The end of al which touching themselves is that because such reprobates receive not the love of the truth that they mought be saved therfore God sendeth them strong delusion that they should beleeve lies and they al may be damned which beleeve not the truth but hav pleasure in vnrighteousnes These things considered it standeth vs vpon to look wel to our selves least we be caried away with the error of the wicked This author H. N. beginneth as was foretold not onely with fayr and flattering speech but also with swelling words of the second birth out of the new life of the heavenly being and sondry the like He boasteth of the gift of the godly life which he beareth before al men and here severally openeth vnto two yong daughters and of this he taketh God to witnesse He telleth them in the 2. section folowing that the Christ of God was not yet declared vnto them according to the heavenly truth Thus promiseth he great matters and seemeth to be a setter forth of a new Christ and consequently of a new God Very needful therfore it is to attend vnto his doctrine and if it be true for to receive it if false for to abhorr it and to hold the author therof accursed And herevnto the Lord inable and guide vs by his grace 1. First where he vaunteth of the gift borne before al men in his other writings opened to these daughters in this Epistle let vs bring it to the trial by the word of God who he saith is his witnes For we read of some that have given gifts vnto their lovers that they might come vnto them on every side for fornication and whither this writing and other pamphlets of H. N. be not gifts sent abroad for such evil purpose let the godly reader judge If his gift have wytnes of God it hath witnes of his written word as the prophet saith to the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because ther is no light in them Is H. N. willing to come to this trial it seemeth farr otherweise for in al his writings he much inveigheth against scripture-learning contrary to the true prophets and Apostles who highly commended this as being able to make men wise vnto salvation and profitable to teach to improve to correct to instruct in righteousnes and never did any of them entwite the learning or knowledge of the scriptures as the reader may see H. N. to doe in this Epistle and his other pamphlets Our saviour Christ willed al men even his adversaries to serch the scriptures for they testified of him If they testified likewise of H. N. and his doctrine doubtlesse he would not despise as his manner is the scripture-learning of others especially whiles he wil seem to rely vpon the testimonies of the same for himself But if we may not learn the truth of religion out of holy writt how then may we attayn it H. N. telleth vs in his First exhortation to his children thus My beloved children like as the true Communiality of holy ones and Elders of the house of Love confesse vnder the obedience of the Love the beleef in Iesu Christ and the Christian baptism and like as I expresse the same here vnto you and confesse or acknowledge it before al men to be the true faith and the vpright baptisme even so ground with fast beleef your harts likewise therin So then the doctrine of H. N. and his folowers must be the groūd of our faith as they confesse and beleev so must we And herein the Familists religion accordeth wel with the Turks whose great prophet Mahomet in his law or Alchoran to draw disciples after him saith thus They that worship God let them if they be good beleev his Messenger Mahomet and again O ye good men be followers of God and of his messenger never wittingly depart from them But may we not our selves by the light and grace that God giveth vs make trial of H. N. his religion by the word of the Lord
c. to the forgiving and releasing of their synns Where agayn he perversly applieth that to obedience and mortification which is due vnto faith For when the Eunuch would be baptised Philip required nothing of him but to beleeve and Paul sayth to him that worketh not but beleeveth in him that justifyeth the vngodly his faith is counted for righteousnes Although therfore obedience to the faith must be given by all true Christians and they which are baptised into I. Christ are baptised into his death and buriall yet is not this done to the forgiving and releasing of their synns as H. N. Pharisaically inferreth but to shew forth the fruit and force of faith wherby the just doe live and lay hold on Christ whom God hath set forth for a reconciliation though faith in his blood to declare his righteousnes by the forgivnes of synns that ar passed through the pacience of God Wheras therfore H. N. doth gather from the premisses that this which he hath set down is the vpright Christiā baptisme in the name of the Son is the true forgivnes purging of our synns through Iesu Christ he is found a false witnes against God and Christ and would give vs a synful sink of error even a vayn perswasion of our own obedience righteousnes and sanctification to wash our selves in and hath royled with his feet the pure fountayn of Christs blood which clenseth all beleevers from all syn That vpon himself his own words may justly be retorted he boasteth himself of the baptismey of Christ and he hath not known him in any world Of like leven is H. Ns baptisme in the name of the holy Ghost which he maketh to be also the second birth out of the holy Ghost the true love of God Christ. And this even as the former of baptising in the name of the Father and of the Son we must not vnderstand of any outward action by the minister of Christ washing with water as did John the Baptist nor yet to be done at one and the same time with the former but as H. N. sayth in the oldnes of time when the dayes of the patience of Christ in the obedience of the holy and gracious word his service of Love are fulfilled that is when men have walked long ynough in the Familists religion that then the holy Ghost becommeth powred forth through Iesus Christ vnderstanding H. Ns Christ to weet the Lovely being over them all that have followed Christ in his death of the crosse obediently that is which have saved themselves from their synns by their own fantasticall suffrings and have kept his doctrine with the word of his patience even vnto the end Thus hath this deceiver of minds drawn all Gods ordinance of Baptisme which with men is outward and was by the Apostles admininstred with materiall water vnto a blasphemous imagined Being and conformity with God or regenerated estate and the holy doctrine of Justification by forgivnes of synns through the blood of Christ shed for vs and sealed vnto vs in baptisme he hath wiped away vnder colour of Sanctification or deification by our own following of Christ. Which things he teacheth by the same spirit that the Serpent taught Evah not to fear the outward eating of the forbidden fruit seing she should be like vnto God knowing good and evil H. N. 19. After such a like maner witnesseth Paul of the supper of Christ wher he sayth so many of you as have eaten of one bread are become partakers of one body Hath any man now rightly vsed the supper of Christ the same is then become partaker of the body of Christ according to the mentioning of the scripture 20. Therefore see vnto it yea see vnto it everie one which sayth that he hath fulfilled the service of Christ or would be a disciple of Christ. For those services and ceremonies which are ministred through the comandement of the holy Ghost out of a Christianlike Being they have the promises whiles they are rightly obeyed that should receive the pledge of the godly inheritance which is the holy Ghost And where that cōmeth not to passe vnto them ther is not the Christian service ministred let them make them then so like fashioned to the scripture as they wil. For whatsoever is served without the spirit of Christ it is an abomination before God therein may everie one think freely H. A. That which is here sayd of the supper of Christ if an honest faithful mā had written the same might wel be yielded vnto for in the words ther would lurk no frawd But coming from this old seducer H. N. and being affixed to his former heresies I deny that after such a like manner as H. N. before treated of Bapisme Paul witnesseth of the supper of Christ. For Paul sayth not that we ar one Being with Christ but that we are the body of Christ and that the bread which we break is the communion of his body which body we eat and have communion with by faith not really and essentially as fleshly men imagine and we ar caled the body of Christ not properly but figuratively by way of similitude and in great mystery for as a man joyned to a woman is one flesh so he that is joyned vnto the Lord is one Spirit But as the woman notwithstanding her conjunction is not the man neyther hath the Being of the man so the church notwithstanding her conjunction is not Christ neyther hath the Being of Christ but by faith is coupled vnto him as he sayth by the prophet I will mary the vnto me in faith Now that H. N. hath the like grosse understanding of the Lords supper as he shewed before of Baptisme appeareth not onely by his entrance saying After such a like manner c but also by his words in his Gospel wher speaking of the Passover he sayth Christ gav his disciples to drink out of the cup which is his passion his true blood which is his holy life of the New Testament Thus applyeth he all things about Christ to a holy life even then and there wher it is playnly spoken of death For though blood whiles it is in the body is the life of the same yet when it is shed out of the body as Christ ther sayth his was it signifieth death not the life of the party as also the Apostle testifieth so oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye shew the Lords death til he come And as David would not drink the water that came out of the well of Bethlehē because it was the blood of the men that fetched it that is because they jeoparded their lives vnto the death to fetch it so we when we drink the wine out of the cup in the Lords supper doe drink the blood of Christ that is his death which for our synns he did vndergoe But H. N. by
the spirit of error that possessed him he takes Christs death for vs to be a holy life in vs as before is more largely shewed Vnsound it is and savoring of a fātastical spirit that he opposeth in the end the services and ceremonies which ar ministred through the comaundement of the holy Ghost out of a Christian like being vnto the service fashioned like to the scripture For ther is no service commanded by the holy Ghost but it is fashioned like to the scripture and hath the ground and warrant therfrom otherweise it cometh from the Spirit of Satan and not from God For Gods Spirit leadeth men into al truth Iohn 16. 13. and it is Gods word which is the truth Iohn 17. 17. The three that bear witnes in heaven The Father the Word and the holy Ghost as they ar in Being so are they also in their testimony one 1. Ioh. 5. 7. As the doctrin of Christ was not his own but the Fathers that sent him so neyther is the doctrine of the holy Ghost his own but the sons that sent him as Christ witnesseth saying he shal not speak of himself but whatsoever he shal hear he shal speak and agayn he shal glorify me for he shal receiv of mine and shal shew it vnto yow Now seing the holy Ghost teacheth no other doctrine then Christ nor Christ then the Father and seing Christ himself sendeth al men to serch the scriptures as they which testify of him and his Apostle hath taught vs that the knowledge of the scriptures is able to make vs wise vnto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus we may veryly deem it to be a delusion of Satan whatsoever any would teach vs towching Gods service that is not warranted by the scriptures and that those are spirits of errour which so disdeyn and scoff at scripture-learning and boast of illumination by the holy Ghost Vnsound also it is and contrary to the scriptures that H. N. here would perswade vs that where it commeth not to passe that the holy Ghost which is the pledge of the godly inheritance is not received vnto them there is not the Christian service ministred For the Apostle sheweth that Israel had the true Christian service ministred to them when they did al eat the same spiritual meat and drink of the spiritual Rock which followed them which Rock was Christ yet received they not the Godly inheritance which is the holy Ghost for with many of them God was not pleased they were overthrown in the wildernes and could not enter into the Rest of God because of their vnbeleef The Christian service was rightly administred to Simon Magus whē he was baptised yet was not his hart right in the sight of God also vnto Iudas when he did sit and eat with the other Apostles yet even then Satan and not the holy Ghost entred into him Even so with vs the true Christian service in the administration of the word seales and censures is set forth and practised though many receiv it into evil harts and vnfaithful to their greater condemnation But the elect of God are edified comforted and confirmed in his grace hereby though these are not many for many be called but few elected Mat. 20. 16 Agayn H. N. hath here set down that which overthroweth the whole scope of his writing when he sayth Those services cerimonies which are ministred through the commandement of the holy Ghost out of a Christian-like Being they have the promises whiles they are rightly obeyed c. If thus it be then ought all Christians to labour and seek for those services and ceremonies as he calleth them that so they may obteyn the promises then also must they shun and refreyn from al false and humane ceremonies or services which have no promise and are but the profaning of Gods name And this is our cause fayth and practise which witnes against and absteyn from the Antichristian services and ceremonies of Popery for which doing the world hateth and persecuteth vs from which profession practise and patient suffering this writer would diswade and allure to communion with wickednes by the vayn pretenses set forth in this Letter as after more playnly foloweth H. N. 21. Oh how wel should they doe which do now extol themselves before the simple and say that they are preachers of Christ if they would first learn to know Christ before they made themselves ministers of him They wil preach the word of Christ and yet they have not according to the Spirit seen the fashion or shape of Christ or heard of the same in any world They say the scripture witnesseth vnto vs that we for Christs cause should forsake our lives the which according to the truth is very true but the most part which speaks so much thereof they themselves vnderstand not the mind or meaning of God in that which the scripture sayth namely how that we must hate and forsake our own life or els we cannot be the disciples of Christ. Therfore mark wel therevpon not only vpon that but also vpon al the witnessings of the scripture 22 Oh vnderstand advisedly what I doe write of the forsaking of our own life When God had created the man then was the man in subjection to the life of God and not to his own life for therevnto God had created the man that he should be of one life one being one Spirit and of one nature with God But when the man desyred in his hart to love some other thing beside the life of God namely the concupiscence of the syn then went he into his own life and contentation and forsook the life of God and lived even so his own life and the life of the Divil 23. The whiles now that the office of Christ hath his ministration for to bring the man agayn vnto God the Father so cannot Christ bring the man to the Father vnlesse that the man forsake his own life which he hath lived so long to the Divel and to himself which is al that same wherin he hath sought loved lived to himself 24. Is not this now a great overshooting or misunderstanding that the children of men can say and teach that Christ meant hereby the natural or elementish man H. A. IT had been wel in deed if H. N. who so extolleth himself before the simple sayth that he is a preacher of Christ yea Godded with God would first have learned to know Christ before he hade made him self a minister of him For now being ignorant of the principles of religion and a meer stranger from the life of God he hath perverted al things to his own and ther mens perdition Witnes this his corrupt doctrine about the forsaking of our own life Wherin he first and generally seeketh to colour his iniquity with deceit and fraud For to perswade that we need not give our lives our natural elementish lives for
N. is but a carnal worldling to love his elementish life more then Christ and teach men so vnder colour of forsaking our own wicked life and life of the Divil If the prophets and Apostles had known this deep vnderstanding which H. N. conceiveth and had not thought they were also bound to lay down the natural and elementish man they would never have endured such things in their flesh as is witnessed of them What needed Shadrach Meshach and Abednego to have changed the kings commandement and yielded their bodies to the fyre rather then they would serv or worship his image or Daniel have jeoparded his life among the Lions or Stephen have been stoned to death for confessing of Christ or others to have been racked scourged prisoned hewen asunder slayn with the sword c or what meant the Apostles to shew vs these patterns and wil vs to take the prophets for an example of suffering adversity Was is not thinketh H. N. a great overshooting or misunderstanding in al these to teach both by word and practise that afflictions should be suffred in the natural or elementish man Or rather had not al these holy martyrs first layd down the spiritual synful life and then gave vp the natural life also How cōtrary then is this H. N. to al holy men that ever were or wrote that thus disswadeth frō the outward crosse vnder pretence of inward holynes Therfore let vs al y t lov the Lord Jesus say Anathema to such false prophets as thus teach doctrine cōtrary to the scriptures for to favor the flesh avoid afflictiō as is best pleasing to their sēsual minds Let the same mind be in vs that was in Christ Jesus who besides the troubles and anguishes in his hart humbled himself and became obedient vnto the death evē the death of the crosse And he which suffred these things for vs hath left vs an ensample as sayth the Apostle that we should folow his steps who his own self bare our synns in his body on the tree And let vs learn with Paul to take pleasures in infirmities in reproches in necessities in persecutions in scripes and prisonment in hunger and thirst in cold and nakednes and al other anguish for Christs sake for when we are weak then are we strong and this is a part of our mortification and denyal of our selves vnto which when true faith and obedience in the spirit is adjoyned God 's work goeth forward in vs towards perfection the end wherof wil be everlasting life H. N. 25. Oh comprehend I beseech yow the vnderstanding We our selves have not made the natural mā wherfore he cannot belong vnto vs. For the heaven with the earth and al that is therin belongeth vnto God and it is Gods pleasure and will that al shaped creatures so wel the manly creature as any other of al those which God hath created should live and that it mought goe wel with them 26. What shal the man then forsake that he mought be reconciled to God not any thing els but his own life that is the man of syn which hath so long lien hidd in the hart of man which is the temple of God and hath sayd that he was God 2. Thes. 2. H. A. IT is hard to cōprehend any good vnderstanding in any thing which H. N. doth write he is so ledd with the spirit of error in al his wayes yet may we comprehend that his first reason here is against himself we have not made the natural man wherfore he cannot belong vnto vs. Very true but God hath made it therfore it belongs to him If he made it and it be his then may he require it when he wil and we must not deny him his own Now he requireth it when for witnesse of his truth men wil shed our blood though they doe it vnjustly yet his requiring is just and we may not deny him or his truth for the saving of our lives as before is proved Of this reason therfore which H. N. bringeth we may say with the prophet his sword hath entred into his own hart His next reason is a depth of iniquity for seeming to plead for God he seeketh to draw men from God Gods wil is sayth he that al shaped creatures so wel the manly creature as any other should live that it might goe wel with thē So then to save their natural lives y e Familists think they may deny forswear Christ al true religion may cōmunicate with al idolatrie worship of divils if Princes vpō payn of death shal so cōmād This was the intendement of this present Letter sent to two maydens that refused as it seemeth the idolatrous Masse and subjectiō to the Romish Antichrist with hazard of their lives This is the dayly practise of the Nicolaitans H. Ns disciples who rather then they wil suffer imprisonment banishment death or the like for their religion wil joyn with Papists Protestants Arrians Anabaptists or any religion if the magistrate authorize and cōmand it For though they hold that their God of Love as they cal him is the true living God and besides him ther is no God more and his Gods-service of Love which they minister vnder the obedience of his Love is the true safe-making Gods-service and besides the same ther is not any Gods-service more neyther in heaven nor yet in earth yet wil they partake with any of the Godservices vsed in the world though they be contrary one to another For H. N. in his new Gospel complayneth that many have vnorderly rejected and blasphemed the services and ceremonies of the catholik church of Rome rented the concord nurturable sustentation of the same turned them away therfrom even so out of their knowledg which they took out of the scripture brought in certayn services ceremonies in another wise or order c. But his disciples in England which land hath rejected and departed from the catholike church of Rome as many other nations have doe pretend in their late supplicatiō to the King y t they ar his true faithful loyal and obedient subjects to al his lawes and ordinances spiritual temporal and doe deny that they vary or swarve frō the now established religion in this land eyther in services ceremonies sermons or sacraments Thus eyther H. N. or these his folowers or both must needs be hypocrites that so doe write and professe of two adverse churches and religions when in deed they approve of neyther but think as H. Ns Co-elder avoucheth that they which remayn without them and their Communaltie and without the Requiring of the gracious Word and his Service of Love or withdraw them selves therfrō have no living God nor yet true God-service but are without God and without Gods-service in this world yet notwithstanding this their judg mēt and profession rather then the manly creature should die they wil
fal down before idols wil deny their God of Love and wil worship the Papists God of bread in the Masse yea wil cōfesse or deny any point of doctrine and submitt vnto any Gods-service or religion And if they wil thus doe in things concerning God how much more may we think they wil so doe in things concerning men That if any Prince should be so wicked as to forbid al mariage on payn of death and cōmand or permit a community of womē or whordome these mē rather thē y e māly creature should perish would not spare to defile their bodies as wel as their sowles in al manner filthynes Yet syn they not as they perhaps think if their God of Love have their hart in hold and they be obedient to the requiring of the service of the Love for as H. N. sayth They know not of any other religion or godservice then of the service of Love But let vs further see if we can comprehend what H. Ns. position here doth imply If it be Gods wil that the manly creature should live and this be absolute and without restraynt then may not the Magistrate put any to death for any crime or make warre vpon any occasion for H. N. wil tel the magistrate he made not the natural man wherfore he cannot belong vnto him but vnto God his wil is that al shaped creatures should live and that it mought goe wel with them This Anabaptistical error is built on H. Ns. rotten ground and that the Familists doe indeed deny the vse of the sword vnto the Magistrate contrary to Pauls doctrine Rom. 13. and al vse of warrs may appear by H. Ns. words otherwhere complayning of the Land of ignorance which is every where but in his Familie that they make there many swords halberds spears bowes arrows guns pellets powder armor or harnesse c. for that the tyrannical oppressors and those that have a pleasure in destroying should vse warr battel therwithal one against another And because the taking away of the sword is the frustrating of the magistrates office for wherfore serveth he if not as for the wealth of the good so to take vengeance on them that do evil therfore it followeth necessarily that they condemne al magistracie in the church as do also the Anabaptists for H. N. sayth of his lovely city that no man reigneth over an other and that pleaseth God wel namely that the one man of God reigneth not over the other Thus vnder a colour that Gods creatures al should live he would abolish Gods ordinances who hath commanded that some malefactors should die and not live and bring confusion vpon civil polities as he hath vpon Christian religion Agayn in that he sayth al shaped creatures should live and then the manly creature so wel as any other wil it not folow also herevpon that Beasts must live may not be killed for the food of man For they are shaped creatures and made by God not by vs and so by H. Ns. learning cannot belong vnto vs and therfore may not be killed for our sustenance though God do playnly permit it in his law Gen. 9. 3. Deut. 12. 20. 21. 22. And so here is another doctrine of Divils as the holy Ghost caleth it comprehended in this Oldest Fathers deep head whiles by consequence he commandeth to absteyn from meates or els his ey-sight fayled him when he set down this reason But the Apostle gathereth quite contrary to this man as namely because The earth is the Lords and the plenty therof therfore we may eat al flesh 1 Cor. 10. 25. 26. Accordingly should H. N. if he had savoured the things of God have reasoned and concluded The Lord made our bodies and our sowles therfore it belongeth vnto vs to look that with both we glorify him The body is for the Lord therfore not for fornicatiō the body is the temple of the holy Ghost therfore it may not be prostrate before idols for what agreement hath the temple of God with idols the body is the Lords therfore it may not sit at the table of Divils and whatsoever the hethens or Antichristians offer they offer vnto Divils and we cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of Divils Thus should H. N. if any Christian wisedome or grace had been in him have collected and inferred and not as now he doeth perswade the two daughters to communion with the church of Rome which the holy Ghost caleth the habitation of Divils because their bodies or lives are the Lords and it belongs not vnto them to lay down their natural lives for the testimony of Jesus at any time But if H. N. had known in any world what the true life meaneth he would not so have disswaded from suffring temporary death for the Gospels sake This present life which he so much estemeth is a dying dayly as the Apostle teacheth the true life is when the body having been sowen in dishonour shal be raysed in glory Of which raysing vp this Sadducee H. N. is vtterly ignorant as after shal be shewed and in his ignorance perverteth al religion and even reason it self for to maynteyn a momentany natural life though it be to the perpetual damnation of body and sowl in hel His conclusiō what the man must forsake that he may be recōciled to God not any thing els but his own life that is the man of syn c. is like his premisses ful of guile and errour and what truth is in it is against himself Erroneous it is to say or to insinuate that we may be reconciled to God by any thing that we can forsake be it syn or what els For our reconciliatiō to God is wrought by Christ alone not by ourselves when we forsake synn of which poynt we have before spoken Guileful it is to say or insinuate that Christ in willing vs to forsake our lives for his sake meant that by so doing we should be reconciled to God or that we do so esteem of any martyrs death The man doth by it as Christ signified of Peters death glorify God vnto whom he was before by Christs death reconciled False it is to say a man must not forsake any thing els but his own synful life for Christ telleth vs further of forsaking howses brethren sisters father mother wife children lands for his names sake and these I trow are not also the Man of syn that lieth hid in mans hart But it was farr from H. Ns hart to forsake any of these for Christ he loved his sensual life so wel Erroneous it is that our synful life is that man of synn spoken of 2 Thes. 2. of which poynt is to be spoken in the next place And this onely truth that we should forsake our own synful life overthroweth H. Ns doctrine and his disciples practise For syn it is and a continual synful