find none save the Dispensation of Truth now again revealed but such as in most of their substantial Principles differ greatly and in many Contradict grosly the plain Text and Tenour of the Scripture I confess there be certain Men in this Age who with some plausible Appearance of Reality undertake this Task These are they that join with and own not wholly any Imbodied People but while they pretend a general Love to all yet find fault with some part of every Sort while in the mean time they scarce can give any Account of their own Religion and most of them prove at bottom to have none at all These Men I say may perhaps acknowledge some general Truths and also hold to the Letter of the Scripture in some other things so as thereby to take Occasion largely to judge others while themselves offer not to bring these good things to practice they blame others for the Want or Neglect of But such an Enterprize from these Men will not when weighed prove a fulfilling of this Matter Seeing it is not enough to acknowledge many Truths but also to deny and witness against all Error and likewise not to fall short of any Truth which ought to be acknowledged Whereas these sort of Men for the most part cannot give account of their Faith in many things needful to be believed and whatever things they may acknowledge to be true they Err most grievously and Contradict a Truth most needful to be minded and answered as is proved hereto in that they stand not forth to appear for any of these Discoveries they pretend they have but make a shift to hide their Heads in Times of Trial Pretenders hide their Heads in time of Trial. so as not to suffer for nor with any And through these fine Pretences above-mentioned through their Scruples of joining with any they can cunningly shun the Difficulties of Persecutions that attend the particular Sects of Christians yet by their general Charity and Love to all claim a share in any Benefits or Advantages that accrew to one and all Such then cannot honestly lay claim to justifie their Principles and Practices from the Scriptures But I leave these Straglers in Religion and come again to the divers Sects To begin with these that are most numerous I think I need not say much to the Papists in this Case for they do not so much as pretend to prove all their Dogma's by the Scriptures sith it is one of their chief Doctrines That Tradition may Authorize Doctrines without any Authority of Scriptures Papistical Dogma's Traditions and Councils Yea the Council of Constance hath made bold to Command things to be believed Non obstante Scripturâ i. e. Though the Scriptures say the contrary And indeed it were their great Folly to pretend to prove their Doctrines by Scripture seeing the Adoration of Saints and Images Purgatory and Prayer for the Dead the Precedency of the Bishop of Rome the Matter of Indulgencies with much more Stuff of that kind hath not the least Shadow of Scripture for it Socinians Pretences contrary to Scriptures Among Protestants I know the Socinians are great Pretenders to the Scriptures and in Words as much exalt them as any other People and yet its strange to see how that not only in many things they are not agreeable to them but in some of their chief Principles quite contrary unto it as in their Denying the Divinity of Christ which is as expresly mentioned as any thing can be And the Word was God John 1. As also in Denying his Being from the Beginning against the very Tenour of that of John 1. and divers others as at large is shewn in the Third Chapter of this Treatise Divers other things as to them might be mentioned but this may suffice to stop their Boasting in this Matter The Arminians are not more successful in their Denying the Doctrine of Absolute Reprobation Arminians Denials do center amiss and in Asserting the Vniversal Extent of Christ's Death for all than they are short in not placing this Salvation in that Spiritual Light wherewith Man is enlightned by Christ but wrongously ascribing a part of that to the Natural Will and Capacity which is due alone to the Grace and Power of God by which the Work is both begun carried on and accomplished And herein they Pelagians the like as well as both the Socinians and Pelagians though they do well in Condemning their Errors yet they miss in setting up another and not the Truth in place thereof and in that respect are justly proved by such Scriptures as their Adversaries who otherwise are as far wrong as they bring against them in shewing the Depravity of Man's Will by Nature and his Incapacity to do any Good but as assisted by the Grace of God so to do On the other hand its strange to observe how many Protestants the first Article of whose Confession of Faith is to assert the Scripture to be the Only Rule should deny the Vniversal Extent of Christ's Death contrary to the express words of Scripture which saith He tasted Death for every man or the Vniversality of Grace and a sufficient Principle which the Scriptures assert in as many positive Words as except we may suppose the Pen-men intended another thing than they spake it was possible to do viz A Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal The Grace of God that brings Salvation hath appeared unto all men and many more before-mentioned The like may be said of their denying the Perfection of the Saints and asserting the Impossibility of any falling away from real Beginnings of true and saving Grace contrary to so many express Scriptures as are heretofore adduced in their proper place But to give all that desire to be undeceived a more full Opportunity to observe how the Devil has abused many pretending to be Wise in making them cloak with a Pretence of Scripture false and pernicious Doctrines I shall take a few of many Instances out of the Confession of Faith and Catechism made by the Divines at Westminster so called because the same is not only most universally received and believed by the People of Britain and Ireland but also containeth upon the Matter the Faith of the French Churches and of most others both in the Nether-lands and elsewhere that it may appear what wild Consequences these Men have sought both contrary to the naked Import of the Words and to all Common Sense and Reason to cover some of their Erroneous Principles CHAP. XVIII A Short Examination of some of the Scripture-Proofs alledged by the Divines at Westminster to prove divers Articles in their Confession of Faith and Catechism IT is not in the least my Design in this Chapter to offer so large and Examination of any of their Articles as might be done nor yet of so many as are very obvious but only of two or three to give the Reader a Taste of them
be Observed that these were the Jews of Beroea to Answ. 2 whom these Scriptures which were the Law and the Prophets were more particularly a Rule and the thing under the Examination was The Beroeans searching the Scriptures makes them not the Only Rule to Try Doctrines Whether the Birth Life Works and Sufferings of Christ did answer to the Prophecies that went before of him so that it was most proper for them being Jews to Examine the Apostles Doctrine by the Scriptures seeing he pleaded it to be a Fulfilling of them It is said nevertheless in the first place That they received the Word with Chearfulness and in the second place They searched the Scriptures not that they searched the Scriptures and then Received the Word for then could not they have prevailed to Convert them had they not first minded the Word abiding in them which opened their Vnderstandings no more than the Scribes and Pharisees who as in the former Objection we observed searched the Scriptures and exalted them and yet remained in their Vnbelief because they had not the Word abiding in them But Lastly If this Commendation of the Jewish Boereans might Infer that the Scriptures were the only and principal Rule to Try the Apostles Answ. 3 Doctrine by what should have become of the Gentiles How should they ever come to have Received the Faith of Christ who neither knew the Scriptures nor believed them We see in the end of the same Chapter how the Apostle preaching to the Athenians took another Method The Athenians Instanced and directed them to somewhat of God within themselves that they might feel after him He did not first go about to Proselyte them to the Jewish Religion and to the Belief of the Law and the Prophets and from thence to prove the Coming of Christ Nay he took a nearer Way Now certainly the principal and only Rule is not different One to the Jews and another to the Gentiles but is Vniversal reaching both though Secondary and Subordinate Rules and Means may be various and diversly suted according as the People they are used to are stated and circumstantiated Even so we see that the Apostle to the Athenians used a Testimony of one of their own Poets which he judged would have Credit with them and no doubt such Testimonies whose Authors they Esteemed had more Weight with them than all the Sayings of Moses and the Prophets whom they neither knew nor would have cared for Now because the Apostle used the Testimony of a Poet to the Athenians will it therefore follow he made that the Principal or Only Rule to Try his Doctrine by So neither will it follow that though he made use of the Scriptures to the Jews as being a Principle already believed by them to Try his Doctrine that from thence the Scriptures may be accounted the Principal or Only Rule § IX The last and which at first view seems to be the greatest Objection is this Object 4 If the Scripture be not the Adequate Principal and Only Rule then it would follow that the Scripture is not Compleat nor the Canon filled that if men be now immediately led and ruled by the Spirit they may add New Scriptures of equal Authority with the Old whereas every one that Adds is Cursed yea what Assurance have we but that at this rate every one may bring-in a New Gospel according to his Fancy Answ. The dangerous Consequences Insinuated in this Objection were fully Answered in the latter part of the last Proposition in what was said a little before offering freely to Disclaim all pretended Revelations Contrary to the Scriptures Object 1 But if it be urged That it is not enough to deny these Consequences if they naturally follow from your Doctrine of Immediate Revelation and denying the Scripture to be the Only Rule I Answer We have proved both these Doctrines to be True and Necessary Answ. 1 according to the Scriptures themselves and therefore to fasten Evil Consequences upon them which we make appear do not follow is not to Accuse us but Christ and his Apostles who preached them But secondly we have shut the door upon all such Doctrine in this very Answ. 2 Position Affirming That the Scriptures give a Full and Ample Testimony to all the Principal Doctrines of the Christian Faith For we do firmly believe that there is no other Gospel or Doctrine to be preached but that which was delivered by the Apostles and do freely subscribe to that saying Let him that preacheth any other Gospel than that which hath been already preach'd by the Apostles Gal. 1.8 according to the Scriptures be accursed A New Revelation is not a New Gospel So we distinguish betwixt a Revelation of a New Gospel and New Doctrines and a New Revelation of the good old Gospel and Doctrines the last we plead for but the first we utterly deny For we firmly believe That no other Foundation can any man lay than that which is laid already But that this Revelation is necessary we have already proved and this Distinction doth sufficiently guard us against the hazzard insinuated in the Objection Books Canonical As to the Scriptures being a filled Canon I see no necessity of believing it and if these men that believe the Scripture to be the Only Rule will be consistent to their own Doctrine they must needs be of my Judgment seeing it is simply Impossible to prove the Canon by the Scriptures For it cannot be found in any Book of the Scripture that these Books and just these and no other are Canonical as all are forced to acknowledge How can they then Evite this Argument That which cannot be proved by Scripture is no Necessary Article of Faith But The Canon of the Scripture to wit that there are so many Books precisely neither more nor less cannot be proved by Scripture Therefore It is no Necessary Article of Faith Object 2 If they should Alledge That the Admitting of any other Books to be now written by the same Spirit might infer the Admission of New Doctrines I deny that Consequence for the Principal or Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Religion are contained in the Tenth Part of the Scripture but it will not follow thence that the Rest are Impertinent or Vseless If it should please God to bring to us any of these Books which by the Injury of Time are lost which are mentioned in the Scripture as The Prophecy of Enoch The Book of Nathan Books lost c. or The Third Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians I see no Reason why we might not Receive them and place them with the rest That which displeaseth me is that men should first affirm That the Scripture is the Only Principal Rule And yet make a great Article of Faith of that which the Scripture can give us no Light in As for Instance How shall a Protestant prove by Scripture to such as deny the Epistle of James to be
measure of Saving Grace I shall add one and that very observable not yet mentioned viz. that excellent saying of the Apostle Paul to Titus c. 2. v. 11. The Grace of God that brings Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Than which there can be nothing more clear it comprehending both the parts of the Controversy First It Testifies that it is no Natural Principle or Light but saith plainly it brings Salvation Secondly It says not that it hath appeared to a few but unto all men The Fruit of it declares also how Efficacious it is seeing it Comprehends the Whole Duty of Man It both teacheth us first to forsake Evil The Saving Grace of God Teaching the Whole Duty of Man to deny Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts and then it teacheth us our Whole Duty First To live Soberly that comprehends Temperance Chastity Meekness and those things that relate unto a Man's Self Secondly Righteously that Comprehends Equity Justice and Honesty and those things which relate to our Neighbours And lastly Godly which Comprehends Piety Faithfulness and Devotion which are the Duties relating to God So then there is nothing required of man or needful to man which this Grace Teacheth not Yet I have heard a publick Preacher one of those that are accounted Zealous men to Evite the strength of this Text deny this Grace to be saving and say It was only intended of Common Favours and Graces such as is the heat of the Fire and outward light of the Sun Such is the Darkness and Ignorance of those that Oppose the Truth whereas the Text saith expresly that it is Saving Others that cannot deny but it is saving Alledge This All comprehends not every Individual but only all kinds The Absurdity of our Adversaries Comment upon the word All denying Grace to be Saving Tit. 2.11 But is a bare Negation sufficient to overturn the strength of a positive Assertion If the Scriptures may be so abused what so Absurd as may not be pleaded for from them or what so Manifest as may not be denied But we have not reason to be staggered by their denying so long as our Faith is found in express Terms of the Scripture they may as well seek to perswade us that we do not Intend that which we Affirm though we know the Contrary as make us believe that when the Apostle speaks forth our Doctrine in plain words yet he intends theirs which is the quite Contrary And indeed can there be any thing more Absurd than to say where the word is plainly All few is only Intended For they will not have All taken here for the greater number Indeed as the Case may be sometimes by a Figure All may be taken of Two Numbers for the greater Number but let them shew us if they can either in Scripture or Profane or Ecclesiastical Writings that any man that wrote sense did ever use the word All to express of two Numbers the lesser whereas they Affirm that the far less Number have received Saving Grace and yet will they have the Apostle by All to have signified so Though this might suffice yet to put it further beyond all question I shall Instance another saying of the same Apostle that we may use him as his own Commentator Rom. 5.18 Therefore as by the Offence of One Judgment came upon all men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of One the Free Gift came upon all men to Justification of life Here no man of reason except he will be obstinately Ignorant will deny but this similitive particle as makes the all which goes before and comes after to be of one and the same Extent Or else let them shew us one Example either in Scripture or elsewhere among men that speak proper Language where it is otherwise We must then either Affirm that this Loss which leads to Condemnation hath not come upon all or say that this Free Gift is come upon all by Christ. Whence I thus Argue First If all men have received a Loss from Adam which leads to Condemnation then all men have received a Gift from Christ Arg. which leads to Justification But the First is true Therefore also the Last From all which it naturally follows that All men even the Heathens may be saved for Christ was given as a Light to inlighten the Gentiles Isa. 49.6 Now to say that though they might have been saved yet none were Even the Heathens may be saved by the Light is to Judge too Vncharitably I see not what Reason can be alledged for it yea though it were granted which never can be that none of the Heathens were saved it will not from thence follow that they could not have been saved or that none now in their Condition can be saved For A non esse ad non posse non datur sequela i. e. That Consequence is false that Concludes a thing cannot be because it is not Object But if it be Objected which is the great Objection That there is no Name under heaven by which Salvation is known but by the Name JESVS Therefore they not knowing this cannot be saved I Answer Though they know it not outwardly yet if they know it inwardly Answ. by feeling the virtue and power of it the Name Jesus indeed which signifies a Saviour to free them from Sin and Iniquity in their Hearts they are saved by it I confess there is no other Name to be Saved by The Literal Knowledge of Christ is not Saving but the Real Experimental but Salvation lieth not in the Literal but in the Experimental Knowledge albeit those that have the literal Knowledge are not saved by it without this Real Experimental Knowledge Yet those that have the Real Knowledge may be saved without the External as by the Arguments hereafter brought will more appear For if the outward distinct Knowledge of him by whose means I receive Benefit were necessary for me before I could reap any Fruit of it then by the Rule of Contraries it would follow that I could receive no Hurt without I had also the distinct Knowledge of him that had occasioned it whereas Experience proves the Contrary How many are Injured by Adam's Fall that know Nothing of ever there being such a Man in the World or of his Eating the Forbidden Fruit why may they not then be saved by the Gift and Grace of Christ in them making them righteous and holy though they know not distinctly how that was purchased unto them by the death and sufferings of Jesus that was Crucified at Jerusalem especially seeing God hath made that Knowledge simply Impossible to them As many men are kill'd by poison Infused into their Meat though they neither know what the poison was nor who Infused it so also on the other hand how many are cured of their diseases by good Remedies who know not how
and Exhorting which are appointed by God useless and took away all Obligations of Obeying the Commands of God conveyed by others And yet he taketh notice pag. 23. that I acknowledge Other Means of Knowledge as profitable neither has he ever heard me deny But Men are obliged to obey the Commands of God through one another as well as in themselves as the Children of Israel were those of Moses and the Prophets and the Christians those of Christ and his Apostles But I suppose he will Affirm with me That no Man's Obedience to any Command will avail him any thing unless upon Inward Belief and Conviction that the thing Commanded is of God since whatsoever is not of Faith is sin If he say That albeit I do not deny such an obligation yet it necessarily follows from my Principle That this is untruly Alledged will easily appear since I suppose he will deny but the Rest of the Apostles who were alive when Paul's Epistles were written were obliged to receive them and obey them as the Dictates of the Spirit yea and were benefitted by them and so the Apostle Paul by others Albeit on both sides he will acknowledge them to have had such Revelations as he accounts Immediate and Extra-ordinary And so we see that to have such Revelations and yet to be Mediately Instructed are not Inconsistent nor do they render one another Vseless And indeed to affirm they do so is rather a presumptuous Accusing of God who has Appointed both in their Order for the Edification of his Church than a Refuting of such as Assert them Such are his Reasonings pag. 45. Besides that this Objection may be easily Refuted for since J. B. affirms as particularly pag. 42. That the Scripture is a Compleat Rule in all things concerning Faith and Manners in reference to Salvation might it not be said that this takes away the Vse of all Commentaries and Expositions Then J. b's c. Exposition and Commentaries are of no use and other Books especially since he and his Brethren do withal Affirm that it is Clear and Intelligible to all in things Essential to Salvation Let him shew how this is weaker as to him than the other as to me With the like presumption he blasphemously Asserteth That even these Revelations which he himself calleth and acknowledgeth to be Inward Immediate and Extraordinary are Vncertain for this Reason because many Men have been deluded by the Devil On which he also Insists in the following page And pag. 34. and 48. where he sums up his matter in this Question How comes it that others pretending to Revelation as much as I have been deceived But as I said before How comes that others pretending to be led by the Scripture as the Rule as much as J. B. have been deceived since the Scripture declares nothing but Truth But how silly this is I have above shewn and more largely in my Apology in those Paragraphs which I observed he most foully Omitted And indeed this is a fine Argument he has provided for Atheists and Scepticks for it renders all Faith even that of the Patriarchs Vncertain For since the Ground and Warrant of their Writing the Scriptures was in his own account Inward Immediate and Extraordinary Revelations and if such be as he affirms Vncertain J. B. Asserts Revelation to be Vncertain then the Truth of the Scriptures which depends upon such must necessarily be Vncertain since the Stream cannot be more pure than the Fountain nor the Superstructure more sure than the Foundation And therefore most weak is his Reasoning pag. 46. where he pleadeth That such Revelations cannot be more sure than the Scriptures which are the Objective Revelations of the Apostles written down since the Certainty of these Writings depends upon the Certainâ—y of these Revelations by which they were Written And Certainly if in any Case that Maxim of the Schools do hold it must in this Propter quod unumquodque est tale illud ipsum est magis tale ¶ 5. It will not be amiss here in the Third place to take notice of his most Uncharitable and Unchristian Insinuations contrary to all Christian and Fair Rules of Debate As first pag. 24. where he will needs Infer our Denying of the Trinity albeit he cannot deny but he finds it owned by me groundlesly coupling us with the Socinians And to help him in this he brings in the Testimony of one Mr. Stalham as he terms him an open Opposer of ours which Witness to receive against us is most Unjust But I desire here in the Entry that it be observed that I intend to take little or no notice of his many Citations to prove what we Hold out of the Writings of our open Opposers and shall give such a sufficient Reason for my so doing ere I make an end as I am hopeful shall satisfy all Judicious Readers as well of our Innocency as his Injustice therein But by this the Man's Temper may be seen and that his Design is not so much to Refute what we truly hold as to make the world believe that we hold what we do not to render us the more Odious J. B's Enforcing false Beliefs and Doctrines upon the Quakers from the lying Books of their Opposers And thus he proceedeth also basely to Insinuate That I deny Jesus of Nazareth to be the Son of God albeit he doth not so much as pretend to any Color for it from my Words Only he finds Some Quakers give an Indistinct Answer in this matter but who they are or what their Answer is he tells not In pursuance of this in the following page he Insinuates As if I mean'd not the first but the second Creation and so joined with Socinus Which is a gross Calumny like the former As also is what he saith pag. 31. num 18. where he raileth against me as Writing things contrary to the Scriptures and as one whose Revelations are not from God but from Satan For all this the only proof is I B. saith so which I must plainly tell him is with me of no Weight at all Of the same nature is what is Asserted by him pag. 33. num 20. wherein he insinuates That we Contemn the Scriptures telling a lying Story from his Author Mr. Hicks of one Nicolas Lucas which I desire him to prove the next time not by Hicks for he is Accuser but by some more Indifferent Witness else to be justly held as a Calumniator And whereas he saith We should not obtrude any thing upon them without Scriptures This is another lying Insinuation For where do we obtrude any Doctrines without offering to Confirm them by Scripture as much as he and his Brethren For if he say That our Confirmations are not Valid that is not to the purpose we can easily say so of his and do as truly believe it But the Question is Whether we obtrude any Doctrines upon any to be believed telling them they ought to believe it albeit we
principally than to us to be a Railing and Roving and a Contradicting what I said in the former These But this Cavil often repeated before I did Answer above The like he Judgeth my Arguing there-from That as they were to Try all things by the outward Law so we are to Try all in the First Place by the Word within But here his base Disingenuity appears For he has leftâ—out these Words In the first Place that he might introduce the better the difficulty he fancieth to himself to have brought me to afterwards for by this Argument saith he I prove more than I ought to wit that the Scriptures shall not be so much as a less principal Rule Who will be so foolish as to Conclude that the saying Things ought in the first Place to be tried by the Word within The Scriptures a secondary and subordinate Rule excludes things in the second Place to be Tried by the Scriptures and is not that still to own it as a Secondary and subordinate Rule And so he may see my Feet here are easily Rid and that he held them not so fast as he fancied And as for the other part of his Alternative the Consequence is of the like Nature That what was a Principal Rule then is now only subordinate For albeit I said it was more Principal to them than now to us yet I said not it was the most Principal to them or then more Principal than what came immediately from the Spirit which he Confesseth to have been frequent under the Law yea more frequent than now according to his Principle and my saying so could only Infer that Consequence He Rejects what I urge from the Version of the Septuagint as spurious but for that we must take his Word else want a Proof And then because he cannot come off better according to his Custom he Concludes with a gross Perversion and Falshood saying It is my Opinion that the Law idâ—est the outward Law was given the Jews for a Rule even above the Spirit 's Revelations Which if it be mine as I utterly Renounce it I desire to know where I have Asserted it he might have been at the Pains to mark it but he knew it's like it was not Convenient Scriptures to be searched makes them not the Primary Rule Next he comes to prove that these Words Search the Scriptures c. Joh. 5.39 do Evince The Scriptures to be the Primary and Adequate Rule because if Christ's Doctrines should be Tried by them much more private Enthusiasms But who denies that Yet he doth not thence prove that the Scriptures are the Primary Rule by which all things must be Tried in the first Place which is the thing in Question Secondly I would ask him Whether the Words Christ spake to the Jews which are Recorded in Scripture were less a Rule to them or less binding and obliging upon them than the Sayings of Moses and the Prophets If he say They were less then he overturns all his own tedious Reasonings by which he labours to prove the Obligation of what Christ and the Apostles delivered p. 84. at the end as well as what Moses and the Prophets without the need of a New Obligation And likewise he must shew us how these Sayings come to be as binding upon us now as Moses and the Prophets or how they acquired greater Authority after Christ spake them than they had then Or why they wanted then that Authority If he say They were binding and obliging to the Jews because spoken by Christ then his Proof falleth to the Ground He is Angry that I say The Words may be interpreted Ye search the Scriptures as well as Search the Scriptures albeit the Greek Word signify the one as well as the other and for Answer very Magisterially tells 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye Search and search ye It is quite Contrary to the very Words of Command Search the Scriptures But the Question is Whether that be the Words and that was what he should have proved But he makes no Bounds of begging the Question telling Tolet and Maldonat say It is so taken by all the Fathers except Cyrill And what then Did I undertake to subscribe to all these Authors Writings He must give me a Reason Why ere I do it And let him deny it if he dare that the Greek Word signifies Ye search the Scriptures as well as Search the Scriptures and if it do before I conclude the one more than the other I must have some better Argument than his bare Affirmation But to finish this he will conclude all by the Words of the Apostle James c. 1. v. 25. where he saith The Apostle calleth the Scriptures the perfect Law of Liberty The Perfect Law of Liberty the Royal Law in the Heart But that doth not prove them to be the Primary Rule Suppose it were granted the Apostle meant the Scriptures which remains yet by him to be proved and is not done by what he citeth Chap. 2.8 by his desiring them to Fulfil the Royal Law according to Scripture Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self which proves it not at all Yea to understand it of the Scriptures were to make the Apostle's Words scarce good Sense as if he had said Fulfil the Scriptures according to the Scriptures whereas it sutes the Place much better that the Apostle meaned They should fulfil the Royal Law in their Hearts which was one with the Scriptures that also command the same thing That the Apostle means the outward Law and not that Written in the Heart Chap. 4. 12. he hath Affirmed but not Proved Next Beroeans commended for searching the Scriptures he comes to the Beroeans being commended for Searching the Scriptures Acts 17.11 But this is the same way answered as the former For if the Beroeans were obliged to believe and receive Paul's Testimony because he preached the Truth to them by Authority from God then their Vsing or his Commending them for using the Scripture will not prove the Scripture to be the Primary Rule yea more a Rule than the Doctrine they Tried by it In the the rest of what he saith in this n. 28. he but fights with his Shadow for I never said They excluded the Law of Nature in affirming the Scripture to be the Rule or did I ever deny but that the Scripture Reveals things which Nature could never have Discovered But the Question is Whether that Truth that Man is the Off-spring of God from which the Apostle argues with the Athenians was discovered to any by meer Nature or by a Divine Principle And this is that he should have proved and therefore yet remains for him to do But to be like himself he concludes this also withh a gross Lie saying I affirm the Scripture to be no more our Rule than the Heathen-Poets which no ways follows from my Words neither hath or can he ever prove it ¶ 9. He thinks The Scriptures not determining of many
Call 833. concerning Protestants 611 721. Psalms Singing of Psalms 433. as commonly used is but a mock-worship 30 Q. Quakers i. e. Tremblers and why so called 356 698. they are not contemners of the Scriptures and what they think of them 296 301 335. nor of Reason and what they think of it 337 338. they do not say that all other Secondary means of Knowledge are of no Service 274. they do not compare themselves to Jesus Christ as they are falsly accused 334. Nor do they deny those things that are written in the Holy Scriptures concerning Christ his Conception 335. they were raised up of God to shew forth the Truth 330 331 355 356 their Doctrine of Justification is not Popish 365 369 381 387. they are not against Meditation 452. their Worship cannot be interrupted 454. and what they have suffered 453. how they vindicate Liberty of Conscience 528 529. they do not persecute others 530. their Adversaries confess that they are found for the most part free from the Abominations which abound among others yet they account those things Vices in them which in themselves they extol as notable Vertues and make more Noise about the Escape of one Quaker than of an hundred among themselves 532 533. they destroy not the mutual Relation that is betwixt Prince and People Master and Servant Father and Son nor do they introduce Community of Goods 533 534. nor say that one Man may not use the Creation more or less than another 533. In the Doctrine concerning the Ministry they defend themselves by the Arguments the Primitive Protestants used against the Papists of those Times 90. a Catalogue of Lies and Calumnies falsly alledged to be the Quakers Assertions 890 891. the Quakers Adversaries fasten Contradictions upon Christ himself 666 J. B's Doubts concerning the Time of the Author 's joining with the People called Quakers resolved 869. the Author's Education 612 678. his Burthen 707. Reflections cast upon him 719 880. the Liberty which the Quakers enjoy is by mercy not of their own procuring 530. see also 48 150 185. their General Assembly 234 235. their Ministry c. 438 448 474 6â—8 678. their Sufferings 722. for not bearing Arms 562. their Adversaries Slanders and Accusations against them 566 568. J. B's Calumnies 760. ungodly Railings against them 793. 819 835 842 854 829 842 844. and false Charges 877 878. the Lord their Honour and Reward 698 R. Ranters The Blaspemy of the Ranters or Libertines saying That there is no difference betwixt Good and Evil 393 Reason What need we set up corrupt Reason 284. concerning Reason 290 337 Rebekkah 449 450 Reconciliation How Reconciliation with God is made 37O 373 Recreations see Plays Redemption is considered in a twofold respect first performed by Christ without us and secondly wrought in us 368 369. it is universal God gave his only begotten Son Jesus Christ for a Light that whosoever believeth in him may be saved 317 318 345 346. the benefit of his death is not less universal than the Seed of him 317. there is scarce found any article of the Christian Religion that is so expresly confirmed in the Holy Scriptures 321 322 323 324 325. this Doctrin was preached by the Fathers so called of the first 600. years and is proved by the sayings of some 326 327. those that since the time of the Reformation have affirmed it have not given a clear Testimony how that Benefit is communicated to all or have sufficiently taught the Truth because they have added the absolute Necessity of the outward knowledge of the History of Christ yea they have thereby given the contrary party a stronger Argument to defend their precise decree of Reprobation among whom were the Remonstrants of Holland 318 327 330. God hath now raised up a few Illiterate Men to be the dispensers of this Truth 330 331 355 356. this Doctrin sheweth forth the mercy and Justice of God 330 3341 30 341. it is the foundation of Salvation 331. it answers to the whole tenor of the Gospel-promises and threats 331. it exalts above all the Grace of God 331. it overturns the false Doctrin of the Pelagians and Semi-pelagians and others who exalt the light of nature and the freedom of Mans will 331. it makes the Salvation of Man solely to depend upon God and his Condemnation wholly and in every respect to be of himself 331. it takes away all ground of Despair and feeds none in security 331. it commends the Christian Religion among Infidels 332. it sheweth the wisdom of God 332. and it is established though not in words yet by deeds even by those Ministers that oppose this Doctrin 332. It derogates not from the Attonement and Sacrifice of Jesus Christ but doth magnify and exalt it 335. there is given to every one none excepted a certain day and time of Visitation in which it is possible for them to be saved 330 341 345. The Testimony of Cyril concerning this thing 344 345. it is explained what is understood and not understood by this Day 333. to some it may be longer to others shorter 333. many may outlive this Day of Visitation after which there is no possibility of Salvation to to them 333. Some examples are alledged the Objectionâ— and those places of Scripture which others abuse to prove that God incites Men to sin are easily solved if they be applied to these Men after the Time of their Visitation is past 333 341 342 there is given to every one a measure of the Light Seed Grace and Word of God whereby they can be saved 330 341 345 352. which is also confirmed by the Testimonies of Cyril and others 347 349 351 352. what that Light is see Light many though Ignorant of the outward History yet have been sensible of the Loss that came by Adam which is confirmed by the Testimonies of Plato and others 361 362. many have known Christ within as a Remedy to Redeem them though not under that denomination witness Seneca Cicero and others 361 362. yet all are obliged to believe the outward History of Christ to whom God bringeth the Knowledg of it 335 Reformation wherein it is not placed 408 409. mechanick men have contributed much to it 431. what hath been pernicious to it 499. Regeneration those that have attained unto a perfect Regeneration cannot miss of Salvation 42 43. Regeneration is not wrought in an Instant 821. Relation see Quakers Religion The Christian Religion see Christianity how it is made odious to Jews Turks and Heathens 498. that any Religion is established by a National Law is no Argument that it ought not to be called in Question and brought to the Test 589. Indifferency and Lukewarmness in Religious matters highly displeasing to the Lord 681 Remonstrants of Holland see Arminians Redemption They deny absolute Reprobation 290. how we differ from them 339. they exalt too much the Natural Power and Free Will of Man and what they think of the Saving Light 354 355.
had the thing declared unto them retiring to the inward Testimony of the same Spirit in themselves did feel Vnion therewith and such as went along did not only find a true liberty which might have sufficed but some of them a necessity to Concur with it And as for the carrying of the Hat and Cloak it was altogether Extrinsick being neither Essential nor Circumstantial to the thing nor so looked upon by these who did it Yet the Carping thereat shews in the Proposer a Critical mind very void of seriousness which the Lord as of purpose to starve hath permitted him to build that part of the Query in relation to A. H's Wife upon a false Report the thing being a manifest Vntruth And in Answer to the second Proposition of the Premisses it 's the alone immediate Testimony of the Spirit of God that can truly discover all false Pretenders and Delusions which if any can let them deny without overturning the Basis of all Christian Religion and rendering the Faith of the Saints in all Ages Vncertain R. B. A CATECHISM AND Confession of Faith Approved of and Agreed unto by the GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PATRIARCHS PROPHETS and APOSTLES CHRIST himself CHIEF SPEAKER In and Among them Which containeth A True and Faithful Account of the Principles and Doctrines which are most surely believed by the Churches of Christ in Great Britain and Ireland who are reproachfully called by the Name of Quakers yet are found in the one Faith with the Primitive Church and Saints as is most clearly demonstrated by some plain Scripture-Testimonies without Consequences or Commentaries which are here Collected and Inserted by way of Answer to a Few Weighty yet Easie and Familiar Questions fitted as well for the Wisest and Largest as for the Weakest and Lowest Capacities To which is added An EXPOSTVLATION with and APPEAL to all other Professors By R B. a Servant of the Church of Christ. JOHN 5.39 40. Search the Scriptures or Ye search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testifie of me that ye might have Life LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lumbard-Street 1691. THE PREFACE TO THE READER READER SInce first that great Apostacy took place in the Hearts and Heads of those who began even in the Apostles days to depart from the Simplicity and Purity of the Gospel as it was then delivered in its Primitive Splendor and Integrity innumerable have been the manifold Inventions and Traditions the different and various Notions and Opinions wherewith Man by giving way to the vain and airy Imaginations of his own unstable Mind hath burdened the Christian Faith So that indeed first by adding these things and afterwards by equalling them if not exalting them above the Truth they have at last come to be substitute in the stead of it so that in process in time Truth came to be shut out of doors and another thing placed in the room thereof having a Shew and a Name but wanting the Substance and Thing it self Nevertheless it pleased God to raise up Witnesses for himself almost in every Age and Generation who according to the Discoveries they received bore some Testimony less or more against the Superstition and Apostacy of the time and in special manner through the appearing of that Light which first broke forth in Germany about One hundred and fifty years ago and afterwards reached divers other Nations the Beast received a deadly Wound and a very great Number did at one time Protest against and Rescind from the Church of Rome in divers of their most gross and sensual Doctrines and superstitious Traditions But alas It is for matter of lamentation that the Successors of these Protestants are Establishing and Building up in themselves that which their Fathers were pulling down instead of prosecuting and going on with so Good and Honourable a Work which will easily appear The generality of all Protestants though in many other things miserably Rent and Shattered among themselves do agree in dividing from the Church of Rome in these two particulars First That every Principle and Doctrine of the Christian Faith is and ought to be founded upon the Scripture and that whatsoever Principles or Doctrines are not only not contrary but even not according thereto ought to be denied as Antichristian Secondly That the Scriptures themselves are Plain and Easie to be understood and that every private Christian and Member of the Church ought to read and peruse them that they may know their Faith and Belief founded upon them and receive them for that Cause alone and not because any Church or Assembly has Compounded and Recommended them the Choicest and Most-pure of which they are obliged to look upon as Fallible Now contrary to this their known and acknowledged Principle they do most vigorously prosecute and persecute others with the like Severity the Papists did their Fathers for believing things that are plainly set down in the Scriptures and for not believing divers Principles for which themseves are forc'd to recur to Tradition and can by no means prove from Scripture To shew which I shall not here insist having alotted a Chapter for it in the Book it self because to put it here would swell beyond the bounds of a Preface Oh! How like do they shew themselves I mention it with Regret to the Scribes and Pharisees of Old who of all men most cried up and exalted Moses and the Prophets boasting greatly of being Abraham's Children And yet those were they that were the greatest Opposers and Vilifiers of Christ to whom Moses and all the Prophets gave Witness yea their chief Accusations and Exceptions against Christ was as being a Breaker of the Law and a Blasphemer Can there any Comparison run more parallel seeing there is now found a People who are greatly Persecuted and bitterly Reviled and Accused as Hereticks by a Generation that cry up and exalt the Scriptures And yet this Peoples Principles are found in Scripture Word by Word though the most grievous and indeed the greatest Calumny cast upon them is that they Vilifie and Deny the Scriptures and set up their own Imaginations instead of them To disprove which this Catechism and Confession of Faith is Compiled and presented to thy Serious and Impartial View If thou lovest the Scripture indeed and desirest to hold the plain Doctrines there delivered and not these Strained and Far-fetch'd Consequences which Men have invented thou shalt easily observe the whole Principles of the People called QUAKERS plainly couched in Scripture-Words without Addition or Commentary especially in those things their Adversaries Oppose them in where the Scripture plainly decideth the Controversie for them without Nicities and School-Distinctions which have been the Wisdom by which the World hath not known God and the Words which have been multiplied without knowledge by which Counsel hath been darkned In the Answers to the Questions there is not one Word that I know of placed but the
themseves when-as the Cause and Ground for which they were commanded is removed As there is no need now for the Decision about Circumcision seeing there are none Contend for it neither as to the Orders concerning Things Offered to Idols seeing there is now no such Occasion yet who will say that the Command enjoin'd in the same place Acts 15.20 To abstain from Fornication is now made void seeing there is daily need for its standing in force because it yet remains as a Temptation man is incident to We confess indeed we are against such as from the bare Letter of the Scripture though if it were seasonable now to debate it we find but few to deal with whose Practices are so exactly squared seek to uphold Customs Forms or Shadows when the Vse for which they were appointed is removed or the Substance it self known and witnessed as we have sufficiently elsewhere answered our Opposers in the Case of Water-Baptism and Bread and Wine c. so that the Objection as to that doth not hold and the Difference is very wide in respect of such Things the very Nature and Substance of which can never be dispensed with by the People of God so long as they are in this World yea without which they could not be his People For the Doctrines and Fundamental Principles of the Christian Faith we own and believe originally and principally because they are the Truths of God whereunto the Spirit of God in our Hearts hath constrained our Understandings to obey and submit In the second place we are greatly Confirmed The Joint-Testimony of the Apostles c. to the Truths of God in our Hearts Strengthned and Comforted in the Joint-Testimony of our Brethren the Apostles and Disciples of Christ who by the Revelation of the same Spirit in the Days of old believed and have left upon Record the same Truths so we having the same Spirit of Faith according as it is written I believed and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore we speak And we deny not but some that from the Letter have had the Notion of these Things have thereby in the Mercy of God received Occasion to have them Revealed in the Life for we freely acknowledge though often calumniated to the contrary that Whatsoever Things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures may have Hope So then I hope if the Spirit of God lead me now unto that which is good profitable yea and absolutely needful in order to the keeping my Conscience clear and void of Offence towards God and Man none will be so unreasonable as to say I ought not to do it because it is according to the Scriptures Nor do I think it will savour ill among any serious solid Christians for me to be the more confirmed and perswaded that I am led to this Thing by the Spirit that I find it in it self good and useful and that upon the like Occasions Christ Commanded it and the Apostles and Primitive Christians practised and recommended it Now seeing it is so that we can boldly say with a good Conscience in the Sight of God that the same Spirit which leads us to believe the Doctrines and Principles of the Truth and to hold and maintain them again after the Apostacy in their primitive and ancient Purity as they were delivered by the Apostles of Christ in the Holy Scriptures I say that the same Spirit doth now lead us into the like holy Order and Government to be exercised among us as it was among them being now the like Occasion and Opportunity ministred to us therefore what can any Christianly or Rationally object against it For that there is a Real Cause for it the thing it self speaketh A Real Cause for the same Order and that it was the Practice of the Saints and Church of old is undeniable what kind of Ground then can any such Opposers have being such as scrupling at this do notwithstanding acknowledge our Principle that this were done by Imposition or Imitation more than the Belief of the Doctrines and Principles seeing as it is needful to use all Diligence to Convince and Perswade People of the Truth and bring them to the Belief of it which yet we cannot do but as Truth moves and draws in their Hearts it is also no less needful when a People is gathered to keep and preserve them in Vnity and Love as becomes the Church of Christ and to be careful as saith the Apostle That all things be done decently and in Order and that all that is wrong be removed according to the Method of the Gospel and the good cherished and encouraged So that we conclude and that upon very good Grounds That there ought now as well as heretofore to be Order and Government in the Church of Christ. Head III. That which now cometh to be examined in the Third place is First What is the Order and Government we plead for Secondly In what Cases and how far it may extend and in whom the Power Decisive is Thirdly How it differeth and is wholly another than the oppressive and persecuting Principality of the Church of Rome and other Antichristian Assemblies SECTION IV. Of the Order and Government which we plead for IT will be needful then before I proceed to describe the Order and Government of the Church to consider what is or may be properly understood by the Church for some as I touched before seem to be offended or at least afraid of the very Word because The Power of the CHVRCH The Order of the Church The Judgment of the Church and such like Pretences have been the great Weapons wherewith Antichrist and the Apostate Christians have been these many Generations persecuting the Woman and warring against the Man-child And indeed great Disputes have been among the Learned Rabbies in the Apostacy concerning this CHVRCH what it is or what may be so accounted Which I find not my place at present to dive much in but shall only give the true Sense of it according to Truth and the Scriptures plain Testimony What the word Church signifies properly The word CHVRCH in it self and as used in the Scriptures is no other but a Gathering Company or Assembly of certain People called or gathered together for so the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies which is that the Translators render Church which word is derived from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Evoco I call out of from the Root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Voco I Call Now though the English word CHVRCH be only taken in such a Sense as People are gathered together upon a Religious Account yet the Greek word that is so rendered is taken in general for every Gathering or Meeting together of People and therefore where it is said The Town-Clark of the Ephesians dismissed the Tumult that was gathered there together the same Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used Acts 19.41 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he dismissed the Assembly or the Church dimisit concionem A Church then in the Scripture-Phrase is no other than a Meeting or Gathering of certain People which if it be taken in a Religious Sense as most commonly it is are gathered together in the Belief of the same Principles Doctrines and Points of Faith What a Religious Church is whereby as a Body they become distinguished from others and have a certain Relation among themselves and a Conjunct Interest to the maintaining and propagating these Principles they judge to be right and therefore have a certain Care and Oversight over one another to prevent and remove all Occasions that may tend to break this their Conjunct Interest hinder the Propagation of it or bring Infamy Contempt or Contumely upon it or give such as on the other hand are or may be banded together to undo them just Occasion against them to decry and defame them Now the Way to distinguish that Church How to distinguish the true Church from the false Gathering or Assembly of People whereof Christ truly is the Head from such as falsly pretend thereto is by considering the Principles and Grounds upon which they are gathered together the Nature of that Hierarchy and Order they have among themselves the Way and Method they take to uphold it and the Bottom upon which it standeth which will greatly contribute to clear all Mistakes Forasmuch as Sanctification and Holiness is the great and chief End among true Christians which moves them to gather together therefore the Apostle Paul defines the Church in his Salutation to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1.2 Vnto the Church of God which is at Corinth them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints so the Church is such as are Sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints The Power and Authority Order and Government we speak of The Churches Care over its Members c. is such as a Church Meeting Gathering or Assembly claims towards those that have or do declare themselves Members who own believe and profess the same Doctrines and Principles of Faith with us and go under the same Distinction and Denomination whose Escapes Faults and Errors may by our Adversaries justly be imputed to us if not seasonably and Christianly Reproved Reclaimed or Condemned For we are not so foolish as to concern our selves with those who are not of us far less who stand in Opposition to us so as to Reprove Instruct or Reclaim them as Fellow-Members or Brethren Yet with a respect to remove the general Reproach from the Christian Name with a tender Regard to the good of their Immortal Souls for the Zeal we owe to God's Glory and for the Exaltation and Propagation of his Everlasting Truth and Gospel in the Earth we have not been wanting with the Hazzard of our Lives to seek the Scattered Ones holding forth the Living and Sure Foundation and inviting and perswading all to Obey the Gospel of Christ and to take Notice of his Reproofs as he makes himself manifest in and by his Light in their Hearts So our Care and Travel is and hath been towards those that are without that we may bring them into the Fellowship of the Saints in Light and towards those that are brought in that they may not be led out again or drawn aside either to the Left hand or the Right by the Workings and Temptations of the Enemy These Things being thus cleared and opened we do positively Affirm that we being a People gathered together by the Power of God which most if not all of those that arising among our selves do Oppose us herein have acknowledged into the Belief of certain Principles and Doctrines and also certain Practices and Performances by which we are come to be separated and distinguished from others so as to meet apart and also to Suffer deeply for our Joint-Testimony there are and must of Necessity be as in the gathering of us so in the preserving of us while gathered Diversities of Gifts in the Church Diversities of Gifts and Operations for the edifying of the whole Body Hence saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 5.17 Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double Honour especially they who labour in the Word and Doctrine And this we suppose neither to be Popish nor Antichristian let our Opposers say it as oft as they can without reckoning the Apostles such Secondly Forasmuch as all are not called in the same Station some rich some poor some Servants some Masters some married some unmarried some Widows and some Orphans and so forth it is not only convenient but absolutely needful that there be certain Meetings at certain Places and Times Meetings about Business as may best sute the Conveniencies of such who may be most particularly concerned in them where both those that are to take Care may Assemble and those who may need this Care may come and make known their Necessities and receive Help whether by Counsel or Supply according to their respective Needs This doth not at all contradict the Principle of being Led inwardly and immediately by the Spirit else how came the Apostle in that Day of the Powerful pouring forth of the Spirit of God to set apart Men for this Purpose established by the Apostle sure this was not to lead them from their Inward Guide yea of the contrary it is expresly said Look ye out among you Seven Men of honest Report full of the Holy Ghost and Wisdom whom we may appoint over this Business Sure they were not to undertake a Business being full of the Holy Ghost which might import a Contradiction to their being led by it So we see it is both fit and suitable to the Apostle's Doctrine to have Meetings about Business Now if any should be so whimsical or conceited as to scruple their being at set Places and Times though these be nothing relative to the Essential parts but only Circumstances relating to the Conveniency of our Persons which we must have Regard to so long as we are cloathed with Flesh and Blood and such Notionists as are against this Godly Care work far more in their vain Imaginations than they reduce to Practice being like unto such of whom the Apostle James testified who content themselves with saying to the Naked Be â—loathed and to the Hungry be fed while they offer not in the least to Minister to them those Things which are needful for Cloathing and Feeding of them Yet shall we not scruple to make it appear that it is not without very good Ground that we both appoint Places and Times Convenient Places to Meet in And first As to the Place I say as before it is with our Bodies we must meet as well as with our Spirits and so of Necessity we must convey our Bodies unto one Place that we may speak and act in those Things we Meet for
the true Faith that they might learn not to Blaspheme In short if we must as our Opposers herein acknowledge preserve and keep those that are come to own the Truth by the same means they were gathered and brought into it we must not cease to be plain with them and tell them when they are wrong and by sound Doctrine both Exhort and Convince Gainsayers If the Apostles of Christ of old and the Preachers of the Everlasting Gospel in this day had told all People however wrong they found them in their Faith and Principles Our Charity and Love is such We dare not judge you A wrong Charity and false Love to Cherish in Error is nor separate from you but let us all live in Love together and every one injoy his own Opinion and all will be well how should the Nations have been or what way now can they be brought to Truth and Righteousness Would not the Devil love this Doctrine well by which Darkness and Ignorance Error and Confusion might still continue in the Earth unreproved and uncondemned If it was needful then for the Apostles of Christ in the days of old to Reprove without sparing to tell the High-Priests and great Professors among the Jews That they were stubborn and stiff-necked and always resisted the Holy Ghost without being guilty of Imposition and Oppression or want of true Love and Charity and also for those Messengers the Lord raised up in this day to Reprove and Cry out against the Hireling Priests and to tell the World openly both Professors and Profane That they were in Darkness and Ignorance out of the Truth Strangers and Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel if God has gathered a People by this means into the Belief of one and the same Truth must not they they turn and depart from it be Admonished Reproved and Condemned yea rather than those that are not yet come to the Truth because they Crucifie afresh unto themselves the Lord of Glory and put him to open Shame It seems the Apostle judged it very needful they should be so dealt with Tit. 1.10 when he says There are many unruly and vain Talkers and Deceivers especially they of the Circumcision WHOSE MOVTHS MVST BE STOPPED c. Were such a Principle to be received or believed That in the Church of Christ no man should be Separated from no man Condemned or Excluded the Fellowship and Communion of the Body for his Judgment or Opinion in Matter of Faith The Inlet to all manner of Abominations then what Blasphemies so horrid what Heresies so damnable what Doctrines of Devils but might harbour it self in the Church of Christ What need then of sound Doctrine if no Doctrine make unsound what need of Convincing and Exhorting Gainsayers if to Gainsay be no Crime where should the Vnity of the Faith be Were not this an Inlet to all manner of Abominations and to make void the whole tendency of Christ and his Apostles Doctrine and render the Gospel of none Effect and give a Liberty to the unconstant and giddy Will of Man to innovate alter and overturn it at his Pleasure So that from all that is above-mentioned we do safely Conclude That where a People are gathered together into the Belief of the Principles and Doctrines of the Gospel of Christ if any of that People shall go from their Principles and assert things false and contrary to what they have already received such as stand and abide firm in the Faith have Power by the Spirit of God after they have used Christian Endeavours to Convince and Reclaim them upon their Obstinacy to Separate from such and to Exclude them from their spiritual Fellowship and Communion for otherways if this be denied farewel to all Christianity or to the maintaining of any sound Doctrine in the Church of Christ. But secondly Taking it for granted that the Church of Christ or Assembly of Believers may in some Cases that are Matter of Conscience Quest. II pronounce a positive Sentence and Judgment without hazzard of Imposition upon the Members it comes to be inquired In what Cases and how far this Power reacheth I answer First As that which is most clear and undeniable In the fundamental Principles and Doctrines of Faith Answer in Case any should offer to teach otherways as is above declared and proved But some may perhaps acknowledge that indeed if any should Contradict the known and owned Principles of Truth and teach otherways it were fit to cast out and exclude such but what judgest thou as to lesser matters as in Principles of less Consequence or in outward Ceremonies or Gestures whether it be fit to press Vniformity in these things Consideration For Answer to this it is fit to Consider First The Nature of things themselves Secondly The Spirit and Ground they proceed from And Thirdly The Consequence and Tendency of them But before I proceed upon these I affirm and that according to Truth That as the Church and Assembly of God's People may and hath Power to Decide by the Spirit of God in Matters fundamental and weighty without which no Decision nor Decree in whatever Matters is available so the same Church and Assembly also in other Matters of less Moment The Decision of Matters of less Moment in the Church Obligatory as to themselves yet being needful and expedient with a Respect to the Circumstance of Time Place and other things that may fall in may and hath Power by the same Spirit and not otherways being acted moved and assisted and led by it thereto to pronounce a positive Judgment which no doubt will be found Obligatory upon all such who have a Sense and Feeling of the Mind of the Spirit though rejected by such as are not watchful and so are out of the Feeling and Vnity of the Life And this is that which none that own Immediate Revelation or a being inwardly led by the Spirit to be now a thing expected or dispensed to the Saints can without contradicting their own Principle deny far less such with whom I have to do in this Matter who claiming this Priviledge to Particulars saying That they being moved to do such and such things though contrary to the Mind and Sense of their Brethren are not to be judged for it adding Why may it not be so that God hath moved them to it Now if this be a sufficient Reason for them to suppose as to one or two I may without absurdity suppose it as well to the whole Body And therefore as to the first to wit Cons. 1 The Nature of the things themselves If it be such a thing the doing or not doing whereof that is either any Act or the Forbearance of any may bring a real Reproach or Ground of Accusation against the Truth professed and owned and in and through which there may a visible Schism and Dissension arise in the Church Against the Reproach of Truth by which Truth 's Enemies may be
is so much the better that the Elders and greater Number do agree to it and if Wrong their Affirming of it will not make it Right And truly a Gathering where the Elders and greater Number are always or most frequently Wrong and the Younger and lesser Number Right is such as we cannot suppose the True Church of Christ to be And if any will plead that there is now no Infallible Judgment to be expected from the Spirit of God in the Church it no doubt will leave the Dissenters as much in the Mist and at as great a loss as those they Dissent from both being no better than blind men hitting at random which will turn Christianity into Scepticism And though we may acknowledge that this Vncertainty prevails in the generality of those called Churches yet we do firmly believe for the Reasons above declared and many more that might be given That the True Church of Christ has a more solid stable Foundation and being never separated from Christ her Head walks in a more certain steady and unerring Path. The CONCLUSION THE Substance then of what is Asserted and Proved in this Treatise resolves in these following Particulars A Summary Recollection of the whole First That in the Church of Christ when it Consists of a visible People for I speak not here of the Church in the dark Night of Apostacy that consisted not of any Society visibly united gathered into the Belief of certain Principles and united in the joint Performance of the Worship of God as Meeting together praying preaching c. there is and still must be a Certain Order and Government Secondly That this Government as to the Outward Form of it Consists of Certain Meetings Appointed principally for that End yet not so as to exclude Acts of Worship if the Spirit move thereunto Thirdly The Object of this Government is twofold Outwards and Inwards The Outwards relate mainly to the Care of the Poor of Widows and Fatherless where may be also included Marriages and the Removing of all Scandals in things undeniably wrong The Inwards respect an Apostacy either in Principles or Practices that have a Pretence of Conscience and that either in Denying some Truths already Received and Believed or Asserting New Doctrines that ought not to be Received Which again to subdivide may either be in Things Fundamental 1674 and of great moment or in things of less Weight in themselves yet proceeding from a Wrong Spirit and which in the natural and certain Consequence of them tend to make Schisms Divisions Animosities and in sum to break that Bond of Love and Vnity that is so needful to be upheld and established in the Church of Christ. And here come also under this Consideration all Emulations Strifes Backbitings and evil Surmisings Fourthly That in the True Church of Christ according to the Definition above given of it there will in such Cases of Differences and Controversies still be an Infallible Judgment from the Spirit of God either in one or other few or more Fifthly That this Infallible Judgment is only and unalterably annexed and seated in the Spirit and Power of God not to any particular Person or Persons Meeting or Assembly by vertue of any setled Ordination Office Place or Station that such may have or have had in the Church no Man Men nor Meeting standing or being Invested in any Authority in the Church of Christ upon other Terms than so long as he or they abide in the living Sense and Vnity of the Life in their own particulars which whosoever one or more inwardly departs from ipso facto loses all Authority Office or certain Discerning he or they formerly have had though retaining the true Principles and sound Form and may be not fall'n into any gross Practices as may declare them generally to be thus withered and decayed Sixthly That Jesus Christ under the Gospel hath ordinarily Revealed his Will in such Cases through the Elders and Ministers of the Church or a General Meeting whose Testimony is neither to be despised or rejected without good Cause Neither is their taking upon them Really to Decide any just Ground to charge them with Imposition or to quarrel their Judgment unless it can be proved that they are decayed and have lost their Discerning as above Seventhly That to Submit and Obey in such Cases is no detracting from the Common Priviledge of Christians to be Inwardly led by the Spirit seeing the Spirit has led some heretofore so to do and yet may And that every Pretence of Vnclearness is not a Sufficient Excuse for Disobedience seeing that may proceed from Obstinacy or a Mind prepossessed with Prejudice Yet say I not any ought to do it before they be Clear and who are every Right will not want Clearness in what They ought to do And Lastly That these Principles are no ways tainted with Imposition or contrary to true Liberty of Conscience And that they fundamentally differ from the Vsurpations both of Popery Prelacy and Presbytery or any other of that Nature Robert Barclay Robert Barclay HIS VINDICATION year 1679 WHEREIN The Scruples and Mistakes some have had touching his Book called The Anarchy of the Ranters are Cleared and the Ground upon which W. R's Papers against it are Built Removed the Substance of the Papers being briefly Answered by way of EPISTLE to FRIENDS who therein have or may be Concern'd Which may serve as an EXPLANATORY P0ST-SCRIPT to Robert Barclay's Book of GOVERNMENT Aberdeen-Prison the Sixth of the First Month 1679. Dear Friends and Brethren UNTO all my Dear Friends and Brethren unto whose Hands this Paper may come or who may be any ways more particularly Concerned in the Contents hereof The Salutation of my unfeigned Love in that Vnchangable Truth whereunto it hath pleased the Lord to Call me according to his great Mercy so as to be a Partaker in some measure of the Peace and Glory which in this Day is Revealed wherewith my heart hath been often filled as I have Waited in Faithfulness according to the Dispensation of Light Manifested in me and to me And since it hath pleased God to make me a Living Witness of the pretious Truth and to Commit unto me any Share of the Ministry thereof my Conscience bears me Witness in the sight of God that I have Laboured according to my Knowledge to follow Love and Peace with all my Brethren R. B's Ministry and to do those things which might tend to advance strengthen and confirm Vnity and Brotherly Love as also to Avoid what had a tendency to beget Strife Jealousies or Evil Surmises Likewise I have studied as well in my Publick Testimony His Writings as in my Writings to beware of any thing that to my Understanding might minister just Occasion of Stumbling or Offcence to the least of my Brethren or the youngest and weakest Babe in the Truth as such as are Conversant with me iâ— my own Country as well as those elsewhere where I have
Ineffectual to bring them the least step towards Salvation and do only Contribute to render their Condemnation the greater and their Torments the more Violent and Intolerable Having thus briefly Removed this false Doctrine which stood in my way because they that are desirous may see it both learnedly and piously Refuted by many others I come to the Matter of our Proposition which is That God out of his Infinite Love who delighteth not in the death of a sinner but that all should live and be saved hath sent his Only-begotten Son into the World that whosoever believeth in him might be Saved Christ tasted Death for every man Which also is again affirmed in the sixth Proposition in these words Christ then tasted death for every man of all kinds Such is the Evidence of this Truth delivered almost wholly in the Express words of Scripture that it will not need much probation also because our Assertion herein is Common with many others who have both earnestly and soundly according to the Scripture pleaded for this Vniversal Redemption I shall be the more brief in it that I may come to that which may seem more singularly and peculiarly ours § VI. This Doctrine of Vniversal Redemption Christ's Redemption is Vniversal contrary to the Doctrine of Absolute REPROBATION or Christ's dying for all men is of it self so Evident from the Scripture-Testimony that there is scarce found any other Article of the Christian Faith so frequently so plainly and so positively Asserted It is that which maketh the preaching of Christ to be truly termed the Gospel or an Annunciation of glad Tidings to all Thus the Angel declared the Birth and Coming of Christ to the Shepherds to be Luke 2.10 Behold I bring you good Tidings of great Joy which shall be to all people He saith not to a few people Now if this Coming of Christ had not brought a possibility of Salvation to all it should rather have been accounted Bad Tidings of great sorrow to most people neither should the Angel have had reason to have sung Peace on Earth and good Will towards men if the greatest part of Mankind had been necessarily shut out from receiving any Benefit by it How should Christ have sent out His to Preach the Gospel to every Creature Mark 16.15 a very Comprehensive Commission that is To every son and daughter of Mankind without all Exception He Commands them to Preach Salvation to all Repentance and Remission of sins to all Warning every one and Exhorting every one as Paul did Col. 1.28 Now how couldd they have preached the Gospel to every man The Gospel is preached to Every man as became the Ministers of Jesus Christ in much Assurance if Salvation by that Gospel had not been possible for all What! If some of those had asked them or should now ask any of these Doctors who deny the Vniversality of Christ's Death and yet preach it to all promiscuously Hath Christ died sor me How can they with confidence give a certain Answer to this Question If they give a Conditional Answer as their Principle obligeth them to do and say If thou Repent Christ hath died for thee doth not the same Question still Recur Hath Christ died for me so as to make Repentance possible for me To this they can Answer nothing unless they run in a Circle whereas the Feet of those that bring the glad Tidings of the Gospel of Peace are said to be beautiful for that they preach the Common Salvation Repentance unto all offering a door of Mercy and Hope to all through Jesus Christ who gave himself a Ransom for all The Gospel Invites all and certainly by the Gospel Christ intended not to deceive and delude the greater part of Mankind when he Inviteth and Crieth saying Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and ' I will give you Rest. If All then ought to seek after him and to look for Salvation by him he must needs have made Salvation possible to all for who is bound to seek after that which is Impossible Certainly it were a mocking of men to bid them do so And such as deny that by the Death of Christ Salvation is made possible to all men do most blasphemously make God mock the World in giving his Servants a Commission to preach the Gospel of Salvation unto ALL while he hath before decreed The Absurdity of that Doctrine of Absolute Reprobation that it shall not be possible for them to Receive it Would not this make the Lord to send forth his Servants with a Lie in their mouths which were blasphemous to think commanding them to bid all and every one to believe that Christ died for them and had purchased life and Salvation whereas it is no such thing according to the fore-mentioned Doctrine But seeing Christ after he Arose and perfected the work of our Redemption gave a Commission to preach Repentance Remission of Sins and Salvation to all it is manifest that he died for all For he that hath Commissionated his Servants thus to preach is a God of Truth and no mocker of poor Mankind neither doth he require of any man that which is simply Impossible for him to do for that No man is bound to do that which is Impossible is a principle of Truth ingraven in every man's mind And seeing he is both a most Righteous and Merciful God it cannot at all stand neither with his Justice nor Mercy to bid such men Repent or Believe to whom it is Impossible § VII Moreover if we Regard the Testimony of the Scripture in this matter where there is not one Scripture which I know of that affirmeth To Pray for all for Christ died for all Christ not to die for ALL there are divers that positively and expresly Assert he did as 1 Tim. 2.1 3 4 6. I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men c. for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who will have All men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth who gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time Except we will have the Apostle here to Assert quite another thing than he intended there can be nothing more plain to Confirm what we have Asserted And this Scripture doth well answer to that manner of Arguing which we have hitherto used For first the Apostle here Recommends them to Pray for all men And to obviate such an Objection as if he had said with our Adversaries Christ prayed not for the World neither willeth he us to pray for All because he willeth not that All should be saved but hath ordained many to be damned that he might shew forth his Justice in them He obviates I say such an Objection telling them That it is good and acceptable in the sight of God who will have all men to be saved I desire
strange ways seeing according to this most true Doctrine the Gospel reacheth all of whatsoever Condition Age or Nation Eleventhly It is Really and Effectively though not in so many words Cons. 11 yet by deeds established and confirmed by all the Preachers Promulgators and Doctors of the Christian Religion that ever were or now are even by those that otherways in their Judgment Oppose this Doctrine in that they all wherever they have been or are or whatsoever People Place or Country they come to do preach to the People and to every Individual among them That they may be saved Intreating and Desiring them to believe in Christ who hath died for them So that what they deny in the general they acknowledge of every particular there being no man to whom they do not preach in order to Salvation telling him Jesus Christ calls and wills him to believe and be saved and that if he refuse he shall therefore be Condemned and that his Condemnation is of himself Such is the Evidence and Vertue of Truth that it constrains its Adversaries even against their wills to plead for it Cons. 12 Lastly According to this Doctrine the former Argument used by the Arminians and Evited by the Calvinists concerning Every man's being bound to believe that Christ died for him is by altering the Assumption rendred Invincible thus That which every man is bound to believe is True But Every man is bound to believe that God is merciful unto him Therefore c. This Assumption no man can deny seeing his Mercies are said to be over all his Works And herein the Scripture every where declares the Mercy of God to be in that he Invites and Calls sinners to Repentance and hath opened a way of Salvation for them so that though those men be not bound to believe the History of Christ's Death and Passion who never came to know of it yet they are bound to believe that God will be Merciful to them if they follow his Ways and that he is Merciful unto them in that he Reproves them for Evil and Incourages them to good Neither ought any man to believe that God is unmerciful to him or that he hath from the beginning Ordained him to come into the World that he might be left to his own evil Inclinations Our Adversaries unmerciful Assertion of God and so do wickedly as a means appointed by God to bring him to Eternal Damnation which were it true as our Adversaries affirm it to be of many Thousands I see no reason why a man might not believe for certainly a man may believe the Truth As it manifestly appears from the thing it self that these good and excellent Consequences follow from the belief of this Doctrine so from the Probation of them it will yet more evidently appear To which before I come it is requisite to speak somewhat concerning the State of the Controversy which will bring great light to the matter For from the not right understanding of a matter under Debate sometimes both Arguments on the one hand and Objections on the other are brought which do no way hit the Case and hereby also our Sense and Judgment therein will be more fully understood and opened § XII First then by this Day and Time of Visitation which we say Quest. 1 God gives unto all during which they may be saved The Stating of the Question we do not understand the Whole Time of every man's Life though to some it may be extended even to the very hour of Death as we see in the Example of the Thief Converted upon the Cross but such a season at least as sufficiently exonerateth God of every man's Condemnation which to some may be sooner and to others later according as the Lord in his Wisdom sees meet So that many men may out-live this day after which there may be no possibility of Salvation to them That many may out-live the Day of God's Visitation and God justly suffers them to be hardned as a just punishment of their Vnbelief and even raises them up as Instruments of Wrath and makes them a Scourge one against another Whence to men in this Condition may be fitly applied those Scriptures which are abused to prove That God incites men necessarily to sin This is notably express'd by the Apostle Rom. 1. from v. 17. to the end but especially vers 28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them up to a Reprobate Mind to do those things which are not Convenient That many may out-live this Day of God's gracious Visitation unto them is shewn by the Example of Esau Hebr. 12.16 17. who sold his Birth-right so he had it once and was capable to have kept it but afterwards when he would have inherited the Blessing he was Rejected This appears also by Christ's weeping over Jerusalem Luke 19.42 saying If thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes Which plainly imports a Time when they might have known them which now was removed from them though they were yet alive But of this more shall be said hereafter § XIII Secondly By this Seed Grace and Word of God and Light Quest. 2 wherewith we say every man is Inlightned and hath a measure of it which strives with them in order to Save them and which may by the stubbornness and wickedness of man's Will be quenched bruised wounded pressed-down slain and crucified we understand not the proper Essence and Nature of God precisely taken which is not Divisible into parts and measures as being a must Pure Simple Being void of all Composition or Division and therefore can neither be resisted hurt wounded crucified or slain by all the Efforts and Strength of men The Light what it is and its Properties described But we understand a Spiritual Heavenly and Invisible Principle in which God as Father Son and Spirit dwells a measure of which Divine and Glorious Life is in all men as a Seed which of its own nature draws invites and inclines to God And this we call Vehiculum Dei or the Spiritual body of Christ Vehiculum DEI. the flesh and blood of Christ which came down from Heaven of which all the Saints do feed and are thereby nourished unto Eternal Life And as every unrighteous Action is witnessed against and reproved by this Light and Seed so by such Actions it is hurt wounded and slain and resiles or flees from them even as the flesh of men flees from that which is of a contrary nature to it Now because it is never separated from God nor Christ but wherever it is God and Christ are as wrapped up therein therefore and in that respect as it is Resisted God is said to be Resisted and where it is born down God is said to be pressed as a Cart under sheaves and Christ is said to be slain and crucified And on the contrary as
So I say it is after the Rejecting of the Day of Visitation that the Judgment of Obduration is inflicted upon men and women as Christ pronounceth it upon the Jews out of Isa. 6.9 which all the Four Evangelists make mention of Matth. 13.14 Mark 4.12 Luke 8.10 John 12.40 And last of all the Apostle Paul after he had made offer of the Gospel of Salvation to the Jews at Rome pronounceth the same Acts 28.26 after that some believed not Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the Prophet unto our Fathers saying Go unto this people and say hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive For the Heart of this people is waxed gross and their Ears are dull of hearing and their Eyes have they closed lest they should see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and understand with their Heart and should be Converted and I should heal them So it appears that God would have them to see but they closed their Eyes and therefore they are justly hardned Cyrill Alex. Of this matter Cyrillus Alexandrinus upon John l. 6. c. 21. speaks well answering to this Objection But some may say if Christ be come into the World that those that see may be blinded their blindness is not to be Imputed unto them but it rather seems that Christ is the Cause of their blindness who saith he is come into the World that those that see may be blinded But saith he they speak not rationally who object these things unto God and are not affraid to call him the Author of Evil For as the sensible Sun is carried upon our Horizon that it may Communicate the gift of its Clearness unto All and make its Light shine upon all but if any one Close his Eye-lids The Cause of Man's Remaining in Darkness the Closing his Eyes or willingly turn himself from the Sun refusing the benefit of its light he wants its Illumination and remains in Darkness not through defect of the Sun but through his own Fault So that the true Sun who came to Inlighten those that sate in Darkness and in the region of the shadow of death visited the Earth for this cause that he might Communicate unto all the gift of Knowledge and Grace and illuminate the inward Eyes of all by a peculiar splendor but many reject this Gift of the Heavenly Light freely given to them and have closed the Eyes of their minds lest so excellent an Illumination or Irradiation of the Eternal Light should shine unto them It is not then through defect of the true Sun but only through their own Iniquity and Hardness for as the wise man saith Wisdom 2. Their Wickedness hath blinded them From all which I thus argue If there was a Day The Obstinate Jews had a Day wherein the Obstinate Jews might have known the things that belonged to their Peace which because they Rejected it was hid from their Eyes If there was a time wherein Christ would have gathered them who because they Refused could not be Gathered Then such as might have been saved do actually perish that slighted the Day of God's Visitation towards them wherein they might have been Converted and Saved But the First is true Therefore also the Last § XXI Secondly That which comes in the Second Place to be proved Prop. II is Proved That whereby God offers to work this Salvation during the day of every man's Visitation and that is That he hath given to every man a measure of saving sufficient and supernatural Light and Grace This I shall do by God's Assistance by some plain and clear Testimonies of the Scripture First From that of John 1.9 That was the true Light which Inlightneth Proof I every man that cometh into the World The Light enlightning every Man c. This place doth so clearly favour us that by some it is called The Quakers Text for it doth evidently Demonstrate our Assertion so that it scarce needs either Consequence or Deduction seeing it self is as a Consequence of two Propositions Asserted in the former verses from which it followeth as a Conclusion in the very Terms of our Faith The first of these Propositions is The Life that is in him is the Light of men the second The Light shineth in the darkness And from these two he Infers And he is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World From whence I do in short Observe that this Divine Apostle calls Observ. 1 Christ the Light of men and giveth us this as one of the Chief Properties at least considerably and especially to be Observed by us seeing hereby as he is the Light and as we walk with him in that Light which he Communicates to us we come to have Fellowship and Communion with him as the same Apostle saith elsewhere 1 Joh. 1.7 Secondly that this Light shineth in darkness though the darkness comprehend it not Thirdly that this true Light inlightneth every man Not but a certain Number of men but every man that cometh into the world Where the Apostle being directed by God's Spirit hath carefully avoided their Captiousness that would have Restricted this to any certain Number Where Every one is there is None Excluded Next should they be so obstinate as sometimes they are as to say That this Every man is only Every one of the Elect these words following Every man that cometh into the world would obviate that Objection So that it is plain there comes no man into the World whom Christ hath not Inlightned in some measure and in whose dark heart this Light doth not shine though the darkness Comprehend it not yet it shineth there and the Nature thereof is to dispell the Darkness The Light dispelling Darkness begets Faith where men shut not their Eyes upon it Now for what End this Light is given is Expressed vers 7. where John is said to Come for a Witness to bear witness to the Light that all men through it might believe to wit through the Light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth very well Agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being the nearest Antecedent though most Translators have to make it sute with their own Doctrine made it Relate to John as if all men were to believe through John For which as there is nothing directly in the Text so it is Contrary to the very Strain of the Context For seeing Christ hath lighted Every man with this Light is it not that they may come to believe through it All could not believe through John because all men could not know of John's Testimony whereas Every man being Lighted by this may come there-through to believe John shined not in the Darkness but this Light shineth in the Darkness that having dispelled the Darkness it may produce and beget Faith And lastly We must believe through That and become believers through That by Walking in which Fellowship with God is known
such and such Prayers so that the person that so doth is presently Cleared from the guilt of his sin and justified and accepted in the sight of God As for Example He that in the great Jubilee will go to Rome and present himself before the Gate of Peter and Paul and there receive the Pope's Blessing or he that will go a Pilgrimage to James's Sepulchre in Spain or to Mary of Loretta is upon the Performance of those things promised forgiveness of Sins Now if we ask them the Reason how such things as are not morally good in themselves come to have Virtue they have no other Answer but because of the Church and Pope's Authority who being the great Treasurer of the Magazine of Christ's Merits lets them out upon such and such Conditions Thus also the Invention of Saying Mass is made a Chief Instrument of Justification Papists Mass what it is for in it they pretend to Offer Christ daily to the Father a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the sins of the living and the dead so that a man for Money can procure Christ thus to be Offered for him when he pleases by which Offering he is said to obtain Remission of Sins and to stand Justified in the sight of God From all which and much more of this Nature which might be mentioned it doth appear that the Papists place their Justification not so much in any Work of Holiness really brought forth in them and real forsaking of Iniquity as in the meer Performance of some Ceremonies and a blind Belief which their Teachers have begotten in them that the Church and the Pope having the Absolute Dispensation of the Merits of Christ have power to make these Merits Effectual for the Remission of sins and Justification of such as will perform those Ceremonies This is the true and real Method of Justification taken by the generality of the Church of Rome and highly Commended by their publick Preachers especially the Monks in their Sermons to the People of which I my self have been an Ear and an Eye-witness However some of their Modern Writers have laboured to qualify it in their Controversies Luther and the Protestants opposing the Pope's Doctrine of Works fell into th' other Extream of No good Works necessary to Justification This Doctrine Luther and the Protestants then had good Reason to deny and oppose though many of them ran into another Extream so as to deny good Works to be necessary to Justification and to preach up not only Remission of sins but Justification by Faith alone without all Works however good So that men do not obtain their Justification according as they are inwardly sanctified and renewed but are justified meerly by believing that Christ died for them and so some may perfectly be Justified though they be lying in gross Wickedness as appears by the Example of David whom they say was fully and perfectly Justified while he was lying in the gross sins of Murder and Adultery As then the Protestants have sufficient ground to quarrel and confute the Papists concerning those many Abuses in the matter of Justification shewing how the Doctrine of Christ is thereby vitiated and overturned and the Word of God made void by many and useless Traditions the Law of God neglected while foolish and needless Ceremonies are prized and followed through a false Opinion of being Justified by the Performance of them and the Merits and Sufferings of Christ which is the Only Sacrifice appointed by God for Remission of sins derogated from by the setting up of a Daily Sacrifice never appointed by God Papists Device to get Money and chiefly devised out of Covetousness to get money by so the Protestants on the other hand by not rightly establishing and holding forth the Doctrine of Justification according as it is delivered in the Holy Scriptures have opened a door for the Papists to accuse them as if they were Neglecters of good Works Enemies to Mortification and Holiness such as esteem themselves Justified while lying in great sins by which kind of Accusations for which too great ground hath been given out of the Writings of some Rigid Protestants the Reformation hath been greatly defamed and hindered and the Souls of many Insnared Whereas who will narrowly look into the matter may observe these Debates to be more in specie than in genere seeing both do upon the matter land in one and like two men in a Circle who though they go sundry ways yet meet at the last in the same Centre For the Papists they say They obtain Remission of Sins and are justified by the Merits of Christ as the same are Applied unto them in the use of the Sacraments of the Church Papists Belief of Justification meets in the same Centre with the and are dispensed in the Performance of such and such Ceremonies Pilgrimages Prayers and Performances though there be not an inward Renewing of the mind nor knowing of Christ inwardly formed yet they are remitted and made Righteous ex opere operato because of the Power and Authority accompanying the Sacraments and the Dispensators of them The Protestants say That they obtain Remission of Sins Protestants Belief So saith the Westminster-Conf of Faith Chap. 11. Sect. 1. and stand Justified in the sight of God by Virtue of the Merits and Sufferings of Christ not by Infusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous they resting on him and his righteousness by Faith which Faith the Act of believing is not imputed unto them for Righteousness So the Justification of neither here is placed in any Inward Renewing of the Mind or by virtue of any Siritual Birth or Formation of Christ in them but only by a bare Application of the Death and Sufferings of Christ outwardly performed for them whereof the one lays hold on a Faith resting upon them and hoping to be Justified by them alone the other by the saying of some outward Prayers and Ceremonies which they judge makes the Death of Christ Effectual unto them I Except here being unwilling to wrong any what things have been said as to the necessity of inward Holiness either by some Modern Papists or some Modern Protestants who in so far as they have laboured after a Midst betwixt these two Extreams have come near to the Truth as by some Citations out of them hereafter to be mentioned will Appear Though this Doctrine hath not since the Apostasy so far as ever I could observe been so distinctly and evidently held forth according to the Scriptures-Testimony as it hath pleased God to Reveal it and preach it forth in this day by the Witnesses of his Truth whom he hath raised to that end Which Doctrine though it be briefly held forth and Comprehended in the Thesis it self English state of Controversie yet I shall a little more fully Explain the State of the Controversy as it stands betwixt us and those that now Oppose
expressed by the Apostle Eph. 5.25 26 27. Even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Now if Christ hath really thus answered the thing he Came for then the Members of this Church are not always sinning in thought word and deed or there is no difference betwixt being sanctified and unsanctified clean and unclean holy and unholy being daily blemished with sin and being without blemish § VI. Fourthly This Doctrine renders the Work of the Ministry the Proof IV Preaching of the Word the Writing of the Scriptures and the Prayers of the holy men altogether Vseless and Ineffectual As to the first Eph. 4.11 Pastors and Teachers are said to be given for the perfection of Saints c. till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto a measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Now if there be a Necessity of sinning daily and in all things then there can be no perfection for such as do so cannot be esteemed perfect And if for Effectuating this perfection in the Saints the Ministry be appointed and disposed of God Pastors Teachers and Scriptures are given for the Perfecting of the Saints do not such as deny the possibility hereof render the Ministry Vseless and of no profit seeing there can be no other true Vse assigned but to lead people out of sin into righteousness If so be these Ministers assure us that we need never expect to be delivered from it do not they render their own Work needless what needs Preaching against sin for the reproving of which all preaching is if it can never be forsaken Our Adversaries are Exalters of the Scriptures in words much crying up their usefulness and perfection Now the Apostle tells us 2 Tim. 3.17 that the Scriptures are for making the man of God perfect and if this be denied to be Attainable in this life then the Scriptures are of no profit For in the other life we shall not have use for them It renders the Prayers of the Saints altogether Vseless seeing themselves do Confess they ought to pray daily that God would deliver them from evil and free them from sin by the help of his Spirit and Grace while in this world But though we might suppose this Absurdity to follow that their Prayers are without Faith yet were not that so much if it did not infer the like upon the holy Apostles who prayed earnestly for this End and therefore no doubt believed it Attainable Col 4.12 Labouring fervently for you in prayers that ye may stand perfect c. 1 Thess. 3.13 5.23 c. Proof V § VII But Fifthly This Doctrine is Contrary to Common Reason and Sense For the Two opposite Principles whereof the one Rules in the Children of Darkness Darkness and Light Sin and Righteousness Inconsistent together the other in the Children of Light are Sin and Righteousness And as they are respectively leavened and acted by them so they are accounted either as Reprobated or Justified seeing it is Abomination in the sight * Prov. 17.15 of God either to Justify the Wicked or Condemn the Just. Now to say that men cannot be so leavened with the one as to be delivered from the other is in plain words to affirm that Sin and Righteousness are Consistent and that a man may be truly termed Righteous though he be daily sinning in every thing he doth And then what difference betwixt Good and Evil Is not this to fall into that great abomination of Putting Light for darkness and calling good evil and evil good since they say The very best Actions of God's Children are defiled and polluted and that Those that sin daily in thought word and deed are good men and women the Saints and holy Servants of the Holy Pure God Can there be any thing more repugnant than this to Common Reason Since the Subject is still denominated from that Accident that doth most Influence it As a Wall is called White when there is much Whiteness and black when there is much blackness and such like But when there is more Vnrighteousness in a man than Righteousness that man ought rather to be denominated unrighteous than righteous If all daily sin where is the Righteous man then spoken of in Scripture Then surely if every man sin daily in thought word and deed and that in his Sins there is no Righteousness at all and that all his Righteous Actions are polluted and mixed with sin then there is in every man more Vnrighteousness than Righteousness and so no man ought to be called Righteous no man can be said to be sanctified or washed Where are then the Children of God Where are the purified ones where are they who were sometimes Vnholy but now Holy That sometimes were Darkness but now are Light in the Lord There can none such be found then at this rate except that Vnrighteousness be esteemed so And is not this to fall into that abomination above-mentioned of Justifying the Vngodly This certainly lands in that horrid Blasphemy of the Ranters that affirm There is no difference betwixt good and evil and that all is one in the sight of God I could shew many more Gross Absurdities Evil Consequences and manifest Contradictions plied in this sinful Doctrine but this may suffice at present by which also in a good measure The Blasphemy of the Ranters or Libertines the probation of the Truth we affirm is Advanced Yet nevertheless for the further Evidencing of it I shall proceed to the second thing proposed by me to wit To prove this from several Testimonies of the Holy Scriptures § VIII And first I prove it from the peremptory positive Command of Sect. II Christ and his Apostles seeing this is a Maxime ingraven in every man's Proof I heart naturally That no man is bound to that which is Impossible Since then Christ and his Apostles have commanded us to keep all the Commandments and to be perfect in this respect it is possible for us so to do Be ye Perfect c. Keâ—p my Commandments Now that this is thus Commanded without any Commentary or Consequence is evidently apparent from these plain Testimonies Matth. 5.48 7.21 John 13.17 1 Cor. 7.19 2 Cor. 13.11 1 John 2.3 4 5 6. 3.2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. These Scriptures intimate a positive Command for it they declare the Absolute Necessity of it and therefore as if they had purposely been written to answer the Objections of our Opposers they shew the Folly of those that will esteem themselves Children or Friends of God while they do otherwise Secondly It is Possible because we receive the Gospel and Law thereof
to Rejoice therefore even that we are sensible of this Power that hath often-times laid hold upon our Adversaries and made them yield unto us and join with us and confess to the Truth before they had any distinct or discursive Knowledge of our Doctrines So that sometimes many at one Meeting have been thus Convinced and this Power would sometimes also reach to and wonderfully Work even in little Children to the Admiration and Astonishment of many § IX Many are the blessed Experiences which I could relate of this Silence and manner of Worship Yet silence is no Law but words may follow yet do I not so much commend and speak of Silence as if he had a Law in it to shut out praying or preaching or tied ourselves thereunto not at all for as our Worship consisteth not in the words so neither in silence as silence but in an holy dependence of the mind upon God from which dependance Silence necessarily follows in the first place until words can be brought forth which are from God's Spirit And God is not wanting to move in his Children to bring forth Words of Exhortation or Prayer when it is needful so that of the many Gatherings and Meetings of such as are Convinced of the Truth there is scarce any in whom God raiseth not up some or other to Minister to his Brethren that there are few Meetings that are altogether silent For when many are Met together in this one Life and Name it doth most naturally and frequently excite them to pray to and praise God and stir up one another by mutual Exhortation and Instructions yet we judge it needful there be in the first place some times of Silence during which every one may be gathered inward to the Word and Gift of Grace from which he that Ministreth may receive Strength to bring forth what he Ministreth and that they that hear may have a sense to discern betwixt the precious and the vile and not to hurry into the Exercise of these things so soon as the Bell rings as other Christians do Yea and we doubt not but assuredly know that the Meeting may be good and refreshful though from the sitting down to the rising up thereof there hath not been a word as outwardly spoken and yet Life may have been known to abound in each Particular and an inward growing up therein No absolute Necessity for words thô from the life at times and thereby yea so as words might have been spoken acceptably and from the life yet there being no absolute Necessity laid upon any so to do all might have chosen rather quietly and silently to possess and enjoy the Lord in themselves Which is very sweet and comfortable to the Soul that hath thus learned to be gathered out of all its own thoughts and workings to feel the Lord to bring forth the Will and the Deed which many can declare by a blessed Experience Though indeed it cannot but be hard for the Natural man to receive or believe this doctrine and therefore it must be rather by a sensible Experience and by coming to make proof of it than by Arguments that such can be Convinced of this thing seeing it is not enough to believe it if they come not also to enjoy and possess it Yet in Condescension to and for the sake of such as may be the more willing to Apply themselves to the practice and experience hereof that they found their understandings Convinced of it and that it is founded upon Scripture and Reason I find a freedom of mind to add some few Considerations of this kind for the Confirmation hereof besides what is before mentioned of our Experience § X. That to wait upon God and to watch before him To Wait and Watch Commanded in the Scriptures is a Duty incumbent upon all I suppose none will deny and that this also is a Part of Worship will not be called in question since there is scarce any other so frequently commanded in the Holy Scriptures as may appear from Psal. 27.14 37. v. 7. 34. Prov. 20.22 Isai. 30.18 Hosea 12.6 Zach. 3.8 Matth. 24.42 25.13 26.41 Mark 13.33 35. 37. Luke 21.36 Acts 1.4 20.31 1 Cor. 16.13 Col. 4.2 1 Thess. 5.6 2 Tim. 4.5 1 Pet. 4.7 Also this Duty is often recommended with very great and precious Promises as Psal. 25.3 37.9 69.6 Isai. 40.31.42 23. Lam. 3.25 26. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength c. Now how is this Waiting upon God or Watching before him but by his Silence of which we have spoken Which as it is in it self a great and principal Duty so it necessarily in Order both of Nature and Time preceedeth all other But that it may be the better and more perfectly understood as it is not only an outward Silence of the Body but an inward Silence of the Mind from all its own Imaginations and self-Cogitations let it be considered according to Truth and to the Principles and Doctrines heretofore affirmed and proved that Man is to be considered in a twofold respect to wit in his Natural unregenerate and fal'n State and in his Spiritual and Renewed Condition from whence ariseth that distinction of the Natural and Spiritual man so much used by the Apostle and heretofore spoken of Also these two Births of the mind proceed from the two Seeds in man respectively to wit the Good Seed and the Evil And from the Evil Seed doth not only proceed all manner of Gross and abominable Wickedness and Profanity but also Hypocrisy and these Wickednesses which the Scripture calls spiritual Whence wickednesses rise that are spirituals because it is the Serpent working in and by the natural man in things that are spiritual which having a shew appearance of good are so much the more hurtful dangerous as it is Satan transformed transforming himself into an Angel of Light And therefore doth the Scripture so pressingly and frequently as we have heretofore had occasion to observe shut out and exclude the Natural man from meddling with the things of God denying his Endeavours therein though acted and performed by the most eminent of his parts as of Wisdom and Vtterance Also this spiritual Wickedness is of two sorts though both one in kind as proceeding from one Root yet different in their Degrees and in the Subjects also sometimes The one is From whence all Heresies did spring when as the Natural man is meddling in and working in the things of Religion doth from his own Conceptions and Divinations affirm or propose Wrong and Erroneous Notions and Opinions of God and things spiritual and invent superstitions ceremonies observations and rites in Worship from whence have sprung all the Heresies and Superstitions that are among Christians The other is when as the Natural Man from a meer Conviction of his understanding doth in the forwardness of his own Will and by his own natural strength without the influence and leading of
their Minds judge and believe in Matters of Conscience just as they do And if it was not according to the Wisdom of Christ who was and is King of Kings by outward Force to constrain others to believe him or receive him as being a thing inconsistent with the Nature of his Ministry and Spiritual Government do not they grosly offend him that will needs be wiser than he and think to force Men against their Perswasion to conform to their Doctrine and Worship The Word of the Lord saith Not by power and by might but by the Spirit of the Lord Zach. 4.6 But these say Not by the Spirit of the Lord but by Might and carnal Power 2 Cor. 10.4 The Apostle saith plainly We wrestle not with flesh and blood and The Weapons of our warfare are not Carnal but Spiritual But these Men will needs wrestle with flesh and blood when they cannot prevail with the Spirit and the Understanding and not having Spiritual weapons go about with Carnal weapons to establish Christ's Kingdom which they can never do and therefore when the matter is well sifted it is found to be more out of love to Self and from a principle of Pride in Man to have all others to bow to him than from the love of God Christ indeed takes another method for he saith He will make his People a willing People in the day of his Power Psal. 110.3 but these Men labour against Mens Wills and Consciences not by Christ's Power but by the outward Sword to make Men the People of Christ which they can never do as shall hereafter be shewn But Thirdly Christ fully and plainly declareth to us his sense in this matter in the Parable of the Tares Matth. 13. of which we have himself the Interpreter ver 38 39 40 41. where he expounds them to be the Children of the wicked one and yet he will not have the Servants to meddle with them lest they pull up the Wheat therewith Now it cannot be denyed but Hereticks are here included but these Servants saw the Tares and had a certain discerning of them yet Christ would not they should meddle lest they should hurt the Wheat Thereby intimating that that capacity in Man to be mistaken ought to be a bridle upon him to make him wary in such matters and therefore to prevent this hurt he gives a positive prohibition But he said Nay ver 29. So that they that will notwithstanding be pulling up that which they judge is Tares do openly declare that they make no bones to break the Commands of Christ. Miserable is that evasion which some of our Adversaries use here in alledging these Tares is meant of Hypocrites and not of Hereticks But how to evince that seeing Hereticks as well as Hypocrites are Children of the wicked one they have not any thing but their own bare Affirmation which is therefore justly rejected If they say because Hypocrites can not be discerned Object· but so may Hereticks This is both false and a begging of the question For those Answ. that have a Spiritual discerning can discern both Hypocrites and Hereticks and those that want it cannot certainly discern either Seeing the question will arise Whether that is a Heresy which the Magistrate saith is so And seeing it is both possible and confessed by all to have often fallen out that some Magistrates have judged that Heresy which was not punishing Men accordingly for Truth instead of Errour There can no argument be drawn from the obviousness or evidence of Heresy unless we should conclude Heresy could never be mistaken for Truth nor Truth for Heresy whereof Experience shews daily the contrary even among Christians But neither is this shift applicable to this place for the Servants did discern the Tares and yet were liable to hurt the Wheat if they had offered to pull them up § III. But they Object against this Liberty of Conscience Deut. 13.5 where false Prophets are appointed to be put to death and accordingly they give example thereof Object Answ. The case no ways holds parallel those particular Commands to the Jews and Practices following upon them are not a Rule for Christians else we might by the same Rule say It were lawful for us to borrow from our Neighbours their Goods and so carry them away because the Jews did so by God's Command or that it is lawful for Christians to invade their Neighbours Kingdoms and cut them all off without Mercy because the Jews did so to the Canaanites by the Command of God If they urge That these Commands ought to stand except they be repealed in the Gospel Object I say these Precepts and Practices of Christ and his Apostles mentioned Answ. are a sufficient Repeal for if we should plead that every Command given to the Jews is binding upon us except there be a particular Repeal then would it follow that because it was lawful for the Jews if any Man killed one for the nearest of Kindred presently to kill the Murderer without any order of Law it were lawful for us to do so also And doth not this Command of Deut. 13.9 openly order him who is enticed by another to forsake the Lord though he were his Brother his Son his Daughter or his Wife presently to kill him or her Thou shalt surely kill him thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death If this Command were to be followed there needed neither Inquisition nor Magistrate to do the business and yet there is no reason why they should shuffle by this part and not the other yea to argue this way from the Practice among the Jews were to overturn the very Gospel and to set up again the carnal ordinances among the Jews to pull down the Spiritual ones of the Gospel Indeed we can far better argue from the Analogy betwixt the figurative and carnal state of the Jews and the Real and Spiritual one under the Gospel That as Moses delivered the Jews out of outward Egypt by an outward force and established them in an outward Kingdom by destroying their outward Enemies for them so Christ not by overcoming outwardly and killing others but by suffering and being killed doth deliver his chosen Ones the inward Jews out of mystical Egypt destroying their Spiritual Enemies before them and establishing among them his Spiritual Kingdom which is not of this World And as such as departed from the Fellowship of outward Israel were to be cut off by the outward Sword so those that depart from the inward Israel are to be cut off by the Sword of the Spirit For it answers very well that As the Jews were to cut off their Enemies outwardly to establish their Kingdom and outward worship so they were to uphold it the same way But as the Kingdom and Gospel of Christ was not to be established nor propagated by cutting off or destroying the Gentiles but by perswading them so neither is it to be upheld otherwise But
performed in Spirit and in Truth and all of us have our Share and Testimony therein as God moves thereunto Even those who are outwardly silent as these who speak when as both agree together in one Spirit and with one Heart and Soul join together in the same SECTION VI. Of BAPTISM Wherein their Fourth Section concerning Water-Baptism is Answered IN their stating the Question they say The Question is not Whether Infants ought to be Baptized Or who have the Power of Administring Baptism Whereas indeed these Two are a great part of the Question betwixt our Adversary and us For as touching Infant-Baptism R. B. his Thesis doth expresly say It is a meer Human Tradition Infant Baptism an human Tradition and it is well known that all the Quakers so called are of the same Mind and do not the Students undertake to Confute the Quakers Principles How is it then that they leave out so considerable a part of Quakerism as tâ—ey call it Is this Quakerism Canvased to pick and chuse at some and pass by others Yea Infants-Sprinkling with Water on the Forehead is so considerable a part of the Question betwixt them and us that if that be disproved or if they cannot prove that to be a Gospel-Institution they fall short exceedingly seeing that is the only Baptism in use among them of the National Church Again it is so great a part of the Question Who have the power of Administring Baptism that by this the Controversy stands or falls None have Power now to Administer Water-Baptism For one of our main Arguments against Water-Baptism as remaining a Duty upon all Christians is That none are to be found that have the Power to administer it And the Administration cannot be without a lawful Administrator The Question then really is Whether these who have no Immediate Call to administer Water-Baptism as John had have Power to administer it Again Whether those who have no other mediate Call to Baptize but what they have by the Church of Rome which is no true Church as the best Protestants affirm have power to Administer Baptism And this Question is the more proper in this Place seeing J. M. the Students Master confesseth his and his Brethrens Call and Ordination to be by the Church of Rome and that they have no other but what is conveyed down to them from the Apostles Times by that Apostate Church But let us now Examine their Arguments for Water-Baptism in general The First is Baptism with Water is to continue in the Church The Students Argument for its Continuance as long as Christ's Presence is to continue with his Apostles and them who teach the Doctrine that they taught But Christ's Presence is to continue with his Apostles and them who teach the Doctrine that they taught to the End of the World Therefore c. Where it is to be observed That they think all is Safe as to the Minor and therefore they altogether pass it by Now although it is sufficient to invalidate the Argument if the Major be false yet we have somewhat of great moment to say to the Minor that is enough to overturn any Baptism that they have For we put them to explain who these are That all along since the Apostles have taught the Doctrine which the Apostles taught For the Words are liable to divers Senses If they mean the Church of Rome and her Bishops and Teachers we altogether deny that they have taught the same Doctrine which the Apostles taught And we suppose the Students if they follow their Master J. M. will not affirm it And indeed for the same Reason the best primitive Protestants denied that the Church of Rome in their Day had any lawful Ordination at all seeing she continued not in the Apostles Doctrine and Faith As that famous Protestant Sadeel doth argue at great length lib. de legit voc min. where he affirmeth Sadeel's Testimony concerning a Succession of Faith from the Apostles That the Succession of Faith is as the Soul which gives Life to the Succession of the Bishops as unto a Body but that Succession without this Faith is a dead thing and unprofitable Carcase Now the same Reason doth militate as strongly against Water-Baptism and that also called the Supper upon our present Adversaries Principle That none have Power to administer the one or the other but those who have a mediate outward Call conveyed down from the Apostles by a visible Succession of ordained Bishops and Presbyters For we say There hath been no such Visible Succession nor visibly Ordained Bishops and Presbyters who all a long have had the true Faith and taught the true Doctrine of the Apostles therefore their Ordination and Power to administer the Sacraments is void and null And this is further confirmed by the Authority of Cyprian Cyprian of Baptism who taught with great Earnestness That the Baptism of all Hereticks was void and no Baptism But so it is by our Adversaries Confession That the Church and Bishops and Teachers of Rome have been Hereticks for many hundred Years before the Reformation Therefore We say then the Argument is fallacious as to the Minor supposing what is not to be supposed in their Sense viz. That either the Teachers of the Church of Rome or any other claiming a Visible and Mediate Call from the Apostles Times conveyed through a Visible Church unto them have taught the Doctrine which the Apostles taught a thing we altogether deny And it lieth on them to prove But that Christ hath had some all along who have both believed and taught the Doctrine of the Apostles and that his Presence has been with them we acknowledge but we deny that these have been all a long a Visible Church and Teachers having a Mediate Call and Ordination and in this we agree with the best Protestants For indeed the True Church hath been hid even as a few Grains of Corn among an exceeding great Quantity of Chaff and Stubble The True Church hath been hid and she who hath called herself the Church by reason of her outward Succession was not the True Church though some of the True Church lay hidden in her as Corn is hid in a great Quantity of Chaff And that the Church is properly to be placed in the alone Grains of Corn and not in the Chaff Sadeel doth also shew out of Augustine Ep. 48. Another Fault we find in the Students Argument that supposing Water-Baptism had been commanded to the Apostles by Christ Matth. 28. which yet we altogether deny it insinuateth That it was as long to Continue as Christ's Presence with his Church For if Teaching had Continued though Baptism with Water had Discontinued as our Adversaries grant That Anointing with Oil and miraculous Curing the Sick is discontinued yet the Promise was ground enough to encourage them And if all be still binding that Christ Commanded to his Apostles why go they not forth The Partiality of
Fourth or Last Sort is when as Men being truly enlightened 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 but that it ought to be watched against And of these 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 The Pure and Vndefiled Zeal but also from a Renewed and Sanctified Will which moves not of nor from Self but from and for the Lord. SECT III. The Controversy Stated with Respect to the different Sorts of Christians how it is to be fetched from the Nature of their Principles and not from the Practice of Particular Persons True Christian Love the most excellent Virtue THe sum 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 joined but with Purity which it naturally leads to and there-from doth consequentially arise an Indignation and Zeal against Vnrighteousness which True Zeal is justly Commendable and really distinguishable from all false and Ignorant Zeal For the more clear Stating of the Controversy in proceeding in this Matter these following Assertions relating thereto may be Proposed and Affirmed Assertions taken for granted by all sorts of Christians 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 really conduceth to the Salvation of their Souls and so far as they are capable thereof may and ought to be shewed towards them III. That therefore the Good in all ought to be Commended Encouraged and Loved and no true Good either denied rejected or despised because of any Errors peculiar to respective Sects IV. That the Evil either in Opinion or Practice ought neither to be spared year 1677 encouraged nor fomented under any Pretence of Love whatsoever These I shall not enlarge nor yet offer to prove studying to avoid Prolixity because I presume they will be readily Granted and Assented to by all That then which principally comes under Consideration is to Consider and Examine Which of all the several sorts of Christians at this Day do most truly observe these Rules and shew forth most of the true Love and Zeal of God in their Way and Principles avoiding that which is Contrary thereunto Wherein that I may proceed clearly there are some things previous to be warily and seriously weighed As First I. Vnsettled Men Judging others are more reprovable than those others When I speak of the Charity of the several sorts of Christians I speak of such as are settled in their respective Principles as perswading themselves certainly in the Truths and Soundness of them so that their Love and Charity is really to such as they judge and believe are wrong Seeming to have Charity to all and be afraid to judge them from an Vnsettledness in ones self as not knowing which is right or which is wrong is a Virtue of Necessity and not of Choice and proceedeth no ways from the Love of God neither has any Resemblance thereunto For God loves and Compassionates Sinners and such as are out of the way not as being Ignorant or Doubting whether they be such but as really knowing them It were indeed the Height of Madness and Folly for these Vnsettled uncertain and straggling Souls to take the Liberty to Judge others for being Wrong while they profess they know not yet who is Right and who is Wrong being only sure of this that themselves are not come to Rights for they could not in so doing but be Self-condemned Not but I believe that the Condition of such if they be truly forbearing and ready to embrace the good when seen by them is both more Tolerable to others and Safe for themselves than those that are hardily Confident in a wrong Belief from thence forwardly Judging others But this I mention for the sake of certain Men of loose and uncertain Principles who being really Conscious to themselves of their own Vnsettledness finding themselves at a Loss as concerning many of the Controverted Principles of the Christian Religion which is right and which wrong and not finding a ready way to come to any certain Determination therein and being perhaps unwilling to undergo the Trouble and Difficulty of such a Serious Search and Enquiry as well as desirous to avoid these troublesome Circumstances or other Inconveniences which may seem to them necessarily to accompany their Imbodying themselves with any particular People or Fellowship and therefore find it more easie to satisfy and please themselves with some general Notions of practical Truths commonly acknowledged by all and therefore Cover themselves by Condemning that Heat Asperity and severe Censuring that is among the several sorts of Christians one towards another as not consistent with nor suitable to that Love which ought to be in all Christians Whereas poor Men they mind not how much they fall in this Crime and that in a degree far more Reprovable than those they thus Accuse For First Are not they found Guilty of the Want of this Christian Love and Charity 1. Different Opinions in Religion Censuring and Judging each other for that they are found Guilty of themselves that do Judge and Condemn all those several sorts of Christians as Defective in this so principal and necessary a Christian Virtue whereby they do indirectly shut them out from being Christians or Disciples of Jesus For if they judged it an Error Inconsistent with Christian Love and Charity to Condemn or Accuse one another for difference in Opinion why are they found themselves so guilty of it For since this Censuring and Condemning of one another among the several sorts of Christians is practised by them as their Duty and a necessary Consequence of their Doctrine why should these Judge them for it If they say They Condemn them for it because they believe it to be a wrong Principle shall not others be allowed the like Liberty to Condemn Principles they likewise believe to be Wrong One of two then must of necessity hold Either that wrong Doctrines or Opinions may be justly Reproved Confuted and Condemned without Breach of Christian Love and Charity and therefore the so doing amongst the several sorts of Christians upon their own respective Principles in it self simply considered not Evil or Reproveable and therefore these Men wrong in Judging it so Or it is an Evil and inconsistent with Christian Love and Charity to Condemn any sort of Christians
they want of that yet such a Measure of this Light Seed Life and Word is communicated to all as is sufficient truly to Convert them from the Evil of their Ways purify and cleanse them and consequently bring them to Salvation And in the Affirming of this they do not at all Exalt Self or Nature as do the Socinians in that they freely acknowledge that Man's Nature is defiled and corrupted and unable to help him or further him one step in order to Salvation judging nothing more needful than the full and perfect Denying and Mortification of Self in order thereunto Nor do they believe this Seed Light and Grace to be any part of Man's Nature or any thing that Properly and Essentially is of Man but that it is a Free Grace and Gift of God freely given to all Men in order to bring them out of the Fall and lead them to Life Eternal Neither do they suppose this Seed Word and Grace which is sufficient to lead to Salvation to be given to Men without Christ for they believe it to be the Purchase and Benefit of Christ's Death who tasted Death for every Man So that they Confess all to be derived to them in and by Christ the Mediator to whom they Ascribe all Yea they believe this Light Grace and Seed to be no other but a measure of that Life and Spirit that was in Christ Jesus which being in Him who is the Head in the Fulness of it is from Him in whom it Resideth as He is Ascended up unto and Glorified in the Heavens Extended to all Men in order to Redeem them from sin and Convert them to God Thus according to this Principle without Attributing any thing to Self or to the Nature of Man or Claiming any thing without Christ The Vniversal Love of God to all Men is Exhibited whereby the means of Salvation by Christ and Reconciliation unto God is so Asserted that no Man is altogether Excluded from it but each so Reached as puts him in a Capacity to be Saved Such then as Believe and Preach this Doctrine must of necessity be Esteemed great Advancers and Assertors of Vniversal Love as those that truly Establish it not through any Vncertainty or Doubtfulness in themselves but upon their own firm and acknowledged Principle since that doth necessarily Extend their Charity to the not only Supposing Salvation possible to Heathens in the most Barbarous and Unciviliz'd places of the World but even Concluding Salvation possible not only to the several sorts of Christians but even to such who by the Disadvantage of Education and the Remoteness of their Habitation are Ignorant of the Name of Christ. Providing that this Seed Grace Word and Light which is in them all and the Free Gift of God to them all Receive place in their Hearts so as to work out the Fruits and Nature of Vnrighteousness and to beget them unto Righteousness Purity and Holiness which according to this Principle is believed to be very possible where the External Knowledge is thus unavoidably wanting For albeit those who hold this Principle do believe that the outward Knowledge of Christ and those other Advantages which from the Vse of the Scriptures are enjoyed among Christians are very Comfortable and conducing to facilitate Salvation yet they reckon them not absolutely Needful holding them only to be Integral and no Essential parts of Christianity For they place the Essence or Being of Christianity only in the True and Real Conversion of the Heart by vertue of the Operation of this Light Seed and Grace there Let not the Reader thinkstrange that I Assert this Principle and enter not upon the probation of it having done that largely else-where as in my Apology it not being my business here so to do but only to shew how such and such Principles do not agree with Vniversal Love As on the other hand when I make mention of other Principles I do not offer to Refute them it being enough here to demonstrate that they are Contrary to Vniversal Love Even as the Essence and Being of a Man Consists in the Vnity of Soul and Body which is enough to Denominate one a Man albeit he should want a Leg or an Arm an Eye or an Ear or have some other Defect or even should be destitute of some of the Faculties of the mind as of the Memory c. that other Men have yet such a one would still and that truly be called a Man albeit not a Compleat and Entire Man Yea those that live in the most Barbarous and Vnciviliz'd places of the World where they are destitute and ignorant of all the Liberal Arts and Sciences used among us and of all those Conveniences which so much Conduce to the facilitating of Humane Society and accommodating of Man-kind in their Living together I say those are still truly accounted Men as having that which is truly Essential or Constitutive of a Man as such In like manner this Principle supposeth the possibility of Salvation both to those commonly called Heathens and to many among the Dark and Erroneous Sects of Christianity in that this Essential Part of Christianity is Extended to them albeit they want those other Integrals and Comfortable parts which may in and with respect to the Spiritual Man be fitly Compared to these Defects that those Barbarous Nations want which we Enjoy as to the Natural Man As none can deny but this Principle is most agreeing to Vniversal Love so the Practice of all even of those that deny it doth evidence and shew how agreeable it is as well to the Love of God as to Right Reason where when ever any of the Sects 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 Vniversal 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 Baptism Franc. Xavier his Letter of the Conversion of the Japonians were straitned with an odious and troublesome Scruple to wit That God seemed not unto them Merciful and Benign 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 Ancients Taught by Nature not to Kill c. 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 Trial 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 it 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 Man's Heart before all Laws made by Man This Reason was so manifest to them that they were fully satisfied and so being delivered from these Snares did easily subject themselves to the sweet Yoak of Christ. Thus far Xaverius Thus it may seem that to satisfy these Japonians that their Fore-fathers were not all necessarily Damned and to shew that the Vniversal Love of God reached unto them to put them in a Capacity of Salvation This Cunning Jesuite could not find another way than 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 II. That by vertue of that Light Men may be Converted and become Members of the Church without which is no Salvation 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 Vniversal Love For by vertue of this Seed and Light Extended by Christ unto the Hearts of all it being supposed That Men may thereby be truly Converted and consequentially Vnited to Christ it naturally follows That such may 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 Sense 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 Vniversal 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 however others to whom they have never been Revealed nor Required might have been Saved without them III. That God by his Spirit Reveals his Will Immediately in the hearts of all true Christians 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 Vniversal Love so this People in another Chief Principle of theirs do greatly shew it For as by the Preaching of this Vniversal 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 led 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 led by the Spirit of God only to themselves nor stint it to singular and Extraordinary Occasions but hold it forth as a Common and Vniversal Priviledge to all true Christians and Members of the Church Now this Doctrine greatly Commends the Love of God and Establisheth the Principle of Vniversal Love in that it shews how Vniversally God hath offered this Blessed Priviledge to all in that He hath given his Light unto all upon the receiving of which this Immediate Guidance of the Spirit followeth as a necessary Concomitant For such as deny this Immediate Revelation of God's Will by his Spirit in the Hearts of his Children to be a Common and Vniversal Priviledge to all true Christians and Members of the Church must needs suppose the Knowledge of his Will Necessary for them to be Communicated to them by some other External Means as by outward Writings and Precepts insomuch that all such as are robbed of this Benefit are necessarily Excluded from
to a Dispute as if a man for removing of Mistakes and Mis-representations could not give an Account of his Faith without it be Esteemed a Provocation to Dispute If he really believes I intended so I must tell him he is greatly Mistaken and I Apprehend I should know my own Intentions large as well as he He is offended that our Doctrines should be thought as different from Papists as Protestants but with how little ground will after appear And he also refers it to a fitter Probation Then after he has knocked as hard as he can upon me for my Confidence he tells me That there is little said by me but what was Refuted ere I was Born by the Orthodox Writing against Pelagians Socinians Arminians Enthusiasts Anabaptists and Papists But methinks then there was the less need of troubling the World with his Volume Yet he has for that a ready Salvo He must Answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own Conceit Some other Reasons he adds for Ingaging in this his Work which the Reader may judge of whether they be of any Weight ¶ 3. As he goes on he is greatly Offended I should Style my self a Servant of the Lord and will have it to be upon no better ground than Thomas Muncer and the Annabaptists of Munster But because all this is founded upon the Supposition of my being a false Prophet and Preaching another Gospel than the true we must leave it to the Reader 's Judgment after he has taken time to Consider of the Whole Debate But because he speaks here of the producing Credentials Which are the Priest's Credentials for his Ministry pretended I would willingly have him producing his Credentials for being a Minister of the Gospel and it may be then seen if I cannot produce as valid for any thing I Style my self only he must remember That as his must have something more than his own Affirmation or those of his party so he must overturn mine with some stronger Arguments than meer Railing ¶ 4. He needs not Apprehend as he would Insinuate That the Omission of any words in the Theses perfixed to the Apology proceeds from my being Ashamed of the name QVAKER since himself bears witness in the very same page that I fully Acknowledg it in the Explanation of the Eleventh Thesis Here he has a Descant upon Trembling and seems to strange that any Quaker should bring the Example of Moses and Habbakkuk to shew that such a thing was not so much to be wondred at in the Saints but why this should be Esteemed Impertinent by him he doth not tell us As for the foaming at the mouth he talks of both here and elsewhere it is Returned upon him as a Calumny and he is desired to prove it but it must be by some more Credible and Impartial Testimony than his Mr. Stalham for Parties use not to be Admitted as Witnesses For his denominating us by that Name of Distinction I shall not quarrel But as for his Insinuation in the beginning of page 5. where he saith It is like J. B.'s malitious Insinuation against our owning the H. Scriptures and Schools of Learning we would gladly have them casting away their Bibles as no more to be regarded than the Turks Alcoran it bespeaketh the Height of Malice as to which I shall only say The Lord forgive him for so gross a Calumny which he that is the Searcher of Hearts knows to be a most horrible Lie He goes on after his usual manner saying I inveigh against all Humane Learning that hath been any ways made use of in Theology but where he finds this Asserted by me I know not Whether the Words he would deduce it from to wit That Man has rendred the plain and naked Truth obscure and mysterious by his Wisdom will bear such a Consequence is left to the Reader 's Judgment But he thinks he has found out our Secret Design of being against Learning and Schools of Learning which is neither our Affirmation nor Principle but his own false Supposition We would saith he have all those Banished that we might the more easily prevail with our Errors But methinks the Man should be more wary in venting his own false Imaginations unless he could bring some ground for them For his Assertion is so far Vntrue that if he had been rightly Informed he might have known that we have set up Schools of Learning for Teaching of the Languages and other needful Arts and Sciences and that we never denied its Vsefulness Only we denied it to be a Qualification absolutely necessary for a Minister in which Case alone we have Opposed its Necessity ¶ 5. He Confesseth I speak not amiss in saying The World is overburthened with Books but thinks that my Apology of Fifty Sheets adds some Considerable Weight But methinks he of all Men should have here been Silent who has troubled the World with an Examination of it a great deal Larger albeit he Confesseth All that is in it hath been Refuted by the Orthodox long ago And not only so but since that he has Written a Book near Twice as Large upon one Point to prove the First Day of the Week to be the Christian Sabbath and yet is but the First Time and seems but to be the Porch of what he intends upon that Subject With his Vsual Candor he saith I am against Disputes and Debates or Books written of that Nature Solid Controversy for clearing the Truth useful But to infer simply That I am against all such because I Reprove the vain Jangling that hath been and is among the School-Men is an ill Consequence He shall not find me any where speaking against useful and solid Controversies for clearing and maintaining of Truth He seemeth not to disapprove what I speak against School-Divinity Confessing the Abuse of it albeit he thinks it hath been of Vse And as for this Imagination of my being Acquainted with it we will place it among his other Mistakes He proceedeth page 8. to say I am against the Labours of those that have writ Commentaries but his Conclusion here is like others of this Nature When I mention Commentaries it is with Relation to what goes before He will not deny but Many Books are written under the Notion of Commentaries on the Scripture by which the Truth has been more Darkened than Cleared will it therefore follow that he Condemns Commentaries indefinitly As for such Writings tending to the Opening of the Scripture in which the Authors are Acted and Influenced by the same Spirit from which the Scriptures came and which alone can give the True Meaning of them I am so far from Condemning them that I highly Approve them as very Beneficial to the Church of Christ. As for his Talk here of our Disrespect to the Scriptures I shall have occasion to take Notice of it where they are particularly treated of But he is Apt to think that the real ground of my
Prejudice against such Books is because so much is to be found in them against my Old Errors for I cannot but know saith he that whoever reads these must see my Nakedness and Folly without much Study As for this Imagination we must take it with much more upon Trust but this helps to prove the Needlesness of his large Examination ¶ 6. At his usual rate of Perverting he goes on to say That the Account I make of all the Learned Men of the World is that they are Scribes and Disputers of the World c. But for proof of this we have nothing He Confesseth the Words to be those of the Apostle and how he proveth that I have a different Meaning from the Apostle I know not After he hath Commended his Learned Men and loaded the Quakers with Reproaches he concludes this Paragraph page 8. with another Falshood and yet he will have it Remarked to wit That according to my Judgment the Pure and Naked Truth of God was never unfolded nor Declared until the Generation of the Quakers arose But where he finds me saying so he tells not and indeed cannot since such a thing was never Asserted by me For Answer to my saying That God has laid aside the Wise and Learned and made use of Illiterate Men as to Letter-Learning after he saith It is Affirmed without Proof not considering how Improper it was not to Expect any formal Probation upon the Occasion and manner it was delivered he gives us divers Citations out of the Apostle Paul warning against Seducers All which I acknowledge to be True but the Question lieth in the right Application And yet since albeit he believes they very Appositly agree to us he thinks it not his present Business to Demonstrate it it will need no Reply After he has proceeded in his Tenth page according to his usual sort of Railing affirming the great Difference betwixt our Doctrine and that of the Apostles he brings forth a mighty Charge That I usurp the Throne of God and Judge of Men's Hearts and Intentions but how Guilty himself is of that Crime hath been in part already shewn and will hereafter more appear But why do I so because I say The Clergy have Clouded the Truth The Clergy Clouding the Truth that the People might Admire and Maintain them that the Common People might Maintain and Admire them But have not Protestants and that truly Asserted this of the Popish Clergy and is not the Thesis directed to such Will it not then hold True according to his own Judgment of a great yea the greatest Part of those to whom it is directed what then will become of his Clamours Yea if it were needful I could give Instances of very Mean Thoughts he and his Party have of many of the Protestant Clergy yea and Reflections not much if any thing inferiour to this to verify with how little Ground he quarrelleth me here As for his Malitious Aspersion That there are shrewd Presumptions our Stock lies at Rome he should have produced some of them if he could We could never yet Obtain for this Old Calumny from our Adversaries the least Probation and it will be found as hard for him to prove it as he may think it for such who strongly Affirm Their great IDOL the COVENANT was Contrived at Rome and came from thence As for his Reflections upon our Church as being All Eyes and Ears it will be proper to speak of it in its own Place Next to prove the Positions of the Quakers to be such as overturn and destroy the Gospel he bringeth page 11. divers Citations out of Mr. Norton and Mr. Stalham as he terms them adding More may be had out of Mr. Hicks J. B.'s False witnesses contributing to his bulky Book But such Witnesses will have small Credit with Impartial Readers If he himself had dealt Impartially he should have first read our Answers to them ere he had given them such Authority It were Easie for me by way of Reply to Transcribe what our Friends have written particularly by way of Answer to them did I as much Affect to have my Writings bulky as it seems he doth He closeth up this with a Fit of Railing and after he has quarrelled me pag. 12. for having an high Conceit as he imagines of my Theses he falls fresh to that Work again telling They have Weight to sink into the bottomless Pit the poor Soul that embraces them I never sought any should Receive Doctrines as Truth upon my Bare Testimony and therefore he needs not Vpbraid me with so doing And whereas on the Contrary as himself immediately Observes I leave what I say to the LIGHT in every Man's Conscience it shews with how little Reason he made his former Alledgance After he has pleased himself with making an Impertinent Conjecture of the Import of these Words that so he might if he could render them Ridiculous he cometh at last to the True Vnderstanding of them And truly he needed not fear at my being offended that he should make a Judgment of what I writ according to his Conscience but he went the wrong way to Work when his Labour is to pervert and wrest and make them speak what they do not This apparently proceeds from Malice and Prejudice and the Light of his Conscience if he had minded it would never have prompted him so to do Thus I am come to the End of the First Chapter ¶ 7. In the Second Chapter Intituled Of the true Ground of Knowledge I find he cannot Contradict what is Asserted by me only because he must be Carping he makes a Noise that Joh. 17.3 cited by me So much of the Sentence was not set down in the First as Second Edition What a pitiful Cavil this is the Reader may easily judge since the Place was noted it was enough though never a Word had been set down but this with him is a bad Omen Let the Judicious judge of this Man's Judgment in the Matter But because he cannot Quarrel at what is said he will quarrel That so much is not said as he judged meet But he may be pleased to understand that I judged my self under no Necessity to Advise with him what was Needful for me to Write But saith he since I take upon me to Teach the whole World it is strange it should be so Natural for this Man to write Vntruths since I direct my Theses only to the Christian World But if it may render me odious such Peccadillo's pass with him it seems but for Piae Fraudes I intended never to write of those things concerning which we do not differ from others But let us see wherein he accounts me Defective I have Written nothing saith he of the Nature and Attributes of God I write not to Atheists but Christians who already acknowledge and I judge it not my Work to write Books to perswade Men of that they already profess to believe But I write not Expresly and
luck was himself was Judge What he would Infer hence I see not unless that their Version is free of Errors which if he will adventure to Affirm his Mistake may be shewn by the Testimony of Learned Men among themselves and his own Correcting it divers times which will after be Observed He saith My speaking soberly of the Scriptures is only out of Policy because the Quakers could not effectuate their point which was to have the Scriptures quite laid by as an Old Almanack But such malitious Lies and Railings need no Answer J. B.'s gross Calumnies denying our using Scripture-Testimonies To this he adds two other gross Calumnies to Conclude his Paragraph That it is the Quakers fixed Opinion that the Scriptures are not to be made use of in their Assemblies it being below them to Expound any Portion of it there or to Adduce any Testimony there-from for Confirmation of their Assertions This can be proved to be a Manifest Vntruth by the Testimony of many that are not Quakers who have been Witnesses of the Contrary The other which he calleth Their Constant Opinion is That when one cometh to hearken to the Light within he hath obtained the whole End of the Scriptures so that they become wholly useless to him This is also a horrid Calumny ¶ 10. In his Examining of what I Assert to be the End and Vsefulness of the Scriptures p. 83.84 he cannot find fault with what I Ascribe to them but that I give them not all and whether I do wrong denying that to them which he would seem to give the former Debate will shew But that he may be here like himself he seeks to Infer from my words most gross and malitious Consequences which are utterly false and till he prove them they need no other Answer but to observe them and deny them which I utterly do Such as That albeit Christ has ordained Pastors J. B's false Insinuations against our Asserting the Vsefulness and Truth of the Scriptures and the Scriptures under the Gospel to make the Man of God perfect yet the Quakers think they may be both laid aside as useless That according to me the Scriptures are not so much as a Subordinare Rule That the Quakers would have all others save themselves to look upon themselves as not concerned in the Scriptures that so they might be the sole Keepers of these Oracles and then he saith they shall quickly know what shall become of them And that the Quakers always suppose that what the Spirit within them saith cannot contradict the Scripture and therefore what they say contrary to the Scripture from the Spirit within must be supposed to be seeming and not real This he Repeats again according to his Custom in the next page If he mean the Spirit of God I hope he will not deny it and if he mean any other Spirit we deny it But he would be fastening that upon us here which may be justly said to them of their Exalting their Confession of Faith above the Scriptures as in the first Section upon his Preface I observed But he hath an Objection which he urgeth p. 67. and by which he thinks to overturn all asking If I believe the Testimony of the Scriptures to be True Yes I do believe them because the Testimony of the Spirit in my heart obligeth me so to do and therefore being perswaded they are True I make use of them though in respect to my self not in the first and primary place but in a secondary next to the Spirit yet as to him I may urge them every way because he accounts them so And as to their Testimony for the Spirit 's being the Principal Leader upon my using of which he founds his Objection albeit since he acknowledgeth it he has the less Reason to Carp at it I believe it from the Scripture-Testimony but not as the primary Ground of my Faith which I derive from the Spirit it self yet as a Ground and that a Very weighty One. As for his other Question Whether I be of the fame mind with other Quakers of whom Mr. Hicks Reporteth I answer That what is there Reported by Hicks is false and I here dare J. B. and his Author Hicks to prove it to have been said by any Quaker which till they can do by good and sufficient Proof they are both to be held as Lying Calumniators SECT V. Wherein his Fifth and Sixth Chapters Intituled by him Of Man's Natural State and Of Original Sin are Considered 1. AFter he has Repeated some of my words he Complains I speak darkly and having given his usual malitious Insinuations that I do it of Design and have some Mysteries under it He takes upon him to endeavour to guess at my Meaning and bestows many Pages to frame one Conjecture after another and then spends many words to Refute these Shadows and Men of Straw of his own making And yet at the end of all he Confesses He doubts whether he has got or hit my Meaning J. B. Confesses himself in the Dark with Trying his uncertain Conjectures And to be sure then he must be as Vncertain that he has Refuted it and therefore knoweth not but all his Reasonings against his own Conjectures are Impertinent For after he hath written one Conjecture and bestows much labour in Refuting it his own words are p. 91. n 5. If this be not his true meaning let us try another Conjecture which shews he knows not whether what he said before was to the purpose Thus he spendeth pag. 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98. in which last Page he is very Angry that I should Condemn the Socinians and Pelagians but the Reason is manifest because he would so willingly have it believed that I am one with them And albeit I could not in Reason be Obliged to say any thing more to these Pages yet that none of these fictitious and false Conjectures may catch any unwary Reader I do freely Affirm that I believe Man fell and was degenerated both as to Soul and Body and I understand the first Adam or Earthly Man to Comprehend both But that there was something in Adam which was no part of his Soul and Body nor yet Constitutive of his being a Man in my Judgment which could not degenerate The Fall of Man and the Breath of lives Spiraculum Vitarum remaining in Adam and which was in Adam by the Fall Reduced to a Seed and could never have been Raised in him again to his Comfort but by a New Visitation of Life which from Christ by the Promise was Administred unto him and is to all Men in a Day for to say the affirming such a Seed remained in Adam when he fell doth Infer his Vnderstanding was not hurt and as he doth p. 94. is a Consequence I deny and remains for him to prove That to believe there was such a thing in Adam which the Scripture calleth Spiraculum vitarum the Breath of
Singular Number as if thence he would Infer that One Sin is only Transmitted But how he proves his Consequence thence he has not shewen For albeit by that first Offence he gave Entrance for Sin that being his First yet it will not follow he then ceased to be a publick Person and if not nothing can be proved from granting him to be such as is above observed As by the Offence of one c. Objected Next the Words are The Offence of one and not One Offence as he would Insinuate which though in the Singular Number may include many yea all his Offences For whatever way he seek to urge this from this Place as to Adam the parallel will allow it to be Interpreted of Christ where the Apostle speaking of his Righteousness useth also the Singular Number and thence according to him we might say that it is only the first Act of Christ's Righteousness that is Imputed unto us and none of the rest so that we have nothing to do with his Death Sufferings and Resurrection What thinks he now of his own Divinity Let him loose his Knot the next time to give him one of his own modestest Proverbs The Absurdity he seeks to draw from denying this Consequence of his being a publick Person That if Adam had stood Infants should have no Advantage by him since they have no hurt by his Fall Toucheth not me at all who no where say That Infants have no Hurt by Adam's Fall Adam by his Fall became obnoxious to Temptations Adam by his Fall lost his Glory his Strength his Dominion by which he could have easily withstood the Devil and came under great Weakness whereby the Enemy's Tentations had a ready Access to him and he became very obnoxious to fall under them And so all his Posterity are come under the same Weakness and Obnoxiousness to the Enemy's Tentations who influenceth them by Entring into them and powerfully Inclining them to Sin and this malignant Influence is that Seed of Sin in all Men whereunto they become obnoxious by reason of the Fall which though in it self really Sin yet is it not Man's but the Devil 's until Man give Way to it But I deny not but the least yielding is Man's Sin among which I reckon Concupiscence to be one and so differ from Papists For albeit the Tentation simply considered or as presented by the Devil be not Man's Sin yet if he have the least Love or Desire to it albeit he join not Actually that shews his Mind is already defiled and corrupted and that he is become a Partaker of it Thus are answered his Reasonings and Questionings How this Seed of Sin can be and yet not the Persons Sin p. 121 122 c. as the Reader by Comparing may observe Only it is remarkable p. 121. where he seems to put a great Stress upon the Judgment of Augustin and citing him he brings him in saying these Words among others concerning Infants Shall they sin that are under no Command Now since they Infants are under no Law who are under no Command are under no Law for every Law imports a Command how will he reconcile this saying or his Holy Father which he brings as a matter of Authority with his accounting it both foolish and strange in me p. 119. to prove Children are under no Law J. B. taken in his own Snare So that either the Authority of Augustin he brings is not to be regarded or his Reasonings to prove Children under a Law that is a Command must be naught let him chuse which he will and clear himself of Impertinency His Argument in this page That as the Seed of Grace denominates a Man gracious even while not exercising works of Grace so the Seed of Sin must denominate a Man sinful is but a begging of the Question as in its place will appear when I come to treat of the Seed of Grace ¶ 7. When he cometh p. 123. n. 18. to Reply to my Answer to their Objection Rom. 5.12 among his preliminary Observations the first is very proper where he saith It is observable the Apostle makes Comparison betwixt Adam and Christ. I answer As Christ's Righteousness so Adam's Vnrighteousness is not Imputed to Men before actual Joining with either It is indeed so for as the Righteousness of Christ is not imputed to Men for Justification until they actually Join with it or apprehend it by Faith as himself will acknowledge for I suppose by his accounting the Antinomians Hereticks he will not with them affirm that Men are Justified before they believe so neither is the Vnrighteousness and Disobedience of Adam Imputed to Men for Condemnation until they actually Join with it but this Comparison spoils all his Doctrine Then after he has beg'd the Question a while by meer Allegations affirming his Doctrine to be so clear from the Apostle's words that it cannot be Contradicted without doing violence to the Text he forms an Argument thus That Sin which is so described to us by the Apostle that he saith it brought Death upon all Men that Men sinned by it and were made Sinners even they who could not as yet actually Sin that thereby all became guilty of Death and of Condemnation that Sin by Imputation is the Sin of the whole Nature included in Adam and rendreth the whole Nature obnoxious to Death and to Condemnation But The first Sin of Adam is described to us by the Apostle c. Ergo That Sin is the Sin of Nature c. This Argument may perhaps satisfy such as are already Proselites of his Theam but will not Convince one that either believes other ways or doubts since the Major is a meer begging of the Question And if any thing be a foisting-in of words to the Text this must be it since he foists-in the thing in Debate and words not in the Text such as Even they J. B. foist 's in words of his own to deceive his Reader who could not as yet actually Sin and joineth them with the words of the Text without distinction and not as an Interpretation that his unwary Reader may Conclude them to be of the Text. And yet the Man has the Impudence in the same page to Accuse me of Intolerable Boldness as foisting words into the Text while I expresly shew it is but an Interpretation by saying That is c. so much is he blinded with Self-Interest but I am Content there be neither Addition nor so much as Consequence made use of Let him shew me the plain Scripture that saith Infants are guilty of Adam 's Sin If he say It must be necessarily Inferred from these words in whom all have sinned I say it as necessarily follows that it is only to be understood of all that could sin which Infants could not as not being under any Law as I have above proved and Augustin whom he so much reverenceth doth affirm if his Citation from him be true And
being a Theam much debated and Common to us with others I might pass it by with a Reference to those Authors who largely Treat of them yet I will take notice of what he saith in direct Answer to what by me is Affirmed And first as for his Accusation of me as not being positive and punctual enough in setting down my Judgment of the Decrees of Election and Reprobation It is of no weight All do at Times Confess That it is not Safe nor Proper too curiously to Inquire into the Decrees of God though this Man dive into them and be as positive in telling the several Causes of them as if he were upon the Secret Counsel of the Almighty I judge I have said that which is needful and sufficient God calleth every Man to Repentance and Salvation who has not fore-ordained any to be Damned to wit that God calleth Every Man Every where to Repent and be Saved through Faith in Jesus Christ who tasted Death for every Every Man and is given for a Light to inlighten the Gentiles and to be God's Salvation to the Ends of the Earth And therefore that Every Man ought to Apply himself to Repent and Believe and Obey without believing That God has fore-ordained him to be Damned and therefore has with-held from him Grace and Power to do what he finds himself Commanded and Obliged to do Which if it were true as he supposeth it to be of most Men there can be no Reason Why they ought not to believe the Truth If he say they either ought or need not because they know it not Let him remember what Pains he has been at in the former Chapter to prove That Ignorance of a Truth doth not take away the Obligation of believing it So he must either overturn all or be Content this Absurdity stick to his Doctrine As for his saying That the Opposers of it do Arraign God and give a Sign of their Pride and Arrogancy because they cannot Comprehend it with their Corrupt and Blinded Vnderstandings it is but a silly begging of the Question And supposing it to be true thus every Impostor might Intrude upon Sober Christians Wild Absurd and Non-sensical Notions contrary to God's Justice and Mercy and because they would not Accept of them tell them They Arraign God are proud and arrogant and not receiving the Truth because not Comprehended by their Corrupt Vnderstandings Would not this thinks he be wisely Reasoned But pag. 135. n. 3. he thinks I run so furiously against this Doctrine that I run my self blind And why so because I say They Affirm That God did predestinate to Everlasting Damnation the most part of Men without any respect had to their Sin only to demonstrate the Glory of his Justice And upon this he Rants as a ridiculous and false Representation of their Meaning But this Storm is quickly blown away for all his great Noise For their Westminster Confession of Faith saith Ch. 3. expresly Westminster Confession falsly says That some are Ordained by God for Wrath. That GOD ordained such as are not Elected for Dishonour and Wrath to the Praise of his Glorious Justice And the same Confession saith in the same Chapter That nothing future or what was to come even as fore-seen by God was the Cause of God's Decree and this himself also affirms p. 137 138 139. What then is become of all his Boast But if he place it here and say Sin became the Cause so soon as To demonstrate the Glory of his Justice became the End and therefore they say It was for their Sin he so Decreed This may serve for a Rattle to please Fools and Children but not such as are spiritually Wise and look more narrowly unto things since they so manifestly Contradict themselves telling Sin nor any future thing is not the Cause of God's Decree and yet in a few Lines That God Ordained or Decreed Men to Wrath for their Sin to manifest the Glory of his Justice Which is as much as to say God Decreed Men to be Damned without respect to Sin and yet he decreed them to be damned for their Sin How makes he this hang together by Scripture-Proofs Besides all will Confess that the Cause of all God's Decrees is his own Glory which is exerted in his Divine Attributes whereof Justice is one so that this must be a Cause before Sin can have any Place to be a Cause since they deny it has any He tells me p. 136. n. 5. That the Orthodox have written copiously on this Subject and very far above my Reach There was the less need then for him to write so many pages upon it which must be little but a Transcribing out of their Writings unless he think he has written more accurately and copiously than any of them which I judge he will hardly affirm I might easily If I would trouble the Reader with a tedious Discourse also Transcribe an Answer out of those who write Copiously against these his supposed Orthodox but truly Heterodox men but I rather chuse to pass it by not affecting to be Admired for the Bulk of my Writings to come to what he saith directly in Answer to me which is the Business properly in hand ¶ 2. After he has premised what he thinks meet he comes p. 143. n. 12. to take notice of what I say and first wherein I misrepresent them in which he saith he has found no less than twelve Vntruths But how Vntrue this Assertion is shall shortly appear The first is that I say God for perfecting of this that is for bringing his Decree to pass did appoint that these miserable Souls should necessarily sin this he saith is a Mistake But if the Testimonies of Calvin Zanchius Piscator and others cited by me whose Testimonies must have more Weight than his to prove the Calvinists Principle in this do not prove this to be no Mistake Calvinists Principle That God Predestinates Men to Sin and to the Causes of it then I may Conclude that 2 and 3 makes not 5. Calvin saith That God not only predestinated Men to Sin but to the Causes of it which is Sin The Reader may look the other Passage of it in my Apology Several of his other Vntruths p. 144. he builds upon supposing that I Insinuate That they believe the Gospel is once preached to every person That every Reprobate had the Knowledge of Christ and that God had given to every one that heareth the Gospel sufficient Grace to embrace it But truly I was never so Mad as to Insinuate they believed these things for not believing of which I Condemn them Neither will his Pedantism upon the Word subtrahendo make it out since to Withdraw or With hold may be said of things that Man never had without any great Impropriety And yet according to him all Men had a Will and Power to obey God's Law in Adam so his Ordaining Adam should fall was even in that Sense a Withdrawing of what
to pervert it as he doth in this Chapter throughout affirming It to be my belief that every Man has Power and Ability moral to lay hold of Salvation and that there is not Requisite thereunto any new Grant of Grace and Divine help to quicken the Man he has a stock from his Mother's Womb which is sufficient This he calls the Proper and Native face of my Doctrine and this he putteth down as my Opinion and charges me with it p. 214. And p. 218. he saith it further Without any Concurrence of Divine Grace pag. 220. he saith I Conclude Man has power to believe and obey the Gospel without the Spirit of God as also the like p. 221. twice And p. 222. he saith I Conclude That the Wicked have power of themselves without the Spirit of Regeneration and Grace to do what is commanded in reference to Life Eternal and further p. 223 224 and 226. he affirmeth the like of me which is utterly false and was never Believed nor Asserted by me And its observable that in all these places where he thus Charges me he doth not so much as once point to any one page in my Apology and not only so but not so much as from the Words or Writings of any other Quaker borrowed from some of his usual Authors which is his most frequent Refuge And therefore the Reader may judge what he builds upon his False Supposition or batters against it falls to the ground without further Refutation After he has branded this Brat of his own begetting p. 214. with Pelagianism Jesuitism Arminianism and Socinianism thence accusing the boldness and confidence of the Quakers and of my self in particular in terming it a New Discovery of ours he endeth this page with a Fit of Railing and beginneth in his next to Wonder how the Heathens can be said to have a day of Visitation The Heathens have a day of Visitation since nothing can be called a day of Visitation in reference to Salvation but what is in and through the Preaching of the Gospel But this Wonder is built upon his Supposition that the Preaching of the Gospel is no where but where there is an outward Administration of it wherein his Mistake will come hereafter to be manifested into which Mistake he falls in the next page and elsewhere in this Chapter where I shall pass it over until I come to speak of it in its proper place To none God denies the Means of Salvation In this page 215. he thinketh that since I Affirm their Doctrine makes God unjust as denying to some the means of Salvation that which I affirm may be likewise so charged because some may think God is not just in not granting to all an equally long Day of Visitation But the Question is not what some may think but whether these Thoughts be built upon Justice and Reason All Men know it is manifest Injustice to punish a Man and torment him for non-performance of that which he that Commands him to perform has by an invincible Necessity barred and hindered him from doing and therefore to suppose this of the most-just God must be a great Error and Abuse But it is no Injustice to punish a Man for not performing that which he had received sufficient Power to do albeit another had received more to say so is like the Labourers whom Christ Reproves in the Parable for murmuring that those that came-in after them received equal Wages with them Matth. 20.12 13 14. That the preaching of the Gospel is not a Mocking of those whose Day of Visitation is Expired as it is to the Reprobates among them I have in the former Section shewen But he asketh here Obdurateness or hardness of Heart when begotten Whether such become obdured before or after their Day of Visitation be expired What if I shall say both though not in the same manner and degree It was before Removeable but not after since albeit simply considered the same and always pardonable yet with a Respect to certain Persons and their Circumstances unpardonable or not pardonable That God permitteth Sin to be in the World I never denied nor accused their Divines for so saying But whereas he saith It is a manifest untruth that I would make the Reader believe they say God doth Impell Men to sin necessarily he seeketh to hide their Doctrine and beguile the simple Reader Calvinistâ— blasphemous Doctrine of God's forcing decreeing Men to Sin Since P. Martyr upon Rom. 1. saith expressly That God forceth the Will of Wicked Men unto great Sins And Piscator saith That the Wicked are absolutely Decreed Necessarily to sin and therefore to sin that they may be justly punished Now these being More Eminent Divines among them than I suppose J. B. presumes for all his Scribbling he is to be Accounted The Reader may judge and by the passages elsewhere cited by me Whether he doth not here most untruly Charge me with an Vntruth That the Sins charged upon the Gentiles were only such as were against the Light of Nature he has affirmed p. 217. but not proved For the great reason of their Condemnation is because What was to be known of God is manifest in them and that this is not only the Light of Nature will after appear If what he urges from Rom. 11. concerning the Jews and the Imprecation those brought upon themselves who said His Blood be upon us and upon our Children hold True we must suppose no Jew since that saying of Paul and Barnabas Act. 13.46 to have been really Converted But how came any of them to be Converted before since that Imprecation was long before Paul and Barnabas spake these Words of their turning to the Gentiles and according to this Reasoning all the Preaching of the Gospel which the Jews have since heard and do hear is in Vain I have sufficiently explained The Day of God's Visitation to Man spoken of what I mean by this Day of God's Visitation to every Man in the explication of the 5 and 6 Theses in my Apology N. 17. And albeit he thiâ—k otherwise as I know I have satisfied many Moderate Readers who are not Quakers so I hope to have satisfied all that are truly Vnprejudicate After he has p. 218. given large Citations to shew their Doctrine out of the Confession of Faith and Catechism and thereafter made a kind of Preachment thereupon he comes at last p. 221. to Examin the Proofs I bring for my Assertion ¶ 2. And first to my Argument drawn from the Reproofs in Scripture to Men for rejecting of God's Visitation and Love he answers That my Proposition is Vniversal and these Complaints and Reproofs only particular and so can prove nothing The like he answereth p. 224. to what I urge from Esai 5.1.2 3 4. where the Vineyard is Expostulated with as likewise Mat. 23.33 Mark 12.1 Luk. 20.9 and p. 225. To what I urge from Mat. 23.37 Luk. 13.34 and 19.41 42. where Christ
saved amount to but that their Damnation is of themselves which all acknowledge And if he think it is Absurd to say Any that are saved might have been damned why is Salvation preached to any or to what end is pains bestowed upon any in order to Salvation or how doth that signify any thing really to their Salvation if Damnation was altogether Impossible to them When he has sufficiently answered this he will solve his own Difficulties But because the Man will always be nibbling where he cannot give a solid Answer therefore he falls a quarrelling at some Comparisons brought by me p. 273-275-277 shewing they do not hit in that for which I did not bring them whereas I took notice that the Comparison did not hit every way since All Comparisons claudicant The first is because I say That Grace softens the Heart as the Fire softens the Wax therefore he concludes That according to me Grace doth not Change the Heart because Fire Changeth not the Nature of the Iron and what then It was only with a respect to the softning that I brought the Comparison albeit had he been a good Chymist he might have known By Fire the Nature of Metals may be changed also that by the Fire the Nature of Metals may be Changed also The Example Of the Sun's hardning Clay and softning Wax was brought by me to shew That the Sun loseth not its Effect though the Operation in the subject be different and for no more albeit the Sun also work a Disposition towards the producing its Effect in some Creatures which by their Resisting or Not-resisting may be hindered ¶ 8. When he cometh p. 277. to Examin the Proofs I bring to prove the Necessity of this Grace to Salvation he mistakes the End for which I bring them and thence either alledgeth upon me false Insinuations or judgeth them Insufficient for not proving of that for which they were never intended For the End for which I bring these Proofs here is to shew that whatever use profitableness or necessity of believing to those to whom they are Revealed may be in outward Knowledge yet Salvation chiefly depends upon the Inward Work of Grace bringing about Regeneration in the Soul and this in order to shew that where this is wrought albeit the outward be wanting Salvation will follow Now when he sheweth this is not proved by the Arguments I here bring he may be answered and till then it is in vain for him to say I would infer a destroying of the Ordinances of Christ which is false or That this doth not prove that this common and sufficient Grace is able to Effectuate the New Birth that not being the matter here to be proved Pag. 178. N. 13. He denieth the New Creation spoken of 2 Cor. 5.16 17. proceedeth from this Light and Grace But his Mistake herein will be shew'n hereafter from Tit. 2.11 when I come to speak of that place He saith That the Manifestation of the Spirit given to every one spoken of 1 Cor. 12.7 is only understood of those within the Church but for this giveth no Proof If there be an Enumeration made of all the several Virtues wrought by it in the Visible Church it doth not thence follow that none have it without it The Text saith It is given to every Man Indefinitely and Absolutely not to every one only within the Church that remains for him to prove He would fasten a Contradiction upon me p. 279. N. 14. because I fay The Seed is small in its first Manifestation and though it be hid in the earthy part of Man's Heart because a thing cannot be both hid and manifest And upon this he Triumphs as if he had discovered a great Absurdity But doth he not know That that may be said to be hid with respect to a great and clear and full manifestation which yet may be in some respect manifest at sometimes I do not say That absolutely it is hid and manifest at one and the same time In answer to Luke 17.20 21. brought by me where Christ saith The Kingdom of God is in the Pharisees he tells Judicious Calvin thinks these Words were spoken to the Disciples But he it seems is not of his Mind and therefore I know not to what purpose he brought him since he follows not his Sense for he will have it to signify among and the meaning to be The Kingdom of God is within 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intra not among you as J. B. says That the Kingdom of God was near and among them But his Proof for this is not valid for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes Interpreted among But the Question is If it should be so Interpreted here and till he prove that he saith nothing But his Mistake here is greater than he is aware of for the Greek Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies intus within and I desire him to shew me in the New Testament where it signifies among All the Scriptures brought by him are Impertinent none of which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in this place but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He confesseth p. 280. The Calvinists make Grace an Irresistable Power The Calvinists make Grace an Irresistible Power and saith That they have Reason so to do because the Scripture speaketh of Grace as a Drawing and Teaching But that may draw which draweth not Irresistibly And because I say The Papists Socinians and Arminians deny this little Seed and Manifestation of Light to be that supernatural and Saving Grace of God given to all to Salvation he bringeth two Passages of the Arminians wherein they confess The Spirit of God works immediately upon the Will giving it Strength to believe desiring me then to tell him Wherein I differ from Arminians But will my Agreeing with Arminians in this prove I differ not from them Doth not himself Agree with the Arminians in saying as he affirms they do That the Power of believing is conferred by Irresistible Grace And if he Agree with them as well as I may not I ask him the Question as pertinently as he doth me Wherein differs he from them Has not he himself affirmed That as to our Doctrine of the Saving Substantial Seed being in all pag. 226. neither Arminians nor Socinians ever spake of it What then needs he ask me Wherein we differ from them But it seems he that fancieth Men can dream waking as he sometimes speaks of the Quakers has been in that Posture when he wrote this which helped him to conclude this Chapter with Railing ¶ 9. Now I come to his Twelfth Chapter Intituled by him Of the Salvation of the Heathens without hearing the Gospel he should have added Outwardly that is the thing in debate But as in the Title so in the Chapter he begs the Question And that he may begin with Railing as he ends it with a Flood of it p. 292. he saith To say Men may
every Reader The Apostle's Saying I am Carnal c. made a Plea for Sin by J.B. with his Meaning put without Proof To whom we will then leave it To my affirming That the Apostle is not Rom. 7.14 speaking of himself but personating others in that State after he has told me that Socinians and Arminians say so he tells me The Circumstances of the Text evince the contrary and then gives a kind of a Preachment upon the Place which I shall accept as a Declaration of his Sense but must wait the next time to have him prove it He saith The Apostle doth not Contradict this Chap. 6.2 That the Apostle doth not Contradict himself is without doubt to me but he must endeavour to Reconcile the Meaning he gives to the Apostle's Words when he has leisure He saith Paul in a respect was a Carnal Man but unless he prove him to have been so in respect of sinning at that time he saith nothing To my urging Rom. 8.35 where the Apostle saith Nothing shall separate him because where Sin is Continued there is a Separation He denieth that where Sin is striven and wrestled against it maketh a Separation but the matter is How he proveth that those who strive and wrestle aganst Sin do daily commit Sin And until he do this he but begs the Question To prove the Impossibility of being free from sinning daily from the Examples of Noah's and David's Sins he useth this Argument J. B ' s. Argument for sinning daily in Thought Word and Deed If these Men whom the Spirit of God stileth Perfect and Men according to God's Heart have had their Failings and these Failings are Registrated for our use Then we have no Scripture-Warrant for such a Pefection here as is not attended with Sin he should have said as doth not admit a sinning daily in Thought Word and Deed if he would have concluded according to the State of the Question But the former is true Therefore c. Refuted But I deny the Consequence of this Proposition or the Connexion of the Major Besides the Argument is defective divers ways if he had stated and then proved it That if such whom the Scripture call Perfect did break the Commands daily in Thought Word and Deed then he had argued to the purpose And for their Failings being recorded to our use it cannot infer the Necessity of our sinning daily unless he will be so absurd as to say that they are therefore Recorded that we may Imitate their Failings and not avoid them In fine let him cause his Argument conclude in the Term of the Question to wit That every Man notwithstanding any Grace received must sin daily in Thought Word and Deed and prove his Propositions and he shall not want either an Acknowledgment or an Answer And lastly to conclude this Chapter he saith I should rather have cited the old Begardi than the Fathers and the old Alumbrados who had the same Opinion and Practices suitible But if their Opinion was That Men may be free from Sin The old Begardi and Alumbrados mentioned by J. B. to have the same Opinion of Perfection and their Practices suitable sure then they were perfect and if so deserve more to be followed than J. B. or his Brethren whose Principle and Practice as himself confesseth is for Sin and daily continuing in it against any Perfection except such as can admit of Sin For To be Breaking the Commands daily in Thought Word and Deed is Essential to his Christianity SECT X. Wherein his Fifteenth Chapter Of Perseverance is Considered ¶ 1. IN this Chapter of Perseverance it would seem the Man fancieth he hat got into the Pulpit for he Affirms as if all that read him were bound to believe without further Inquiry For after he has Introduced himself with his old Accusation of Pelagianism he Concludeth This Doctrine of the possibility of Falling from Grace to depend upon Free will and ushereth in a long Invective against this as maintained by me upon the Supposition of his old reiterated Calumny That I asserted All the Regeneration of the Saints to proceed only from the Light of Nature without the effectual Operation of the Spirit of Grace which how false it is hath above been shewn He giveth us a large Citation out of their Confession of Faith with an Account thence deduced or Explanation thereupon In what respect they hold Perseverance Wherein if he will hold to the first Asserted by him to wit That they assert not the Perseverance of any that are not truly Regenerated we are Agreed for in that Sense I never did deny it And then he gives Eight Considerations for their Doctrine all which conclude nothing but upon the Supposition of the Truth of their former Principles especially of Election and Absolute Reprobation so that it is but a begging of the Question as his very Eighth Consideration shews pag. 356. N. 14. to wit That the affirming this Doctrine to wit That there may be a falling away from beginnings of true and saving Grace will give a Blow unto many Articles of their Faith But can this have any Weight to Convince such as do not believe these Articles of their Faith It seems then it is not for me or any Quaker that this is written so we are the less concerned to trouble our selves with it ¶ 2. At last he comes pag. 357. N. 15. to Examin my Arguments And first to what I urge from Jud. vers 4. where it is spoken of some That turned the Grace of God into Wantonness he saith This is not understood of the true Grace of God but External Grace such as is that Tit. 2.12 which teacheth to deny Vngodliness But for this he gives no Proof Next it seems to him The Grace of God that teacheth to deny ungodliness mentioned Tit. 2. v. 12. is not the true Grace of God Where learned he this or how proveth he it He saith To understand the Faith which some are said to have made shipwrack of 1 Tim. 1.19 to be true and saving Faith is contrary to 2 Tim. 2.17 and other Places J. B. Asserts That the Grace of God that teaches to deny Vngodliness is not the True Grace and the falling from Faith a falling only from the Doctrine of Faith where the Doctrine of Faith is spoken of thence he concludes It was only the Doctrine of Faith they fell from But this is a Conclusion fit only for Credulous Persons and proveth nothing unless he will argue because in some Places the Doctrine of Faith is spoken of therefore where ever Faith is spoken of it must be understood of the Doctrine of Faith and not of true and saving Faith which were most Absurd He saith to Heb. 6.4 5. The Words are not Absolute but Conditional if they fall away but such a Condition importeth the thing supposed to be possible being given for a Caution He adds There is nothing there that is necessarily to be
understood of true and saving Grace but let him Inform according to Scripture How any Man can come to tast of the Heavenly Gift and of the Powers of the Life to come and be made partaker of the Holy Ghost without true and saving Grace For what he adds to this being built upon the Supposition of Election I refer it to what is abovesaid upon this Subject He Concludes Vossius's Testimony to be false in saying That this was the Common Opinion of the Ancients But if so little Credit be to be given him he did not well that made so much use of him to prove what was Pelagius's Doctrine as he has done throughout this Treatise For John Owen's Citations I have neither Accommodation nor Time at present to Examine them it is enough to me that this is Contrary to Scripture though all these he mentions had said so To prove That Men may have a good Conscience and yet want true Faith he bringeth Paul's Words Acts 23. v. 1. where speaking of himself while a Pharisee he saith He lived in all good Conscience before God c. but that will not meet this Case Those 1 Tim. 1.19 who are said to Make shipwrack of a good Conscience are such who believed the true Doctrine of Faith in Christ A Man may live in good Conscience to other Principles while Ignorant of the true Faith in Christ. as himself before acknowledgeth Now albeit a Man may be said to live in good Conscience to other Principles while Ignorant of this yet he should prove How a Man can be said to have a good Conscience with respect to the true Faith of Christ held by him and yet without saving or true Grace With Railing he tells me pag. 358. N. 18. that Phil. 1.6 and 1 Pet. 1.5 speak of God's beginning and perfecting the Condition And what then yet God doth not this against our Wills it is with a respect to our performing the Conditions on our part which yet we cannot do without him Then he goes about to prove That Paul could not fall in answer to my saying from 1 Cor. 9.27 That Paul supposeth a possibility that he might become a Reprobate But if the Reader Consider how I bring that in my Apology he will find he had no reason for this Cavil for I alledged it only to Reprove those that are too too secure shewing where Sin was there was always a Ground of Jealousy Since the Apostle did reckon it needful to keep under his Body to subdue Sin that he might not become a Reprobate Which since the Apostle did but upon this Supposition if he did not keep under his Body suppose possible others had no Reason to presume SECT XI Wherein his Sixteenth Chapter Of the Church his Seventeenth Of the Ministerial Call his Eighteen Nineteen and Twenty First Of their Qualifications Office and Maintenance and his Twentieth Of Womens Preaching is considered ¶ 1. HIs Chapter of the Church is soon dispatched for it contains scarce any thing but Perversions and Railing For after he has given a large Citation out of their Confession of Faith and then added some Enlargements of his own and some little nibbling Cavils to what I say of No Salvation being without the Church pag 361. he goes on with his old reiterated Calumny That I suppose Men may be made Members of the Catholick Church by the Light of Nature which is utterly false And upon this false Supposition is built his N. 5. pag. 362. as also what he saith pag. 364. But N. 4. he screws this to a greater Pitch of Falshood affirming J. B.'s gross Calumny That our Faith and Principles are only taught by the Light of Nature That what I say of a Particular Church gathered together in the Faith of the true Principles and Doctrines of Christ by the Spirit of God and Testimony of some of his Ministers is that these are Persons only taught by the Light of Nature and by such Ministers as preach nothing of the Gospel Against a Man thus desperately resolved and determined to Lie and Calumniate there can be no Guard bu sure all sober Readers will abhor such Dealing What I speak of a Church in this Respect is only of such as have the Advantage of the outward Knowledge of Christ as my Words afterwards shew where I say Such were the Churches gathered by the Apostles of which the Scripture makes mention And therefore what he Objects That cannot be done by Pagans is wholly Impertinent and doth but verify the grosness of his Calumny which he endeavours to inculcate as a Truth to his Reader pag. 363. as if what I say further of the things requisite to be a Member of this Particular Church were a third Sort and not a more particular Description of the former Which the Reader may easily observe by looking to the Place to be a meer Fetch of his to afford himself some matter of Cavil Which imagining he has got he fills up the Paragraph with gross Lies and Railing saying That the Quakers believe not the Holy Truths set down in the Scriptures because they oppose and contradict them J. B.'s further Lies against us of the Scriptures of Christ and our Faith That they believe not in nor make Profâ—ssion of Jesus Christ Revealed in the New Testament because they oppose him and all his Institutions That Faith according to them is not wrought by the Spirit of God but that Nature can sweetly and naturally Incline yea Compel thereunto All which are Gross Calumnies And then he concludeth saying And thus we have Run round and are again where we began which is very true for he began with Calumnies and having run round the same way his Work Resolves in them Pag. 364. He affirmeth Men may be Members of the visible Church and consequently ought to be reputed such who are ungodly and without holiness and offereth to make it good if I will form a Dispute upon it but I leave him as to this to Dispute with his Learned Dr. Owen whose Works he has Applauded in this Treatise and whom his Postscript-Brother R. M. has in his Preface to this J. B.'s Book highly Commended as a Gracious Man As for his Silly Argument that from the Apostle's saying Act. 2.39 The Promise is unto you and to your Children and 1 Cor. 7.14 it follows Men become Members of the Church by Birth I leave him to debate it with his great Author Thomas Hicks who will tell him if he be Consonant to his own Principles it is a Babylonish Invention But J. B. hath here unawares Contradicted himself for if these Scriptures prove Men become Members of the Church by Birth then the Sprinkling them with Water sometime after they are born or their Baby-Baptism J. B. shuts out their Baby-Baptism from making them Church-Members is not necessary to make them Members of the Church and they are to be accounted such without it He saith I am mistaken when I say
Profitableness of our Publick Meetings 460. not to be neglected 461. silent waiting in Meetings proved from Scripture and Reason ibid. private Meetings in Time of Persecution not Justifiable 530 J. M. his Answer to a Jesuite 611 Merit see Justification ‑ the Merit and Reward of Works 386 387 Metaphysicks 424 Meum Tuum the Case of Meum and Tuum 2â—8 Minister of the Gospel It is not found in Scripture if any be called 299 416 417. Teachers are not to go before the Teaching of the Spirit 304. the Popish and Protestant Errors concerning the Grace of a Minister are rejected 310 315. they are given for the Perfection of the Saints c. 391. concerning their Call and wherein it is placed 403 407 416. Qualities 403 416 424. Orders and Distinction of Laity and Clergy 428 430 433. of separating Men for their Ministry 425 426. Concerning the Sustentation and Maintenance of Ministers and their Abuse of the Idleness Riot and Cruelty of Ministers 431 437. what kind of Ministry and Ministers the Quakers are for and what sort their Adversaries are for 438 439 442 443 ‑ the Properties of a true Call 831 832. what Evidence the first Publishers of Truth 's Testimony in this Age gave in their Ministry 190. and with what Courage they preached ibid. what Opposition they met withal 191. nothing now in this kind but what hath been the Lot of God's Witnesses in Ancient Times ibid. the Ministration of the Gospel is a Ministration of Life and Grace 656. False Ministers preach from their Study and Books 28. true Ministers Call is not of Man 36 90 91 658. their Ministry its Tendency 37 91. Christ gave some Apostles some Prophets c. 89. what kind of Men the Ministers ought to be and their Duty c. 139 144 167 168. the End of the Ministry the Saints mutual Comfort 304. what renders the Work of the Ministry useless 391 392. the powerful Ministry of Illiterate Men 426. Ministers of the Gospel and of the Law and Shadows differ 654. the Lame and Blind no legal Ministers 655. the Students Graceless Ministry Judas its Patron ibid. Holiness required in a Preacher ibid. the Work of the Ministry is not limited to outward Ordination and Literature 703. see Priests whether Natural Sciences are necessary to the Ministry 834. the fore-runner of the Downfal of a Man-made Ministry 885. Minister of the Law there was no doubtfulness concerning them under the Law 409 420 421. their Ministry was not purely Spiritual and while they performed it they behoved to be purified from their outward Pollutions as now those under the Gospel from their Inward 408 409 420 421. see Maintenance Preaching Miracles whether they be needful to those who place their Faith in Objective Revelation 278 279 416. ‑ J. Calvin asserts there is no need of them 37. or to prove a True Call 90. those of the Apostles were wrought by the Power of Christ in them 385. the Unbelieving Jews believed them not â—24 the preaching of sound Doctrine with an Holy Life is a better Evidence of a true Prophet than all outward Miracles ibid. we need no outward Miracles to believe the Scriptures 903. Monasteries to be shut up in Cloisters and Monasteries is not the true Mortification and Abstraction from the Love and Cares of the World 535. Monks and Fryars demure Deportment Hair-cloth and Vows c. 27. Moses 361 456 458 475 494. ‑ Moses's and Christ's Deliverance compared 52. Motions wicked Men neglect the Motions of the Spirit to â—rayer 472. Motions to Worship are previous in order of Nature 635. false Motions denied 836. J. B. is for praying without the Spirit 's Motion 843. he calls the Movings of the Power of God upon the Quakers Devilry 844. J. B Instanceth unusual Motions of his own party 844 845 Munster see Anabaptists their mischievous actings 288 Murmurer the Truth shuts him out 198 Musick 473 Mystery of Iniquity 428 492 Mysticks a certain sort of Mysticks among the Papists 458 459. N Name of the Lord 486.488 To anoint in the Name of the Lord 512. Nature The Book of Nature cannot discover all things neccessary to Salvation 631. see Socinians The Lamb's Nature not to be found in most Christians but the Doggish and Wolfish Nature doth prevail 709. The Corrupt Nature in the fall distinguisht from the Divine Nature by which the Gentiles did the things contained in the Law 12. Naylor James 876. his Repentance 84 630. Nero 521 665. Noahs faith had neither the Scripture nor the Prophecy of those going before him 358. It is said of him that he was a perfect Man 394. Number of using the singular Number to one Person 539.540 To Thee and Thou a single Person says I. B. is blunt and rude 874.875 O. Oath That it is not lawful to swear 533.551 to 556.565 concerning Oaths 870 873. Obedience No Man's Obedience to any Command will avail him any thing unless upon inward belief and conviction that the thing Commanded is of God 738. is better than Sacrifice 300. Object of Faith see Faith Office What is meant by an Office in the Church 837. Officers 836. see Elders Ordinances sealing Ordinances 476. Ordination The best primitive Protestants had no lawful Ordination at all and therefore could not convey any to others after them whether Protestants or others 648.660 Original sin a term not found in Scripture 40. Original sin a Popish Tradition 93. Zwinglius condemned in the Council of Trent for his notion of Original Sin 93. Oyl To annoint with Oyl 493 511 513. P Pagans 64 Papists the Rule of their Faith 289. they are forced ultimately to recur unto the immediate and inward Revelations of the Holy Spirit 293. What difference there is betwixt the cursed deeds of those at Munster and theirs 288 290. They have taken away the second Commandment in their Catechism 3O2 they make Philosophy the Hand-Maid of Divinity 305. They exalt too much the natural Power and what they think of the saving Light 354. Their Doctrine concerning Justification is greatly vitiate 366. Concerning their manners and ceremonies 405.406 Their literature and studies 422. Of the modern Apostles and Evangelists 430. Whom they exclude from the Ministry 431.432 They must be sure of so much a year before they preach 433. They do not labour 437. The more moderate and sober of them exclaim against the excessive Revenues of the Clergy 435. Their worship can easily be stopped 454.455 Albeit they say None are saved without Water-Baptism yet they allow an Exception 289. Of Baptism 492. Of the Flesh and Blood of Christ 497 498. Of an Oath 550. The Maxim among the Papists Extra Ecclesiam nulla Salus in some sense true but as it is understood by them generally it destroys Love and Charity 688. Papists pretended charity see Armenian Parable of the Talents 344.349 Of the Vineyard entrusted 335. of the Sower 348 349 of the Tares 519 Paschal Lamb the end thereof 500. Patriarchs 496 501. Peace
Lives is no New-Coin'd Doctrine as those may see that will read Athanasius de Definitionibus and his Third Dialogue de Trinitate and Fourth Oration against the Arians and Cyrillus Alexandrinus in his Treatise upon John lib. 2. and 3. and lib. 8.47 and in his Thesaurus lib. 4. and Others that might be mentioned As for his arguing p. 96 that because I affirm The Seed of God is a Substance therefore according to me the Seed of Sin must be a Substance also which Consequence I deny and therefore what he builds against me upon this Supposition falls to the ground What he saith here and there scattered in these Pages of the Light will in its proper place come more fully to be Considered ¶ 2. Pag. 98. n. 17. after he has saluted me with the Titles of Effronted and Impudent he will have me one with Socinians and Pelagians because I deny Outward Death to be a Consequence of the Fall but where he proves I do so I see not It 's true I say The death threatned Gen. 2.17 was not outward death Adam did not die an outward Death the day he did Eat for Adam did not so die the Day he did eat and I do still believe so neither offereth he me any thing to give me ground to alter my mind but to Conclude thence I deny Outward Death to be a Consequence of the Fall was too hastily Inferred But what if I were Vndetermined in this matter and that it remained a Mystery to me for I believe not the being positive therein Essential to my Salvation which if I were truly what he saith seems not to me sufficient to Proselite me to his Opinion For albeit I willingly Confess with him that Sickness and all the other Miseries attending this Life yea and Death it self considering the Anguishes wherewith it is now generally accompanied are the Consequence of the Fall and of Sin yet I see not how it would thence follow that Adam should not have died seeing Death to him if he had not fall'n would have been freed of all these Miseries and rather a Pleasure than a Pain which has been known to have befall'n many Saints As for his n. 19. he Confesseth the matter of it is left to the next Chapter where I may meet him ¶ 3. Pag. 100. n. 20. He goes on at an high rate of Perverting For after he has said Who would suspect but I mean honestly He applieth to me the saying of Solomon He that hateth dissembleth with his Lips we must not believe him for there are seven Abominations in his heart But why am I with him guilty of this great Charge Because albeit I affirm That Man is wholly degenerate yet I say Whatever good Man doth in his Nature that doth not proceed from him but from the Divine Seed in him Answ. These words are none of mine but a Forgery of his own so incident it is for the Man to lie and pervert And therefore all his vapouring and absurd Inferences drawn from this throughout this Paragraph fall to the ground My words are That the nature by which the Apostle saith the Gentiles did the things Contained in the Law How the Gentiles did the things of the Law cannot be understood of the proper Corrupt Nature of Man but of a Spiritual Nature which proceedeth from the Seed of God as he receiveth a New Visitation of the Divine Love Where it is very plain I consider Man as visited a-new and that in the Strength of that Grace thereby received not of his degenerate Nature he doth that which is good Nor do I any where say as he falsly insinuates That this Spiritual Nature is in all Men though I do say That all Men are visited by God in order to beget this spiritual Nature in them as will after come in its place to be spoken of Now all his battering of this my Assertion in the three following pages depends upon this Supposition That the good Acts done by the Gentiles are not done by vertue of any such Visitation but only by a Light of Corrupt Nature which remained in them after the Fall So that it is but a meer begging of the Question until that be first debated But he thinks he has brought me under a great Dilemma p. 103. urging That since I say All their Imaginations are Evil I must say Every Heathen has this Spiritual Nature in him yea and the Devils must be Partakers of it because they believe there is a God which is a good Thought Answ. The difference between Head-Knowledge and the partaking of the Divine Nature He is too hasty in his Reasonings for that the knowledge a Man may receive from the Divine Seed makes him instantly to partake of the Divine Nature is not proved by him and he knows I believe all Men to be Visited by this Divine Seed which may give them an Head knowledge which they may retain as some Men do the Truth in Vnrighteousness and yet not receive it in the Love of it So though they have it from a Divine Seed yet it will not follow they must necessarily so receive it as to become Partakers of the Divine Nature And as for the Devils he will Confess that once they had this Knowledge from a Spiritual Nature and though they have fall'n yet they may retain the Memory of it for that their Fall and Man's is every way alike he will not Affirm He saith p. 102. That to believe good done by Heathens that is by such as have not the benefit of the outward Knowledge of Christ is done in vertue of a Divine Seed overturns the Gospel but he leaves the Confirmation of it to the Sequel where I shall attend him N. 25. he tells me very fairly The Apostle doth not Contradict himself as if I had ever imagined he did but the question is Whether the Meaning he gives the Apostle's words implies not a Contradiction which indeed he can no ways Reconcile but upon the Supposition above denied And the Reader may judge whether he or I do most fully acknowledge Man's fall and most truly Exalt the Grace of God he that affirmeth That Man notwithstanding the Fall yet retaineth some Reliques of the Image of God yea so that the Law of God which is Holy Just Good and Spiritual is written in his Heart pag. 105. and all this Considered as fall'n Man without receiving any Grace and Benefit from Christ or I J. B's false Assertions that Man retained some Relicks of the Image of God in the Fall who affirm That Man by the Fall was wholly degenerated retaining nothing of the Image of God in whom albeit there remained a Seed of Righteousness yet no other ways than as a Naked Seed in Barren Ground in vertue of which he can do nothing until visited by a New Visitation which he receives by vertue of Christ as Mediator And yet while he ascribeth all this to Vnregenerate Men he saith in a few Lines