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A30904 Truth cleared of calumnies wherein a book intituled, A dialogue betwixt a Quaker and a stable Christian (printed at Aberdeen, and upon good ground judged to be writ by William Mitchell ...) is examined, and the disingenuity of the author, in his representing the Quakers is discovered : here is also their case truly stated, cleared, demonstrated, and the objections of their opposers answered according to truth, Scripture, and right reason / by Robert Barclay. Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690. 1670 (1670) Wing B738; ESTC R22049 63,242 72

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righteousnes which could proceed from his owne will and Spirit even all the willings and runnings which can arise from a mans selfe though he be a Saint without the immediate operation of the Spirit of Christ the Saints have this to watch against to keep downe the active and working selfe-will and stop it from working the selfe-righteousnes which if it be not watched against and stood against will fall a working its righteousnes which God accepts not as being but the bare righteousnes of man and this is that righteousnes which Paul denyed to have which hee even calleth the righteousnes of the Law but this which is of the Law thou cunningly omittest becaus it made against thee it seems Now what that righteousnes of God through faith was which hee desires to have hee plainly expresseth ver 10. that he might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings in being made conforme unto his death Now is not the knowledge of him and the power of his resurrection a work of the Spirit of Christ in the Saints by which they are justified according to that by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many and is not the fellowship of his suffering or the suffering with him a work of his Spirit Lastly is not the conformity unto his death a work of his Spirit in the Saint comprehending the whole work of mortification Pag. 26 Thy last argument from 2. Cor. 5. 21 is most absurd and impious for accordingly it would follow that as Christ was made sin for us or suffred for our sins who himselfe had no sin no not in the least So wee may be made righteous before God though wee have no righteousnes no holines no faith no repentance no mortification no good thing wrought in us And doth not this strengthen the wicked ungodly and profane in their presumption to have title to Christ his righteousnes And so to returne thy misapplied instance in another case Suppose some of the profane who plead a right to Christs righteousnes having lost some of their number should happen to hear thee disputing against all good works as being profitable to justification might they not say concerning thee and thy brethren who teach such doctrine wee have not only gott the lost sheep but the lost shepherds and the cheifest of them too on our side let us rejoice wee have found them Wee find the Apostle maks a farr better inference from Christ his dying for us 2. cor 6. 15. he died for all that they who live might not any longer live to themselves but to God yea and every where hee holdeth forth inward holiness and righteous as that without which no man can lay claime to Christ if any man be in Christ hee is a new creature but he doth not say God reputes him a new creature though hee be not really renewed And though it be said that wee are made righteous in him this hinders not as thou vainly inferrest that wee are not made righteousnes by an inward righteousnes for hee is in the Saints aud fulfills the righteousnes of the Law in them that the righteousnes of the law might be fulfilled in us Rom. 8. 4. Therefore that 2. Cor. 5. 21. is thus to be understood that Iesus Christ who knew so sin was made to be sin for us that is suffered for our sins that wee who had really sinned and so deserved wrath might partake of the love and grace by him and through the workings thereof be made the righteousnes of God in him for that the Apostle understood here a really being made righteous and not a being esteemed or held as righteous while indeed impure is very evident by the whole following chapter but especially towards the end what fellowship hath righteousnes with unrighteousnes wherefore come out from among them touch not the ●uncleane ●hing be yee separate and I will receive you and yee shall be unto me for sons and daughters Now to be received of the Lord is to be justified of him and here wee see plainly that in order thereunto there is required a righteousnes by which they must be separated from the evill and uncleane and must not touch it And whereas thou sayest that the holiest actions of the Saints becaus of the sinfulnes of these actions deserve condemnation I aske thee whither did the Apostles sin in writing the Scriptures in preaching Christ and gathering the Churches Whither their being the instruments made these things sinfull which were done not only by the command but by the power and vertue of Christ in them and seing thou canstnot deny but the Scriptures called by thee the word of God were brought forth by the holy Spirit in the holy men of God and did flow as waters from the Spirit of God which gave them forth through the very first penmen of them becaus of the uncleannes wich thou supposest to have been in them If thou sayest Nay thou contradictest thy former instance of cleane water receiving a tincture of uncleannes from the uncleane pipe through which it passeth if thou sayst yea to wit that the Scriptures were defiled and corrupted by the penmen of them I leave it to all of any sound judgement whither you or wee be most esteemers of the Scriptures wee who say they wer pure words as gold without any tincture of uncleannes or corruption as they came forth from the Spirit of God through the penmen of them or you if you say that they were defiled with the uncleannes of the men through which they were given forth hee who has any true understanding let him judge concerning these things Pag. 26. Thou blamest it as an unsutable thing for a Quaker to say that that people to whom hee is joined are the most Christ-like Christians this day upon the earth and yet will any of you say lesse of your way for if yours be not the best way why doe yee plead so much for it Why doe yee preach it up Why doe yee study to draw people to it and complaine of those who have left it Now is not a good Principle a ready way to lead people to good practises And are not these who are in the right way of the flock of Christ And is not Christs flock like unto him Can it therefore be an unsutable thing for one who supposeth himselfe to be of Christs flock to say the flock with whom hee is is likest to Christ Will any of you say lesse except yee grant your selves not to be of Christ's flock Wee ar not the most Christ-like people sayest thou by what wee outwardly appear becaus the Monks and Hermits therein excell us nor yet by what wee inwardly feele becaus others different from us have felt as much As to the first thou hast shewed thy ignorance of the very appearance of Christiantiy for the appearance of Christianity is not in fleeing the Society of men or retireing the outward man making Vowes of
that all vvho ever sinned actually it was upon the occasion of Adams sin For the Apostle is here speaking not of Infants who are not capable of any Law but of such as have a Law and act against it Yea from the Apostles words in the other following Verse it is plaine that sin is not imputed to Infants For saith hee Sin is not imputed where there is no Law Now there is no Law given to Infants as such For they are not capable of it What the Law sayeth it sayeth to them vvho have in more or lesse some exercise of understanding which Infants new borne have not or if the words be translated in which all have sinned that vvord VVHICH hath a nearer relative then ADAM to wit Death for the seed of sin is justly called Dea●h becaus where it is joined unto and obeyed it killeth and so in this seed all have sinned who ever did actually sin and as for the verse 18 of Rom. 5. which is commonly used to prove infants guiltie and under condemnation it is not tightly translated for the word judgement or condemnation or guilt is not at all in the Greek but those who have drunk in this imagination have added this word to the Scripture so bending and bowing the Scripture to their false opinion And whereas tho● sayest wee were all in the loins of Adam and therfore wouldest inferre that infants are sinners in him or guiltie of his sin I say It followes not more then to say wee are guiltie of all the sins of our Fore-fathers becaus wee have beene in their loins again thou labourest to prove that Infants are sinners becaus they are subject to pains and diseases and death But this proveth them not to be sinners as it proveth not that the Earth is a Sinner or that the Herbs and Trees of the field are sinners for even these things have suffred by Adams fall a great decay And as for the outward Death of those that are saved from eternal Death it is rather a sleep then a Death as Christ said concerning La●arus hee sleepeth and concerning the Maid shee is not Dead but sleepeth And therefore that Scripture Rom. 6 23. cannot be applyed to them who dye not or perish not eternally for though the Saints lay downe the outward man it is not as the punishment or reward of their Sins which are forgiven and from which they are delivered And so the sting of Death being taken away in those who are saved it is not that Death which is the wages of Sin and seeing the Apostle said unto the Saints that all things were theirs even Death it cannot be that their Death should be reckoned the wages of their Sin how many of the blessed Martyrs have looked upon their suffering a most violent Death for truth and righteousnes as a Gift of God How then could it be said to be the wages of their Sins which implye as if their Sins were not all freely forgiven Pag. 48. From this doctrine thou sayest it will follow First that all Infants that die in their infancy are saved and though charity may be pleaded for this opinion thou sayest yet what Scripture can be alledged for it Answ. If I should bring that Scripture Suffer little Children to come unto me for of such is the Kingdome of Heaven It will much more naturally flow from the words then that they ought to be sprinckled which is the meaning yee put upon them And whereas some object it is not said of them but of such I answer but that such includeth them and all others who are like them in harmlesnesse otherwise if they had beene excluded hee would not have given it as a reason why hee bid suffer them to come unto him but besides the 18. Chap. ver 20. of Ezekiel is a plaine proofe The soul that sinn●th shall die the Son shall not bear the fathers iniquitie unlesse that the Son be found acting the same iniquity and continuing in it for then hee visits the iniquities of the Fathers upon the Children Now thou hast produced no Scripture to prove that any infants doe perish and indeed there is nothing in Scripture for it but against it Secondly thou sayest it would follow that infants dying in their infancy stood no in need of Christ as a Saviour for hee is a saviour to save his People from their sinnes Answ. Hee is a Saviour not only to save from sins but also from the consequences of sin and not only from the fruits and branches of it but from the seed and they are saved from sin who are not suffered to fall into it And so these infants whom the Lord takes away in their infancie that they might not sin are saved from it It is salvation to be kept from falling into a pit as truly as to be taken out of it after the falling in And as for that Scripture it maketh against you Math. 1. 12. For it speaketh of a salvation from sin wheras you dreame of a salvation in your sins Nor doeth Rom. 7. 24. Speake of infants so thy citing it here is impertinent And though there be a time wherin there is a crying out for deliverance from the body of sin and death yet there is also a time of deliverance from it even before the laying downe of the outward body as is plaine from Rom. 6. 6. 7. Knowing this that the old man is crucified and hee that is dead is freed from sin Yet wee acknowledge there is great occasion to be low and to be in great feare and care left sin which is once crucified revive againe Pag. 48. Thou chargest us as holding a falling away from Regeneration and as agreeing therein with Arminians But if the Arminians hold a falling away from Regeneration wee hold no such matter For those who fall away never attained unto the Regeneration and so were never the children of God but only were in the way to it by having attained to some beginings of Faith from which some may and have fallen away for that it is expresly said by Christ some beleive and afterwards fall away and some depart from the faith and make shipwrack of it and some who have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come fall away These and many such instances are in Scripture nor do the Scriptures cited by thee prove the contrary as Philip 1. 6. which is to be understood no otherwise then as the condition is performed upon their part As Heb. 3. 14. wee are made partakers of Christ if wee hold fast the principle of our establishment or wherby wee are established firme unto the end and so these who hold fast this Principle witnesse the work which God hath begun in them to be carried on untill the day of Christ even till hee be compleatly formed in them and they in him It may be supposed that Paul was as confident that God would perfect the VVork begun in himselfe and yet hee
not so much as once bowed a knee to call upon God in their families What ground hast thou for this thy beliefe May they not bow their knees in their families though it be hid from the observation of malicious eyes who may so asperse them May they not pray in secret and be seene of the Father to pray according to Matth. 6. 6. Though they cannot be seene by the eyes of malicious Spyes And where a publick testimony in words is required it is also given nor doe wee know any friends of truth who have any whom they can joine with in Prayer in the family but doe meet together in the family and wait together breath together and pray together and that much oftener then thou insinuats sometimes without and sometimes with the outward signification of words so that wee returne this thy charge as false and malicious Thou sayest If this impulse be denyed for Years men all that while according to us must not pray But here thou speakest as one wholly unacquainted with the wayes and motions of the Spirit to suppose such a case which cannot be for the breathings and motions of the Spirit and especially unto Prayer are very frequent unto those who wait for them and are as necessary unto the Children of God as their dayly bread yea and more which the Father withholdeth not but giveth in due season But many times the Spirit of Prayer is felt to move and is answered when there is no liberty given to speake words in the hearing of others nor is thy other supposition lesse vaine and foolish that if aman were at the gates of death and in danger of present drowning yet without an impulse as thou callest it hee must not adventure to cry to God for mercy and help for suppose he did cry vvithout all help of the Spirit vvhat vvould it avail him vvould it have any acceptance vvith God Shew us vvherever a spiritlesse prayer vvas accepted of God or required Nay it is a vaine oblation vvhich is expresly forbidden and it is expresly commanded that praying be alvvayes in the spirit Eph. 6. 18. And as for the Saints vvhen they are dying or in any difficulty wee know the Spirit of prayer will never be wanting to breath through them at such occasions and to give words as there is a service for them But further thou alledgest that this Principle of ours leadeth to woefull security for what need you be d●●quieted for refraining prayer before God thou sayest or any other piece of service seing you have salve at hand to heal this sore and that is the want of an impulse Answ. If any fall into security and refraine prayer it is not that our Principle leadeth into it for our Principle leadeth out of all security into continuall watching unto prayer and wating upon the motions of the Spirit of God now if any feel not these motions they are nothing the lesse guilty becaus by their neglect they provoke the Lord to withhold them and render themselves out of frame to feel or entertaine them and thus who neglect the worship of God are justly under condemnation and if they have peace it is but a false peace which will faile them and as for our peace wee have found it to be great peace but wee have not come by it after such a way as thou doest falsely and rashly judge as by neglecting the worship of God and stopping the mouth of conscience but by being turned to that living VVord and Law of God in our hearts by loving it and cleaving to it yea by receiving the reproofes chastisements of God through it and submitting to the judgement of it when it hath beene as a hammer and as a sword and as a fire in us breaking in pieces and destroying all that false unsound peace wee had created to our selves in the day of our alienation from the light of God in us And unto peace wee are come through great tribulation of soule even such as thou art a stranger unto being ignorant both of the one and the other and so hast therein shewed thy folly in judging what thou knowest not And as for woefull security wee know not where it more abounds then among hypocriticall professors who with the VVhore in the Proverbs offer up their sacrifices of morning and evening prayers and thereby create a peace to themselves though they let their hearts goe a whoring after their lusts all the day did not the Pharisees pray much outwardly and were much in orher outward practises of devotion and so created a false peace and esteeme unto themselves And can you deny but that there are many such among you who make up a false peace to themselves by leaning upon their outward performances Now what If I should charge this upon your Principle wouldst thou think it fair dealing Thirdly Pag. 52. Thou sayest Doth not that opinion tend to Atheisme which rendreth mortification of sin even in this life useless c. Answ. Here thou dealest disingenuously Is mortification of sin uselesse where the end of it is attained And is not perfection the end of mortification Againe thou sayest The opinion of a sinles perfection wounds the very vitals of Religion Answ. Who could have expected that one that pretends to Religion would have beene so brazen-faced as to put such an expression in print What is the end of true Religion but to lead out of sin Do the vitals of Religion consist in sinning or in not sinning If it consist in sinning then they that Sin most are most religious But if it consist in not sinning and keeping the commandements of God without sin then to plead for such a thing as attainable hurteth not the vitals of Religion What! Cannot the Saints live better without sin then with it Yea surely they can live well without that which is a burden and as Death unto their life they whose life is in sin cannot live but in sin but the Saints life is not in sin but in righteousnes And thy consequences are vaine and foolish as 1. That men need not pray for pardon of sin 2. That they need not the Blood of Christ to cleanse them from sin 3. That they need not repentance For wee grant that all have sinned and so need those things by which they may attaine unto perfection and who witnesse perf●ction are come to witnesse the true use of these things and as the Blood of Christ cleanseth from all the sin so is preserveth cleane and such have received the forgivenes of their sins being turned from them unto righteousnes which is the fulfilling of repentance And vvhereas thou sayest Bring me to the particular person that is sinlesse and I shall apply to him that of the Apostle 1. Ioh. 1. 8. Thou shevvest openly thy confusion for by thy applying to him that of the Apostle vvouldest thou inferre a sinlesse man to be a sinning man That is a contradiction but though vvee should bring a man to