a man to be no man because he is not so tall as another but I see R. E. and his Catholick would have all Shoos made by their Last though they will not fit every mans feet Faith is the gift of God there are divers degrees and measures according to the mind and good pleasure of the giver so that he that hath received any measure or degree must not be excluded as having no faith though he attain not to that degree that some do enjoy and the Apostles Doctrine was that every one should be perswaded in his own mind and if any was otherwise minded they were to be let alone till God revealed it to them And whatsoever people or Church though they claim infallibility that teaches a contrary Doctrine unto this we have good reason to suspect it to be that hasty driving and overdriving spirit that would force a faith where God hath not given it not to be the infallible spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ of which the Church of Rome hath given a vehement cause of suspition by their cruelty and tortors they have exercised towards them who could not receive their Principles and own their Judgment in all things But R. E. the Lay-Gentleman blinded thy eye when he made thee call into question the truth of Scripture and that it proceeded from the infallible Testimony of Gods spirit and if thou had a certain feeling of the same in thy self and in thy own Conscience to let this go and make this void as an insufficient ground to receive Christianity upon to lean to a prop without thee and to be judged by men who have been as fallible and changable in their Judgments as the Moon which have assumed the name of Catholick Church whose Testimony thy Instructer I perceive told thee ought to be received concerning what as is pretended to be revealed or not revealed by God yet all must be obliged to stand to their Judgment though never so repugnant to the Doctrine of Christ and practice of the Church of Christ in the first Primitive times truly so called yet it is granted that the Church of Christ are the dispersed Members through the World though not of it agreeing in one faith being in the power of God and being led and guided by the Holy Ghost their Judgments ought to be received which cannot as lead by the Spirit fail in giving true Judgment in matters of faith which pertains to Salvation but as men they may fail and as erring from the spirit they may fail and infallibility is not intailed to the persons of any men but as they continue in the grace of God and walk in the spirit and bring forth the fruits thereof nor to any place or City but as they continue in Covenant with God for the promise of God was to Jerusalem and Mount Zion and to many other places and people in divers Cities where the glory of God once appeared but now through their Apostacy and unbelief and disobedience they are desolate as to the presence and power of God and their Sun is set and they are covered as with the shadow of a Cloud but this true Church whereof I have spoken was seen to fly into the Wilderness for time times and a half and that since the Apostles days and then was she not so visible and universal as she had been before and the man child was caught up unto God now if thou reckon the Roman Church to be this true Church shew the time times and half a time wherein she fled into the Wilderness and how long she hath been there and when was the time of her return and if ever she was there how that will hang together with your assertion that she hath been visible and so universal this fiften hundred years and if this could be proved that Rome hath been so whether doth it not rather demonstrate her to be the Whore that sat upon the many waters which waters are Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and what Church instance if thou can doth lay claim to the Nations Kindreds Tongues and People to be yours and to rule over so many Kings of the Earth as you lay claim to be universally of your faith and of your Church which gives us a shrewd character to believe that indeed you are mystery Babylon besides the blood of the Saints that have been shed under the name of Hereticks by this visible Catholick Church among the Nations this twelve 100. years doth give clear evidence that it can be reckoned or imputed unto none but you But I would not grate too hard upon thee being but a new convert but when thy instructer had made thee doubt of thy own state and question the foundation whereupon thou hadst received christianity the next thing he labours to make void is the Spirit of God its Testimony which thou did lay claim too but I feel had little portion in what thou said at last he makes thee doubt of the infallibility of this spirit which thou had spoke on might for ought thou knew be the spirit of error and thou not able to distinguish betwixt the spirit of God in thy self which is infallible and the spirit of error nor to distinguish betwixt their opperations he perswaded thee that all was uncertain and therefore no confidence to be given to any spirit or faith in ones own particular which is the most absurd and ridiculous thing in the world so to judge For if there be no certainty or assurance given to any man or means to every man wherein he may be assured of the certainty of Gods will then whither should any go or upon whom should any lean seeing that no credit can be given to any thing that any man believes and this were but tossing up and down men from mountain to hill that they might never have rest for their souls And as for Jer. 17. and Eccles. 9. Rev. 3. The heart of man is deceitful c. No man knows love or hatred c. And because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing c. These Scriptures was brought unto thee to make thee more blind the first is spoken of the degenerated estate where deceit bears rule and not truth the second is spoken of visible enjoyments which are common to all and the third was spoken to one who had erred from the spirit and was exalted in pride because of external performances but having lost the power was miserable c. But what of all this doth this any whit at all detract from the certainty and assurance of the Spirit of God in them that hath it what shall we reason thus because some have been led aside and are deceived by their own hearts lusts that therefore all may be deceived even them that have the spirit of God God forbid and we have some what more to answer an Arian a Jew or a Turk if they should urge the like knowledg and feeling
passed through Fourthly The spirit of Christ is the gift of God which he giveth unto all that wait for his appearance and his Sheep have it and they that are Christs have it for they that have not the spirit of Christ is none of his and it is that which is every way sufficient and no way insufficient and it is every way sufficient to lead into all truth according unto Christs promise and to convince the World of sin of righteousness and of judgment again it is that which Christ promised for a director which was with them when they healed the Sick and cast out Devils and which was in them to consolate them and comfort them in the midst of affliction as it did Peter and John and made them bold who were yet illiterate Men and had not that sufficiency which many looks upon now they have to wit natural Tongues and Languages yet it was sufficient in them to give them wisedome to declare the things of the Kingdome of God to the salvation of many that did believe through their words it was sufficient to comfort Paul and Silas when they were shut in the inner Room and their Feet fast in the Stocks when there was no outward cause of joy but rather of sorrow yet they were made to sing and rejoyce because of the great comfort and joy that the spirit of God filled their hearts with again it was sufficient in the midst of great conflicts and tribulations which Paul and the rest suffered for the Gospels sake and for Christs sake and yet as suffering did abound it was sufficient to make consolation to super abound to ballance the suffering and to make it easie Fifthly It is that everlasting Covenant which the Lord promised by the mouth of his Prophets in former dayes that he would fulfill in the latter dayes or after times that he would write his Law in their hearts and put his spirit in their inward parts and that they should not teach every Man his neighbour saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest and again in another place I will power upon them the spirit of prayer and supplication and they shall see him whom they have pierced c. and again I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and my Sons and my Daughters shall prophesie c. and this was fulfilled at Pentecost in Jerusalem when the Disciples met together and the promise of the Father came to be fulfilled and the Unbelievers said they were filled with new Wine and the Lord hath a care of his people through ages and hath not left them comfortless nor without a guide and a certain and a sure one too which spirit is manifest among some Non-conformists whom thou takes liberty to call Sects and the sufficiency of it is witnessed praised be the Lord in our Assemblies both as to convince to convert to save to judge to guide to instruct to comfort and is that alone in which all true Christian men can worship God in the silence of all flesh and fleshly motions and thoughts it 's that that giveth assurance also of acceptation with God and is that which makes the Prayers of the Saints as sweet insence in the Nostrils of the Lord it is that which makes the words of him like Butter as pleasant as Hony or sweet Oyle who speakes by it through it and from it whereby the hearts of many hath been pricked and the thoughts of many hearts hath been revealed and many hath been comforted with joy unspeakable and filled with pure love from the sensible feeling of the sufficiency of its power opperating in the inward Man even as when the harvest had been gatheredin and the Press been full of Grapes and the Fattes had over-flowen with abundance so that they could have rejoyced and sung and danced for joy as sometimes David did when the Ark of God was brought from the House of Obed-Edom and placed in Jerusalem when David danced for joy and all Israel was filled with gladness what might I say for the certainty sufficiency and all-sufficiency of this holy spirit of God I might fill my mouth with arguments and time might fail me in speech to speak of the excellency certainty and infallibility thereof against all opposers and quarellers In a word it is that alone meanes through which God conveys eternal life to all man kind and it is that rule by which all the Sons of God were led Rom. 8. 14. It is that only sure Guide Judge Way Rule in which there is certainty and assurance of the love of God to Man kind it is that by which the deeds of the flesh are mortified and Men quickned and enlivened unto God in their hearts in which the Saints are accepted by which they are regenerated and through which they become Heires of the promise what shall I say but this let all flesh be confounded before it and all deceit stop its mouth and all the sons of Men bow before it all Councils and Churches all Rulers and Elders all Reason and Comprehension all Words and Writing of Men and holy Men yea of the Scriptures of truth it gave them all a being it was it is and is to come and will remain when all visible things are past away it is that by which God will plead with all flesh and bring a Consumption upon all the honourable of the Earth and burn up the Mountains and make the hills to melt and make all a plain before Him therefore make room make room make way ye potsheards and cease all your contending and babling and bow to it and learn of it in your hearts which R. E. like an ignorant man calls a private spirit that your souls may be saved in the day of the Lord and you my escape his wrath which is to come against all resisters of it Sixthly Your Catholick Church falsely so called who hath erred from the spirit the infallible Guide though you much boast of it both in doctrine and practise abundantly insomuch that your faces seem altogether to look another way and your course to arive at another Haven then the Apostles and all the primitive Christians attained unto to wit everlasting Happiness and rest for their souls and acceptation with God in their performances and sacrifices which they offered unto him in the spirit of which they and all that believe in it and have received it received perfect assurance in their hearts by the immediate spirit of God and likewise the Protestants in general whether Lutherins or Calvins or other Sects known by denomination are of so narrow and a pinching spirit as that you would pinch and shut-up the universal love of God unto all Mankind into a narrow corner and monopalise the free grace of God that hath appeared to all Men that teaches all men that receives it to deny all Heresie falshood opinions and humours private spirits and spirits of error which leadeth from
Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles was nay blush for shame they brought in the Prophets for the peoples sake to prove that they had testified of the same before and had declared the coming of the just one besides they commended themselves to the witness of God in every mans conscience and upon waiting upon the Lord and in the measure of his spirit they found the things even so and by searching the Scripture as the Bareans did and found the things even so as had been declared of but upon due consideration we find not these foresaid Doctrines so propounded as to have the Testimony of the Prophets and Apostles neither doth your Doctrine and worship answer the Witness of God in every Man's Conscience and so to deny you is not to make God a lyer but God true the Prophets and Apostles and the witness of God true and you lyers who contradicts them and their Testimony and the power of God and would assume it to your selves though you be erred from the spirit and would put all under the name of infallibility and by such heavenly arguments as R. E. calls them to wit the Miracles aforesaid by which you have deceived the Nations and blinded the eyes of the people but the time is come and Light and Life is broken forth that the skirts of the Whore must be discovered and her nakedness must appear and her fornications and adulteries shall be manifest unto all so that you shall not proceed much further And I hope by this time in E's words it will appear evident to all whose eyes God in any measure hath opened that this Catholick Church so called is manifest in what hath been said to R. E. not to be the Church of Christ neither their Doctrines and practice devinely propounded neither she taken from henceforth as the only infallible judge rule and directer in all matters of faith which all are to receive upon pain of damnation as R. E. saith though she sit as a Queen and hath known no sorrow but on the contrary she to be a blind guide that hath bewitched the Kings of the Earth and the Nations which are waters which is the universality R.E. boasts of with her inchantments and sorceries which from henceforth shall not be taken as infallible but fallible and as that Church that hath not conveyed the true faith which was once delivered to the Saints but rather hath spread abroad error and false Doctrine and the traditions and inventions of Men instead of the Doctrine of Christ and would put off all this under the name of Authority and power from God and sufficiently propounded and infallibility and under the penalty of the highest curse upon not receiving it but the Sun is risen which hath discovered all your deceit lay down your carnal weapons Cain's weapons and your humane power by which you have prevailed more by force and cruelty upon the Nations then by found Doctrine or that plea of being Peters successors I say come forth with your spiritual weapons which the Church of God had in the Primitive times and prevail as far as you can but oh you want these and therefore you are necessitated to take up force and violence the Dragons power to compell all to come to your Church Further R. E. in his Postscript hath been confident of what he hath declared that it is of such force what he hath said for the Roman Catholick Church so called that he believes what he hath said cannot be answered and he saith his confidence doth not misbecome him and that it is improbable to be answered and that he hath not yet done his All neither in his first nor second Edition but hath somewhat more yet of great moment to speak as to prove the Church of Rome this only and infallible guide Unto whom I say it had been good not to have boasted when he put on his armor but when he puts it off and methinks having been so unstable and unsetled as he hath been formerly he should not have been so confident in opposition to Wisdom as to give such a challenge and make such a vapour of as that it is improbable to be answered and it is more then any of you or all of you can answer as his own words are page the 89. these words are not becoming a man indeed who saith he hath learned meekness and humility of heart and hath such great bowels of Charity as he professeth he hath page the 86. The substance of what he hath said or written which he reckons so profound and unanswerable and to be more then any or all the Nonconformists can answer they have been answered over and over again before R. E. was born by many Learned sufficient and good Men whose Reasons and weighty Arguments about the Premisses have not been made void unto this day but hath prevailed with many not only to the convincing but also to the turning of many from that usurped Authority of the Roman Church and hath discovered the errors false Doctrine and evil practices notwithstanding their pretended infallibility which R. E. will not be able to answer if particulars should be descended unto and though R. E. may reckon the reasons that he hath laid down which he hath the most what taken at the gainest and reckon them as impregnable yet I hope they will not appear so to an understanding eye which is enlightened by the spirit of the Lord nor to them who are of a sound Judgment what others have done to answer his bold Challenge I know not because I am shut up in a corner for the Testimony of Jesus and for the word of God but methinks them that are concerned should not let such boasts go unreproved neither such false Doctrine nor false suggestions as R. E. hath made to villifie and debase and set at nought all things and every thing that seems contrary unto the judgment of this pretended Catholick Church and seeing that he shuts out all Nonconformists as to be Members of the Church of God and to be without all Rule all Order all Government and to come under the great penalty of damnation by not submitting unto whatsoever this pretended Catholick Church doth impose how repugnant soever it be unto the Doctrine of Christ and how contrary soever it be unto the Spirit of God yet all must be received without question though it be that which the Spirit of God sometimes called the Doctrine of Devils but now it must become holy and of divine authority and sufficiently propounded and so received because as R. E. saith this Church cannot err I say unto him and unto all men and to the witness of God in every man either the Church in the Apostles days did err and teach false Doctrine or this pretended Catholick Church because they teach contrary one to the other and do walk by a contrary rule and as R. E. saith infallibility cannot contradict it self and he hath granted that the Apostles and Primitive Christians had an infallible spirit and did not err then let R. E. and all take a view of the Roman Doctrine and compare it with theirs and they shall find it as far wide one from the other as the Heavens is from Earth or light from darkness so that for the truths sake and for the Doctrine and faith sake that was once delivered among the Saints and for the Nonconformists sake who cannot bow their knee to Baal neither snbmit to the injunctions of changable men instead of the Doctrines of Christ. I could not do less then give Answer unto the substance of R. E. his Epistle which he boasted of to be more then any could answer and to reprove his false Doctrine and error which he would perswade all unto and not to question because the Church of Rome hath propounded it as infallible most of all those Doctrines are denyed and I cannot but give my Testimony against them as to be false and that which leads people into error and let R. E. when he brings forth his all prove to us that Infallibility as intailed to the Pope by succession and Prayer for the Dead worshipping of Angels worshipping Relicts worshipping Images Transubstantiation Purgatory sprinkling of Infants prove to us from the Scripture in thy next that these were Apostolical and Infallible Doctrines delivered and taught by the Church of Christ in the Apostles time or in the first hundred years after Christ and thou will not only gain me but many more to receive and imbrace the Catholick Church of Rome for an absolute rule and guide unto which all on earth ought to be subject unto which if thou do not we will take it for granted thou dare not least thou ingage thy self in such a Controversie as thou never ingaged in yet by which thy and your folly will more and more appear unto all I shall not trouble neither my self nor the Reader any further in traducing R. E. in his multiplicity of words although the main and weighty Arguments and reasons as R. E. looks upon them is answered which I commend unto thee and to the witness of God in every Man's Conscience to try and search out where the difference and weight lies and the truth and as the measure of Gods Spirit in every Man's Conscience doth close with or against if it can what I have said about R. E. his Epistle for unto that I dare stand to the judgment of and in it as every one believes and walks I bid my Reader Farewell F. H. Westmerland this 18. of the Fifth Moneth 1665. THE END Faults that have escaped the Press through the negligence of the Printer the Friendly Reader is desired to pass by or correct Some of which are these PAge first line 28 29. for Nonformists read Nonconformists p. 2. l. 3. for and read as l. 7. the point or stop should be after over p 3. l. 16. the point should be after the word Director and not after unto l. 37. for fanedness read fainedness p. 6. l. 34. for Christian read Christians p. 19. l. 24 for minds read mind p. 31 l. 35. for legable read legible p. 44. l. 35. for habitants read habitations p. 57. l. 28. for 9th read nine
The True RULE JUDGE and GUIDE Of the true Church of God Discovered And borne Testimony unto what it is and wherein it consisteth In Opposition To the pretended Catholick Church of ROME her Rule Foundation Guide and Judge Being returned in Answer to Captain Robert Everrard his Book titled An Epistle to all the Nonconformists wherein his main Reasons Grounds and Alligations laid down in his Book are examined and discoursed with wherein the faith once delivered unto the Saints is vindicated and the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles Against the pretended faith and false Doctrines which hath been held forth by the Church of Rome among Christians as infallible By a suffering Member of that Church which fled into the Wilderness when mistery Babylon sat as a Queen upon the Waters Francis Howgill Printed in the Year 1665. The true Rule Judge and guide of the true Church of God discovered and born Testimony unto what it is and wherein it consisteth c. AFter various reports and upbraidings and insultings of divers men in my hearing of a certain great pillar and a leading man among the Nonconformists who it was said had relinquished his errors and had conformed and also written and published a Book for the convincement of all others to Uniformity and Conformity also the Weekly Intelligencer willing to take advantage sometime when there is little or no occasion doth signifie to the whole Nation in his Newes-book of the Conversion of a great Nonconformist for the strengthening and supporting of those desires only in People who is willing to make shipwrack of all Faith Hope Religion and whatsoever also that is of the greatest moment for a little ease and liberty in the flesh and the imbracement of this present World is willing to joyne with that which is the uppermost and to sail with wind and tide not minding the Harbour nor the way which they are passing but only present enjoyment and such whose faith is builded upon men and not upon God and chuses rather to run with the multitude to do evil then with a few despised and afflicted who keep faith and a good Conscience such flashes and airy ungrounded rumours staggr'd their mind and makes them afraid and troubled when there 's no cause At last this great and magnificent piece of Conversion came published in the Newes-book boasted on by the Clergy and divers other great Mountains of Earth came to my hand providentially unlooked for unsought for or desired which is titled An Epistle to the several Congregations of the Non-formists subscribed by Captain Robert Everard as he stiled himself a Member of the Catholick Church which Book hath been spread up and down the Counties it seems as some rare weighty and great matter to induce others to be of the same mind But why the Members of the Church of England should extoll this and rejoyce in this great Convert I know not except they have a a mind to shake hands with the Roman Church and to receive their Catholick faith so called and unquestionable but Deceit loves to sport it self and to make merry and triumph over any who do but relinquish the seeming appearance of truth to turit into the common road of darkness they hug such a one for a while and sets him out as an ensign to glory in and over against others After the said Book came to my hand amongst divers others I was willing to take a survey and to make inspection into those things contained in it and to see what demonstrative grounds and solid and weighty matter was contained in it which I have diligently weighed and without a prejudiced spirit read finding the matter in it chiefly to set up a Council of men to be absolute Judge of all matters of Faith and Doctrine though never so repugnant unto the Doctrine and practice once delivered and received and walked in by the Saints seting up this both above the holy Spirit of God which is the only and sole trier of all Spirits but also above the Scripture wherein I have taken notice his own eye being blinded he would captivate all others and make them blind also and lay wast the Spirit of God and its office the Scriptures and their translation making them as uncertain as much as in him lies as the Turkish Alcbaron and all solid and weighty arguments and reasons that hath been produced this many years by many godly and moderate Dissenters in divers Ages from the Church of Rome this he strikes over all by whole sail labouring to set all a jarr and to make every thing look with a face contrary way to represent them uncomely and at last he hath concluded that the Catholick visible Church is the absolute judge and director both in matters of Faith and Doctrine without distinguishing of their abiding in the faith or falling from it as though the promise of God had been intailed to a certain place as Rome or to a certain sort of men that may call themselves Peters Successors and Ministers of Christ though they walk as far wide both in Doctrine and practice as Heaven is from Earth from Peter and would assume the title of name and office for honour and profits sake but do none of Peters work feeds not the Flock of Christ but worries them and kills them that Christ feeds and sheares off the Wool from off their backs and pulls off the skin too and instead of saving have destroyed hundreds of mens lives in Europe and America some under the name of Hereticks and some under the name of Infidels have been most mercilessly and cruelly destroyed by the power of this holy visible Church as R. E. calls it as the true Chronologies of Ages past doth testifie so that the Nations have been made like Akeldoma by that mystery Babylon which hath drunk the blood of the Saints and slain the Prophets and Martyrs under the name of Hereticks quite out of the Doctrine of Christ and erred from his infallible Spirit who came not to destroy mens lives but to save them and to save people from their sins But this false visible Church hath destroyed their lives under the name of Heresie and so hath destroyed them in their sins if they count that Heresie be a sin But of this something more afterwards may be said if God permit But it is a great piece of confidence in R. E. that after fifteen Hundred years as he saith this Church hath continued as a Judge and a Director unto which all Christians are to submit page 20th that he that is but a man of yesterday should be so stout a Champion as to make a flourish and seem to over-ride all the weighty things that hath been spoken by the blessed Martyrs and sufferers for Christ and Righteous dissenters from this Roman Church at one clap and again to exalt his own feeble things that he hath brought forth and exhibit them so confidently to all Nonconformists as unanswerable matter or how he judged
Consciences whatsoever they say though never so contradictory to the Primitive Doctrine delivered in Christ and the Apostles days yet all must be received upon pain of Damnation as R. E. saith and this he calls the Visible Church and the infallible Judge and Rule and Directer and hath laid wast the Office of Christ and turned the spirit out of doors and made it ineffectual and would perswade all others to look to this from the true Foundation and so is a Deceiver and an Antichrist Again we have this to say he that teaches a contrary Doctrine then that which was once delivered unto the Saints is a Deceiver and deceived and this was Christs Doctrine once deliverud unto the Saints Swear not at all and love your enemies pray for them that persecute you do good to them that hate you And many more precepts which this visible Guide to wit the Roman Church holds not but hath made void First it teacheth its Members to swear and again gives absolutions to remit them of their Oath if she think fit and both must be reckoned infallible and them that are your enemies instead of praying for them you curse them and instead of doing good to them you hate them and stirs up all your strength against them to destroy them instead of convincing of them in love and sound judgment Instance the days of King John and divers other Princes which felt your fury and wrath and also Frederick the Emperour after he was Interdicted was made to go to Rome to before the Popes Palace and to stand bare foot and bare leg with his Wife and Child two or three days in Winter waiting for Peters Successor his Absolution But it may be thou wilt say this was in love to them and in charity to their souls but let all unbyassed spirits judge and whether have not you when you have been the strongest party made force violence and success your greatest engine and plea to plead with all Nations and whatsoever people that dissented from you either in matter or form instance Germany Bohemia Moravia and divers other Kingdoms and Provinces besides the Indians in America which you destroyed chiefly for their Gold and Treasure under this pretence that they were Infidels and forced a faith upon some and a belief by the violence of your cruelty and swords which made the Noble Man of India say he had rather go to Hell with the Infidels of America as you called them then to Heaven with the Spaniards so cruel a people members of your Catholick Church what might I speak of the King of Castile against the poor Moors of Grandia who were put to cruel torments by force and violence which is a reproach upon this sort of Christianity unto this day and what persecution was raised against the Peddamount Christians by the force of this infallible Judg falsly so called and what Massacres in France and also in Ireland in latter years propagated by the Popes Nuncio a chief Embassadour from the Roman Sea to carry on that design to root out the Hereticks what destruction of people in a most barbarous inhumane preposterous and prodigeous cruelty some killed in the their beds some knocked in the head like Oxen some stripped naked in cold winter and bereaved of all their enjoyments and driven as sheep naked to the shambles and at last driven by scores into Lakes and Rivers and drowned some burned alive in their Houses some tender women strangled in Childbed and their tender Infants taken from their Mothers breasts and tossed upon Spears points and to my knowledg license and pardons given and sent from Rome to divers of their Emissaries there that it should be lawful for any servant or Catholick bondman to steal wast and purloyn their Masters Goods if Hereticks for the weakening and disenabling of them to resist the Roman enterprise begun these things and many more are legable in bloody Characters which I hope this Generation will not easily blot out of their memories so as to commit all faith all hope all religion and all infallibility and judgment to such a degenerated Generation as R. E. would have us do and with such audaciousness is not ashamed to blow his trumpet as in the head of an host to animate and encourage all to come to this black Standard for protection and direction judgment certainty and infallibility under no less then pain of Damnation and why but because Peter was sometime Bishop of Rome as they say and had given unto him the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever he bound on Earth was bound in Heaven and whatsoever he loosed on Earth was loosed in Heaven and because Christ said giving answer to Peters faith upon this Rock I will build my Church therefore all the Bishops and Popes as heires apparent succeeds him in laying claim to headship and doth none of his office nor none of his work and this foolish foppery and private interpretation hath been put off at a very great rate for Catholick Doctrine which brings to my mind a pleasant story I have sometime read of a certain poor Man meeting a certain Bishop at a certain time in great pomp and glory which the poor Man beholding took up a Laughter and being enquired of by the Bishop wherefore he laughed said he that Peter should be such a fool as to live such a poor miserable life as he did and persecuted in the world and to leave his Successors so rich to inherit such pomp and glory with that the Bishop replyed and said Thou fool I am not in this glory as I am Bishop of such a place but as I am Duke of such a place at that the Man smiled again and said When the Duke was in Hell for his pride where then would the Bishop be But to let this pass I am sure them that layes claim to be Peters Successors as to Patrimony and Riches which he was never endowed with for sometime he said Silver or Gold have I none but doth little of his work in converting of souls or feeding of the flock of Christ and doth lay claim unto his privilege and power but will not come near him in Doctrine labour and suffering for his Members and therefore I say to thee in thy own words lay aside thy folly with the consequences of it as destructive to the Church of God to hang all their faith upon such uncertainties but even to humane societies which I have mentioned and might instance more but that I would not be tedious to the Reader Lastly Yes some have some other Testimony by which spirits are tryed and may be tryed to be of God otherwise then by force carnal sword a strong party or success that 's thy own and not ours we have the holy Unction which is poured forth whereby the Saints knew all things and tryed the spirits whether they were of God or no and he that confesses not Christ come in the flesh is Antichrist and he
world further then by preaching repentance in it for the Apostle saith what have we to do to judge them that are without and this Church as in God was secure to relie upon for she had the Oracles of God committed unto her and every one may relie upon this pillar if they dare trust it which I see R. E. dare not because he likes not to be tyed to their Doctrine declared of in the Scriptures but would have all to take what they say for granted without the Scripture or the Apostle example or spirit and is not this unreasonable in thee that would have the Church to be believed or that which calls it self so by name when she teacheth not conformable to Scriptures and to the faith which was once delivered among the Saints and would thou have a Church reckoned infallible and to be believed when she doth not her duty the Churches privileges is in speaking truth and judging righteously and the Devil was a lyer from the beginning and is out of the truth and where hath thou read that he teaches conformable to Scripture and so may be believed is not the promise of God to his Disciples as they continued to the end and as they kept his Commandements and were they not known to be the Church of God and Disciples of Christ by this and was not the promise to them that hungred and thirsted after Righteousness and to them that did overcome and was not the exhortation to the Church of Philadelphia hold fast that which thou hast that none take thy Crown Rev. 3. 11 12. Was there not a possibility of leting go that which they had and of loosing the Crown or else why is the exhortation But I see R. E. would lay claim to promises and privileges without all condition and will not be tyed to keep the commands of Christ nor would not have the Church tyed to follow the Doctrine of the Primitive Church nor will not admit of any possibility or probability of failing or erring nay not so much as a mistake but as to infallibility and certainty I have said enough before and the confidence or rather the impudence of R. E. is easily seen and to make up all he concludes the Apostles as Men were subject to error in their private affaires yet were they by the assistance of Gods Spirit infallible in delivering matters of faith I say as they were assisted by the holy Spirit of God they neither erred in private affaires nor matters of faith but as they were not assisted by this they were subject to err for in this stood their only ability to teach instruct exhort and judge and as they were guided by this Spirit they were infallible and so R. E. saith that the Prelats of the holy Catholick Church as Men they are fallible in their own private actions and affairs yet when they are assembled in a general Council with their supream Pastor they are still made infallible in determining matters of Faith It is well that R. E. will grant that there is any possibility for their Prelats to fail either publick or private but I say he that is not faithful in his own actions and affaires can never be faithful in the Lords but it seems a General Council cannot fail when the supream Pastor the Pope is there but if he be not it seems by E's discourse it is more doubtful the like he also judges if the eleven Disciples and the seventy too with the Brethren and Elders if they had all been to define matters of Faith if Peter had been wanting which this Catholick Church calls the Prince of the Apostles there had been some doubt of their infallibility in point of faith as though the promise of God and the Spirit of God had not been with the rest of the Apostles as well as Peter but a word or two and more hereafter of the infallibility of General Councils the Nicean Council decreed flat Idolatry about Worshipping of Images the Council at Constantinople condemned their Proceedings and made void their Decrees yet both these in E's account must needs be infallible the Council at Basil as Albertus Phigious saith decreed against all reason and against Scriptures the Council of Calcedon which was one of the four that Gregory the great compares to the four Gospels that their Decrees were as certain and infallible yet Pope Leo did not stick to condemn it and all them as unadvised Stephanius Bishop of Rome made void the Decrees of Formosus and Sabinian the Pope commanded that Pope Gregory's Mass and all his Writings should be burned Leo the fourth abrogated and made void the Acts of Adrian the Basil Council determined that the Council of Bishops was above the Pope but the Latterine Council under Leo determined that the Pope was above the Council and they decreed also that he that should think otherwise should be held for a Heretick but the Council of Basil aforesaid decreed that they that judged that the Council was not above the Pope they were Hereticks Innumerable more instances I might give but that I will not trouble my Reader with such unprofitable stories and all these Popes said they were Peters Successors and had the keys of binding and loosing and all these Councils and many more which were of the Roman faith which in E's account could not err but must needs be infallible and yet are as contradictory one to another as light is to darkness and black to white and looks with their faces several ways like Samsons Foxes and therefore let not R. E. nor none of his Catholicks think that the Church of Christ now coming out of the Wilderness again can receive all their contradictory Decrees and invented fopperies and constitutions of Men for infallible the day is broken the light hath taken hold of the ends of the Earth the Sun is risen which shall make all the foggy mists of darkness and clouds of ignorance to fly away But R. E. ceases not here but heapes up one peece of darkness upon another till blackness of darkness appear and he tells of a visible Church Mat. 16. which is builded upon Peter that visible Rock for that Rock there spoken of is not Christ saith he but Peter for immediately after he names Peter whereas saith he if he had meaned himself or Peters confession for that saith he is too remote or mediate and anticedent for if Christ had meaned himself or Peters confession he should have spoken according to the Grammer Rule and Construction Vpon that Rock or upon this Rock I have build I do build and not I will build in the 63. page and in the 64. page he tells of a Church visible having two heads of an Independent Head and a Dependent Head and in the 66. page he saith he hopes that it will appear clear to all as it did to him that the visible Church is that Rule and Judge appointed by God and all upon pain of damnation are to submit unto
all these and is sufficient to lead out of all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to do that which is acceptable in the sight of God and this all sects since the Woman cloathed with the Sun fled into the Wilderness viz. the true Church and all parties hath laid claim to and excluded all others that were not of their opinion as from having any share in it as though it were given only to such a company of men that succeeded the Apostles and by arts and parts and natural Language in the course and term of years and at such and such places as the Apostles were sometime conversant at and other sects besides you who have kept more nearer in Conformity in Doctrine and Worship and unto the Apostles then you have done they have laid claim to the spirit of God and to the free Grace of God only extending it self to them under such a quallification as though the Spirit of God and free and saving Grace of God had come by Generation or by succession or because of such and such a quallification or conforformity in outward practice as I said as though the free Grace of God and the infallible Spirit of God had been given to you and had been bequeathed and intailed to you or any of you under such and such a denomination and because inhabiting at such a place and thus you would limit the holy one of Israel and to stop the wind to blow where it listeth and circumscribe the infallible means which God hath given unto all Mankind for a direction and a guide a rule and a judge and pinch it up into a narrow corner and yet shut up all under condemnation who do not believe and yet exclude all but your selves from the sufficient meanes and guide and way whereby they may believe away away with this narrow partial pinching spirit for God will not be limited neither can be either to Men time or place but as they keep in Covenant with him and keeps their first love and integrity in the certain truth revealed in the first publication of the Gospel which the Roman Church above all other hath wonderfully apostatised from especially in this one thing which she can never clear her self of to wit Persecution in taking away the lives of many under the name of Hereticks and suppose any had been so as doubtless there are such yet we never read that it was Christ or the Apostles way to kill them and destroy them but on the contrary denyed them and warned others to beware of them and to have no fellowship with them and so left them to the World neither that they exhorted or stired up either Kings or Princes to take away the lives of any who did believe or not believe what as they declared to be truth but on the contrary when the Disciples in the days of their infancy would have commanded fire to have come down from Heaven as did Elias Christ rebuked them and told them they knew not what spirit they were of and again love your enemies and do good to them that hate you How your Catholick Church hath kept this precept I leave all Nations to judge where your power hath been known suppose real Schismaticks and Hereticks as some such there hath been in the world how you have done good to them and how you have loved them is manifest except you judge that shuting them up in Prisons racking tortering and cruel torments and at last of all death was in love to them and in doing good to them which methinks any reasonable man should blush and be ashamed to think or say But an old Plea comes to my mind which some of the members of the Church of Rome hath alledged to me in the days of my youth when I was conversant with them and among them in a friendly neighbourly and sober discourse of things of this nature before mentioned it was said unto me the Roman Catholick Church is that Church whereby Christianity hath been conveyed to all Nations and the great Oraccles thereof delivered unto us and the Scriptures also came from us by which you know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God and the knowledg thereof came unto all and all her Children ought to be subject unto her as the true mother that brought them all forth and if any went astray either into Heresie or Schisme which might not only hurt themselves but also others ought not the Mother in natural love to her Children to correct them and ought not they to bear her correction and submit unto it and hath not she power to correct her Children when they go astray unto which is answered Christianity that which is truly such and them whom God will own to be Christians was dispersed through the Nations by the power of God and we say that the Church of Rome hath begotten Christendom into that mould and frame into which they are now cast more by force and awe then any sound Doctrine and as for the Scriptures coming from her that we deny We know they came from the Apostles and from the Primitive Christians according to the will of God and have been preserved to this day though through many polluted hands they have come and we know how much your rage was kindled that ever it should be Translated into the English Tongue and many felt the effect of it to the loss of their Lives as I hope many in England doth well consider But suppose a true Mother have many Children and suppose some do swerve and go astray from her precepts and under pretence of correcting of them she shut them up in Goals and nasty holes and afflict them with sundry kind of torments and at last of all kill them and destroy them what Judgment will be given by reasonable Men of such a Mother but this that she is become unnatural and cruel and hard hearted and degenerated from the nature of a loving and tender Mother and deserves not to have or ever to have had any Children and such a kind of Mother hath your Church been to all that have dissented from her that I may say of her as the Prophet Jeremiah said especially in these latter ages the Sea Monsters and Dragons of the Wilderness draw out their breasts to feed their young ones but the daughter of my people is become cruel Seventhly and lastly We know that God willeth that all Men should be saved and come to the knowledg of the truth and hath given that and doth give that unto every man that is come into the World whereby every man that doth receive it is capable of fulfilling the will of God and this gift comes not by the will of Man nor is received in the will of Man but in its own will even in the will of the giver and this free gift of God is the free and saving Grace of God which hath appeared unto all Men to wit every man that is come into the World which teaches
that confesses that Christ is come in the flesh only in word and because others hath said so and doth not witness sin condemned in the flesh and turned from and to have power over it the same is a false witness and is an Antichrist also and also we have other things to try spirits by we know a proud angry hasty perverse spirit is not the spirit of God a persecuting Lording Spirit is not the spirit of God and again they that teach a contrary Doctrine to the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles they have the spirit of error again they whose practice and conversation is not suitable to the practice and conversations of Christ and the Apostles and Primitive Christians that they are in the spirit of error again they that would force a faith by any humane constitution or law which is repugnant to the Law of God or by force of the sword or any carnal weapons they have the spirit of error for the weapons of the Lamb and his Followers are not carnal weapons but spiritual and yet mighty through God to the beating down of the strong holds of wickedness and to prevail over the Powers of darkness again the Testimony of God in every mans Conscience which is an unerring Testimony this savours the things of God and by this the things that be not of God are discerned and this will put a perfect difference between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error but what can be said to a man in unbelief that hath closed his eyes The next thing which R. E. saith he consider'd was that the Natural reason of every man could not possibly be rule and judge that I sought for for saith he if reason were to be rule and judge then it would follow contrary to Scripture that it is not impossible to please God without faith and it would likewise follow that every Religion would be truth consequently contradictions would be true consequently there would be many Religions and no faith at all for reason excludes faith as in the 26. page of his Book Thy tongue is thy own and thou art at liberty and goes whether thou wilt speaks what seems good in thy own eyes hath never yet known another to gird thee and lead thee whether thou would not I stand not to vindicate every mans Judgment neither to prove other mens conceptions but seeing thou hath taken in hand to lay all Mountains wast afore thee that stands in thy ways thou hast raised up some in thy discourse for others to stumble at and hath spoken many false things without distinguishing and puting a difference between Light and darkness between Natural reason and Spiritual reason I could not chuse but say somewhat Although it is no part of my belief that the Natural reason of any man or every man is able to be rule judge and guide to any man in the things of God yet faith is not in opposition unto pure reason neither is pure and spiritual reason in opposition to true faith but in harmony with it and one with another as they are the gifts of God but the Natural reason of all the fallen sons of Adam is corrupted and is too short and too narrow too cross and too perverse as to be rule and judge in the things of God for the Natural man by all his endowments in the transgression perceives not the things of God for they are spiritually discerned and the things of God that are spiritual and eternal are above the reach of Natural reason and yet thy consequence is false for faith doth not exclude pure reason and faith doth not make blind the understanding but enlightens it and though it is impossible to please God without faith yet it is impossible that that faith should be without reason the Apostle desired to be delivered from unreasonable men that had not faith so it is manifest they that have faith have reason and them that have no faith are unreasonable and where thou hath borrowed this rule I know not that a man must believe that which he doth not understand seeing the Apostle saith to the Romans even of the Gentiles who had not the Law nor the Scriptures that that which may be known of God was manifest in them for by that it is manifest they understood the mind of God and knew him for Paul saith further when they knew God they glorified him not as God but were unthankful c. and again he that believes must know that God is for none can believe in that which is not for to perswade any to believe in uncertainties which is not manifest in the understanding doth rather beget unbelief and doubting then true faith but thy paths are so full of darkness I shall not traduce them and thy consequences is false for pure reason teaches not contradictions neither doth teach that there is no faith at all neither is faith excluded by pure reason as thou ignorantly saith in the 26. page and is it not reason that I should believe in him whom I know is the Creator and Governour of all the World and pure Religion is so far from excluding faith that they that have true faith have reason and stands not in opposition to faith but this I conclude that the reason of fallen men is corrupted and is an uncertain thing to relie upon and so not a competent Judge in matters of so high concernment as touching everlasting Salvation The third thing which thou treats upon is against them who have pleaded that the sole Scriptures are sufficient of themselves to teach true faith from time to time to direct rule and govern us and to be rule and judge and to supply the place of Christ and the Apostles As I said it is not my intention to vindicate other mens quarels which is no part of my faith notwithstanding I should be sorry but that every thing had its true weight and measure and shall not in the least detract from the price value and true worth of the words of truth to wit the Scriptures of truth which were spoken forth by the spirit of truth and by the holy Ghost as it gave utterance but as men erring in their Judgments runs sometimes to the right hand and sometimes to the left hand and walks not in a straight path some men are seting them up above that which they were intended for and placing them in the stead of God Christ and the Spirit and others are too much debasing them and disesteeming them as that they would set up the Judgment of variable and changable men who hold and teach things in contradiction to the Scriptures and repugnant to the mind of the spirit in them that spoke them forth But first of all I say not against thee in this thing that the sole or whole Scriptures are not sufficient of themselves to teach true faith and give the knowledge of God without the spirit for many have got the words and yet
hath not received the spirit nor the power which the Scriptures declare of such wrangles and contends with the words and opposes the life and the power the Jews had the Scriptures and knew by them where Christ should be born and knew by them what his works should be when he was manifest and yet rejected him unto whom all the Prophets bore witness from Moses to Samuel and from him to John and they were never intended by God as to be set up as Judge and Guide to wit the words without the power and Spirit of God yet notwithstanding though I cannot set them up in the place of God and Christ and the Spirit nor contend ignorantly as some have done that they are the author of true faith and that they are the eternal word of God which the world was made by that they are the light and the way the truth and the life and that they are the desider of all Controversies and sole and absolute and only Judge of all matters of faith and of all matters that ever hath been or ever shall be in controversie to the end of the World without the spirit of God neither am I of that ignorant mind as some are that the Letter and the Spirit is unseparable as that whosoever hath the Scripture must needs have the Spirit or whosoever hath the Scripture must needs be infallible without the Spirit all that are of the aforesaid Judgment are but wranglers for the most part about words and contenders against the power of God and godliness and brings the words to oppose the life and them that have the spirit and walk in it for a Natural man may read the Scriptures and yet not perceive the things of God neither perceive the mind of the spirit but wrest to their own destruction as Peter saith because they are unlearned untaught by the spirits teaching though otherwise learned enough in Languages Tongues and Speeches Secondly Yet I cannot detract from them neither undervalue them or disesteem them as uncertain or of no use or of little use but what ever themselves declare themselves to be that I own them to be to wit the Words of God the words of Christ the words of the holy Prophets and Patriarkes and Apostles who were endued with the Holy Ghost and spake forth the Scripture as they were moved thereby in several ages of several things and unto several states and conditions as they were led thereunto by the holy Spirit and they are a certain declaration of things that were done and believed and practised by the Jewes under the first Covenant and by the Apostles and Primitive Christians in the New Covenant and contain many precious and holy precepts and commands doctrines examples exhortations admonisions reproofs and instructions and are as lively examples and holy patterns for all the Saints in light to follow by which we are given to understand what Faith what Hope what Patience what Love what mercy what long sufferings what consolation and what vertue and what inheritance the Saints in light were made pertakers of through faith in Christ Jesus Likewise what Doctrines were held forth and what practice they used in the Primitive times when they walked in the order of the Gospel and had fellowship with God the Father and the Son and one with another in the light of the Gospel which is the power of God through which they witnessed Salvation and remission of sins and published it unto others that they might believe Thirdly The Scriptures testifies of Christ and were written that they might be believed and received and read that there by every one that believed might be made wise to Salvation through faith in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3. and instructed in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished with all good works and whosoever doth teach any Doctrines contrary unto the holy Men of God who spake as they were moved by the spirit of God which dwelt in them the Scriptures are witnesses against such that they have not the Spirit of God but are led by another spirit which brings forth contrary Doctrine and another faith then once was delivered among the Saints and whosoever brings in sets up other precepts constitutions orders and practices in point of Worships in opposition and contrary unto those practices which were held forth in the Primitive times and would set up other Traditions then the Apostles delivered either by word or writing such are manifest to have the spirit of error and are innovaters and bringers in of other things as necessary in point of Worship among Christians which the Apostles and Ministers of Christ did not see necessary then and yet they wanted no part of the Councel of God for Paul said he had declared the whole Councel of God and further more they said we have the mind of Christ and Christs mind is not variable Fourthly Though divers of the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles be lost doubtless as is evident by divers places of Scripture yet blessed be God that there are those preserved which do bear witness of the one thing absolutely necessary unto Salvation and of the Ministrations that were appointed of the Lord for the Church of God to observe both in the first and second Covenants so that Christians of this last age are not left without example and president which all ought to have an eye unto and a diligent regard and though there be divers Coppies of that which is called the Original Tongues and divers Translations yet he unto whom the Spirit of God is given and waiteth in the measure of Christs Light shall receive it doth see and shall see the mind and will of God in every age and the mind and intent of the spirit in them that spoke forth the Scripture and can receive the matter therein contained as though they had heard them speak that spoke it at the first and though the Translaters were Men yet I have such an honourable esteem of their labour that I believe they have not varied wittingly and willingly from the best Coppies that was extant in their age neither that they were altogether void of the Spirit of God in such a good work which conduced to the benefit of Mankind but were assisted by it for so good a work and there be many figures and trophes improprieties of speech mysteries and difficulties yet all these comes to be made easie and plain to them that are witnesses of the same spirit that gave them forth and though there be deversity of judgments and professions of Religion one clashing again another and thwarting another and contradicting another and all will seem to bring the Scripture for their proofe which yet canuot maintain and prove every thing good especially when their Doctrines contradict one another This is granted it is only their private interpretation and not the Scripture and for want of that Spirit that gave it forth for that alone gives the true
understanding of it and they that are without this are like to kill one another about words and names and sounds and titles and jotas but still wants the key that opens and gives an entrance into the knowledg of the things of God which alone is the Spirit of God that gave forth the Scriptures Last of all R. E. after he saith the three former props which is the basis of the whole foundation and glided over as sleightily as he possible could although he hath never stated the matter right indeed as to remove all things out of his way which might hinder him in his cause which he drives so hard on in to wit to set up a certain company or multitude of men visible and universal as he saith to be the only infallible Judge to convey Faith to the World and to be the certain and infallible Judge in all matters that either pertaines to the Worship of God and to be believed under pain of Damnation as his term is all along without questioning at all either their Doctrine or Principles or comparing them with the Doctrine of Christ or Primitive Christians whether they be true or false whether they be with or against but all is to be received by an implisite faith hand over head and by whole sail for it will admit of no examination nor doubt but all must be received of necessity as infallible and upon so great a necessity to as R. E. saith if you will believe him would make it so that all forfeits eternal Salvation for not receiving all the Doctrines of this Church and consequently procures eternal damnation unto themselves who refuse it so that if I should say no more but even lay down his assertions which are scattered up and down his Book called an Epistle to all Nonconformists it were answer enough I hope to many whose mouthes I hope would be filled with arguments and sound and grounded ones too or at least with faith in their hearts to oppugn and not receive all these bold assertions without examination or trial only upon the account of infallibility from the Universal Church of Rome falsly so called but R. E. having removed away all the stumbling blocks which is in his way as he judges the private spirit he hath concluded not to be this rule and judge which I judge he hath no opposers in though he have spent much paper and time in his scribling humour which hath been his manner in former days as he confesseth page the first neither reason nor the Scriptures are this rule and judge but he hath concluded the Catholick Church is but all along he hath waved that which indeed is the only and alone rule and judge infallible viz. the Spirit of God but either calls it the private spirit or concludes it is intailed upon the Church so that she cannot erre page the 54. which I shall say something further unto That there hath been a Church of God and a peculiar people whom God hath singled out as to be objects of his love which feared him in their hearts and bore a Testimony of him and worshipped him according to the manifestation of his Spirit unto them whether by word or revelation which was certain and infallible unto them that received it is granted and this was alwaies but little in comparison of the multitude of the fallen Sons of Adam and the rest of the Nations and people that served and worshipped strange Gods and never made such a boast of universality and visibility as this supposed Catholick Church hath done since the Apostacy entered in which the Apostles foresaw and prophesied off before their departure out of this Tabernacle and since many have believed in Christ and the Worship of the Jewes extinguished and a fatal overthrow of their Civil Government and Kingdom are two main reasons of extinguishing their Worship and hath been no invitation to any to turn Jewes or holden in their worship seeing they have lost their Government and Dominion and are as scattered people without privilege and is no inducement for the World to joyne to them therefore seeing the face of that Government was demolished and their Worship ended but only as to themselves who remained in their unbelief and seeing that the Doctrine of Christ did so far prevail as to extingush it and put out the Glory thereof in the Apostles dayes and sometime afterwards and also the Gentiles Worship and their false Gods and dumb Idols which they were led after the power of God prevailing through the Apostles the Ministers of Righteousness by whom many were converted unto the Faith of Christ the summe and substance of all shadowes many being converted to the Faith did hold forth a publick Testimony and it became in some reputation and many preached him of envy contention and strife and for filthy lucre covetousness and self-ends and many followed their pernicious wayes and yet held the name of Christ and Christianity and thus began the mystery of Iniquity to work and the Devil to turn so far Christian in name only because it was in vain among many to hold forth the Jewes Worship or the Gentiles Worship because they had an inclination another way after Christianity that came into more repute with the World and therefore suffered the name or many to profess it and under this name and under this Cover to bring forth his works of darkness and the fruits of the flesh and the nature of Christ wanting and here was the beginning and rise of your universal visible Church Secondly For the first two thousand years before the Scriptures were written R. E. saith the Church of God was this rule and judge and infallible director which might to some indifferent man have been granted but that I see which way his course bends viz. to the setting up of Men as judge and rule and guide and detracts from the Spirit and power of God in which the ability and power of the Church of God stood and from which alone they received this proper power right because their understandings were enlightened and their judgments informed to declare the mind of God freely according as it was revealed and to give true judgment why is not this attributed rather to the spirit and power of God that was manifest in them rather then to persons seeing their ability stood and their power only as they kept in Covenant with God and as any erred from that in any age or fell from that they came to be blind guides and to give false judgment as some such there were in all ages Thirdly R. E. saith that after the Scripture was written the Church of the Jewes was rule and judge unto the Jewes cites Deu. 17. 8. Thou shalt come to the Priests Levites unto the Iudge and enquire and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment and according to that which they shall tell thee thou shall do And likewise he quotes Mat. 23. 2 3. The Scribes
And as for all thy Collections out of the Prophets of the promise of God to his Church Isaiah 54. and 56. and of its indowments and glory and excellency and of his puting his spirit in them and of his word in their mouthes and that it should not depart from the seed nor the seeds seed for ever this is granted and the promise is not to Men as Men but to the seed which is not many but one but Israel was this true Church then in the time of this Prophesie though it have relation to future ages also and if R. E. looks that this promise should be to Israel after the flesh the Church then visible and in being he mistakes himself and he egragiously errs and contradicts the Scripture in sundry places which saith your house is left unto you desolate their Sacrifices ceased the Glory of God departed from them their Prophets prophesied a divination of their own brain and their visions were as visions of the night and the Lord spake not to the most of them yet they said falsly thus saith the Lord in their revolted estate for they were erred from the spirit and gone from the seed and joyned to another seed and their holy flesh was departed from them though as men they had the same flesh still go learn what that means and yet notwithstanding all this the promise of God was not violated neither unfulfilled on Gods part for the promise was not then neither now is to Natural Generations or that which is born after the flesh or to men as men and Creatures but as they are the seed and as they are Men of God and as they are born again and new Creatures and if thou will have an intailing here it is intailed which cannot be cut off for the Covenant stands not to Men in such a place that carries the name of Office or Authority but as they are led by the Spirit the infallible Judge rule or guide as they walk by this and in this they cannot err and they erring from this they are subject to be deceived and to be mistaken in all things and every thing of which there is evident examples in the Scriptures of truth in divers ages of them that professed themselves members of the Church of God and so visible as R. E. speaks of yea and the greater part too that have erred and their paths hath been reckoned by the Lord as crooked and perverse and their Habitants full of cruelty and this is given for an instance the visible Church of the Jewes did err and go aside notwithstanding all the promise of God to them and as they looked that it still belonged to them because they were invisible profession though they had turned their backs upon the Lord and their hearts too and violated his Covenant yet still as I said the promise of God and the Covenant of God is not made of none effect nor broken on Gods part but stands with the seed for ever who are circumcised in heart and who worshipes God in spirit and truth and in uprightness of heart and hath no confidence in the flesh nor fleshly privileges nor external performances but only trusts unto the gift of Righteousness manifest in them by which Justification comes upon all that believes and the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ and the fulness of the promise of God but these things I know though they be holy faithful and true are a sealed Book and hid from all eyes living in the flesh who hath not been baptised into the death and suffering of Christ. Fourthly That Christ by his own mouth and the mouthes of the Apostles did promise that there should be a Church which the Gates of Hell should not prevail against and this Church was established upon the Everlasting Foundation and the Rock of Ages and was indued with power from an high and with a great measure of the spirit of God according unto Christ's promise which more plentifully was poured forth after Christs departure and after his Ascension and great gifts were given unto them the word of Knowledge the word of Wisdom the Interpretation of Tongues the gift of Tongues the gift of Prophesie the gift of discerning Spirits healing the sick working of Miracles c. and all these foresaid gifts were given for the work of the Ministry for the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and unto a perfect man and to the measure and stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes. 4. 11 12 13. And all these were instrumental through the Spirit of God which was with them and in them the only means to bear witness unto those things that they had learned and believed and to publish the word of faith abroad unto the World and for all these aforesaid ends above mentioned which though R. E. and his Catholicks will need lay claim to the succession by way of office yet by their Doctrine denies in part the very end wherefore such gifts were given to wit the Doctrine of Purgatory for if they did perfect the Saints or were brought up to the knowledge of the Son of God and to perfect men in Christ Jesus and to be without sin what need had there been of raising up this damnable Doctrine out of the pit to purge from sin after they be dead seeing they were to be perfect men while they were alive and the Ministry was given for this end but yours it seems cannot have these effects on this side of the Grave and therefore they must perfect them in the grave and so be Ministers in another World And this Church thus gathered and endued before mentioned with the infallible Spirit of God if any that did sometime believe and were joyned unto it did walk disorderly as not becoming the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ they were to be admonished and exhorted and if they persisted in their disorder it was to be told to the Church or the whole body and if such a one would not hear the Church he was to be reckoned as a Publican or a Heathen and to be denyed as to have any fellowship with him till manifest repentance was shewn but we never read that this Church did shed any mans blood or burn any or give consent to destroy any instance if thou can though obstinate and Hereticks too and in this amongst many other things the spirit of your Church is seen to be contrary to the Primitive Church and you out of Christs Doctrine but R. E. argues further and saith but if Christ by his Spirit doth not preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching error instead of truth I may receive such errors as may damn me unto which I say Christ by his spirit doth preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching error if they continue in the guidance thereof and err not