Also those that were convinced at Peters Sermon said unto Peter â—nd the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we do that false light within them taught them nothing but to do but the Apostle Peter answereth them Repent and be Baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins for the promise is unto you and to you Children Also the Keeper of the Prison came to Paul and Silas and brought them out and said Sirs what must I do to be saved and they answered and said Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved The light in him could not direct him what to do without the Apostles teaching who taught them to do nothing but to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ but if the Apostles had been Quakers they would have said to him Hearken to the light within thee and obey the same and thou shalt be saved but the Apostles knew no such doctrine The false Apostles taught such doctrine for after the Apostle Paul had planted the Church of Galatia by the preaching of the Gospel there presently after came false Teachers who bewitched the Galatians with this doctrine That the works of the Law are to be joyned with Christs righteousnesse for our Justification and Salvation The Apostle saith I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called yon into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ Minde The Apostle doth not marvel that they were so soon removed from him that called them to hearken to the light within them and obey that but that called you into the grace or favour of Christ and tells them that those which taught them to joyn Faith and Works together in the point of Justification were not Preachers of the Gospel but perverters of the Gospel for saith he We through the Spirit wait for the hope of the righteousnesse by Faith Minde the Apostle doth not say we wait for the revelation of a light within nor a shaking quaking fit by the Spirit that is from the spirit of the Devil and not from the Spirit of Christ And as these Galatians had a natural inclination after the doctrine of Justification and were soon drawn away by that and the false Teachers so is there the same in all men naturally because Man naturally would fain sacrifice to his own Net he would have something in himself he cannot indure to be robbed and spoiled of all his good works he would fain have some glory to himself like the Pharisee who thanked God he was not as other men but did many good works and like those proud hypocritical Jews who said stand farther off I am holier then thou But now this doctrine of free Justification in and by the righteousnesse of Christ alone without works taketh away all glory from a Man robbeth him of all and giveth all glory to God in Christ alone Now take this for a sure rule for tryal of doctrine that doctrine which giveth most glory to God and taketh away all glory from Man that is the true doctrine but this doctrine of being perfectly justified in and by the righteousnesse of Christ alone doth give most glory to God and take glory from Man therefore the true doctrine of Christ Having answered your objections against this doctrine of being justified in and by the righteousnesse of Christ alone I shall answer your grounds upon which you build your perfection in your selves by the hearkning to the light within you and obeying the same Christ saith be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect To which I answer that a Christian is said to be perfect by Sanctification in regard of the parts of Sanctification because every part is Sanctified as a Man childe is said to be a perfect Man so soon as it is born in regard it hath all the parts of a Man but those parts are not grown to perfection so a Christian is perfect in regard of all parts of perfection but not in regard of the measures or degrees and that is Christs meaning be ye therefore which therefore doth imply a wherefore and doth relate to the words going before Ye have heard it hath been said thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy But I say unto you love your enemies blesse them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despightfully use you and persecute you that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven For he maketh his Sun to shine or rise on the evil and the good and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust Be ye therefore perfect as your Father is perfect Have you the same part or quality of perfection as your Father hath but who can say he loveth his enemies in that measure and degree as God our Heavenly Father loved his enemies that he sent his only begotten Son to dye for his enemies I am certain to Quaker hath that perfection for in stead of blessing and praying for their enemies they curse them as I shall shew more at large hereafter Also perfection is sometimes taken for the sincerity of Man or singlenesse of heart in opposition to a double-minded hypocritical man and so is it said of Job that he was perfect and upright that is he was a man of a single heart for if we mark what Job said of himself we shall finde that he was a man that confessed his own infirmities and weaknesse If I justifie my self mine own mouth shall condemn me if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse Also he saith I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Surely Job was no Quaker for they say they are perfectly freed from sin and in stead of abhorring themselves they justifie themselves Again you object that the Apostle Paul saith that he preached Wisdome among them that are perfect and let as many as are perfect be thus minded To which I answer that the Apostle speaketh of the perfection of Justification in and through the righteousnesse of Christ and not of inherent perfection For the Apostle in that third Chapter to the Philippians saith of himself Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus By which the Apostle declareth that he was imperfect in regard of his apprehending of Christ for as he saith in another place We all know but in part and believe but in part but we are perfectly apprehended of Christ and he hath already perfectly redeemed us and saved us Wherefore we that believe should be of the Apostles minde to
the Apostle What doth it profit though a man say he hath Faith and have not Works shew me thy Faith without thy Works and I will shew thee my Faith by my Works according to Christs own words Let your light so shine before men that they may see you good works and glorifie your father which is in Heaven Also the Apostle Paul writing to Titus I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be carefull to maintain good works these things are good and profitable unto men as the Prophet David saith My goodnesse extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth So that there is a necessity of good works though not for our Justification namely Gods glory it being the end of our Creation and Redemption and the good and benefit of others for we were not made for our selves but for the good and benefit one of another Also good works the fruits of Faith I conceive are necessary and profitable for those that do them in Faith to evidence aud manifest the truth of their Faith unto themselves though Doctor Crips and several others were of a contrary opinion for although it be true which Christ saith By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another yet it is also true which the Apostle John saith We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren He that loveth not his brother abideth in death also in that prayer which Christ taught his Disciples Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors Now when God hath given us a heart to forgive the wrongs and injuries of men against us it is a good sign of Gods forgiving of us and this the Disciples of Christ doth evidence when Christ said unto them If thy Brother trespasse against thee seven times a day and seven times a day return saying I repent thou shalt forgive him and the Apostles said unto the Lord Increase our Faith The Apostles apprehended that they had need to have their Faith increased to believe the forgivenesse of their sins that so they might forgive their Brother so many trespasses against them for if a man have no apprehension of Gods mercy in forgiving his sins he can have no true seeling bowels of mercy to forgive others But having by Faith apprehended the free love and favour of God in Christ in forgiving our sins our hearts are so warmed and inflamed in the same that we cannot but forgive others for as the Apostle saith The love of Christ constraineth us and ye your selves are taught of God to love one another Now I hope by this you will be convinced that this doctrine of being Justified and Saved only by the righteousnesse of Christ is no doctrine of carnal liberty to sin and to live idly without doing good works but contrary that it is the only ground and foundation of all good works But because I have often heard some of your Teachers say that a man is saved by the hearkning to the light within him and obeying the same which is a doctrine I have heard taught in the open street in Branford Market by Benjamin Wallis one of the Quakers teachers Wherefore I shall endevour to cleer that to your understandings if you will not shut the eyes of your understanding against the truth Now that there is a light in every man which is a false light by nature teaching him that by doing and obeying the Law of God he shall be saved I deny not but that this light is Christ that I deny but say it is the light that is naturally in every man since the fall of Adam For as Adam did lose the estate of Innocency by disobeying Gods Commandement in eating of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of good and evill so did he naturally think that by obeying or doing he should recover himself again and therefore The Lord placed at the East end of the garden of Eden Cherubims and a flaming Sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life knowing that Adam naturally did think to recover his estate by eatâ—ng of the tree of Life as he lost it by eating of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil and this is natural to all the Sons and Daughters of Adam to believe that they shall come to an estate of blessednesse and happinesse by what they do and therefore the Lord when he gave the Law of the Ten Commandements gave it with Thunder and Lightning and Fire so that the Children of Israel were afraid and desired Moses that he should go neer and here all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it and the Lord said I heard the voice of the words of this people they have well spoken all that they have said Now Moses was to stand between God and the people in which Moses was a type of Christ The Lord your God shall raise up a Prophet among your selves like unto me him you shall hear which was Christ for God never gave the Law to that end that men should be Justified and Saved by it but that it might be the ministery of condemnation to drive them unto Christ for the Law is a School-master to drive us to Christ and so long as we live to shew us ous sins and be a rule of obedience unto us and yet the veil of Moses Law is still upon the hearts of the Jews and many of the Gentiles unto this day for as the Apostle saith The Jews which followed after the Law of righteousnesse have not attained to the Law of righteousnesse Wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the works of the Law and thus you may see the natural light in many others did lead them and teach them this way of doing or working for life and Salvation The young man in the Gospel that came unto Christ said Good Master what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life Christ answereth him according to his question and saith If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandements and asking which Commandement said all this have I kept from my youth up what lack I yet and then Christ sets him such a task that he knew he would not do If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor and he went away sorrowfull Now the end of Christs words was to convince him of the impossibility of attaining eternal life by doing Also the Jews that came unto Christ at Capernaum said Minde What shall we do that we might work the works of God and Christ answered them plainly This is the work of God That ye believe on him whom he hath sent
for so saith the Apostle Iohn If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us If we say that we have not sinned we make him a lyer and his word is not in us you make God a lier because he saith All men are liers you are men therefore liers and therefore sinners in themselves which I have formerly proved at large Wherefore I should insist upon those lies which you have written and printed and reported For those untruths which thou John Horwod hast written in thy Letter concerning the Ministers and my self I shall but briefly touch them Thou sayest that our Ministers keep people in sin abominable lie For they preach against sin Thou saist that our Ministers know nothing but by Tongues and Art and that they preach for nothing but money Most gross lies If our Ministers did not preach for Conscience to discharge their duties in publishing the Truth how and why have so many of them suffered the loss of their lives and estates and so many lost their Livings and suffered Imprisonment and some Banishment I never heard of any Quakers that suffered so much for their Religion nor never shall for it is not worth suffering for but you cry out of suffering and persecution when none hurt you and that is another of your lies that you are persecuted when you are only perswaded out of your errours And this I know by experience and shall endeavour to clear my self from your lying slanderous tongues for some of your Quakers did report to several of my friends and acquaintance in London and to some of near relation that I was the greatest persecutor of the Quakers in all the Countrey which is a most gross lie for I never did doe them the least harm but indeavoured to doe them all the good that lay in my power both by labouring to convince and reclaim them from their errors and by endeavouring to restrain people from offering any violence against them I was sent by the Magistrate to desire a man at whose house they met to come to him where the Minister of the place was present and the Magistrate and Minister both did use all the love and meekness that could be expressed to perswade and convince him of his errour and did bring such plain proofs from Scripture to prove him to be seduced and brought into severall errours that both of them and my self did hope that the man was convinced he promising to come to the Ministers house for a Catechise of the grounds of Religion and to read the same but after the man came to his old company of Quakers they turned him to his errours and did continue their meetings at his house on the Sabbath day and on the Thursdayes where I had several conferences with them and their Teachers and seeing many rude boyes and others come about the door I desired the Magistrate to send the Officers of the Parish to fetch them away from the House lest their should be any disturbance which he did And now let all persons that hear this judge whether there were any persecution in all this and whether it was not a lie to say that I was the greatest persecutor of them in the Countrey For at Branford some of them were set in the stock some sent to Newgate and indited at the Scessions and severall of them beaten and was my reasoning with them and endevouring to reclaim them and endeavouring to restrain rude persons from disturbing them worse than all that they suffered at Branford which I never knew of while afterward But the first time that I met Sarah Blackbury at Cheeswick after some discourse with her she looked on me and said Thou wilt be a great or the greatest Persecutor of Gods People in all this countrey and I suppose because she would be counted a true prophetess she raised this lie on me which was soon spread abroad by her Disciples for she was counted one of the chief Teachers and doth send several of them abroad to several places to teach or rather to seduce and spred their lies abroad which are so many that I should weary my self to write them and others to read them wherefore I shall onely make mention of the lies in Print which are the greatest lies in Print that ever I read and that is in a Book or Pamphlet called A just and lawfull Trial of the Teachers and professed Ministers of this Age and Generation by a friend to Englands Common-wealth for whose sake this is written and sent abroad E. B. Which Book being given me as a piece unanswerable in the conceit of him that gave it me I did ingage my self to answer it I saw it was nothing but revilings and slanders and lies against our Ministers and indeed they are the Buts at which they shoot their Arrowes and the truth is I had answered all the chief grounds alleadged in the said Book against our Ministers before I saw it in answer to John Horwood But for those many Lies in the said Book I shall give answer to some of the chiefest proving them to be grosse Lies and therefore that he who writ the same being a Quaker is not perfect The first of E. B. his grosse Lies against our Ministers is that our Ministers do things contrary to the Spirit of Jesus and they have seen nothing but lying vanities and divinations whereby they seduce the people for Life is promised him though he be wicked and ungodly living in all unrighteousnesse Now I appeal to the Consciences of all that hears this whether this be not a grosse Lie for was there ever any Minister in the worst of times or the worst of Ministers that ever taught such Doctrine or speak such words but how doth this profound Lier prove these words for saith he they tell him that Christ is his righteousnesse to justifie him and then he thinks he needs not turn from his sin and so their hands are strengthned that they cannot turn from their sins By which E. B. doth discover his grosse Ignorance as well as Malice For he doth believe that the Doctrine of free Justification by Christ his righteousnesse is a Doctrine that doth teach peole to live in all unrighteousnesse But doth not this Lier make the Apostle Paul to be a false Teacher and one that had seen nothing but lying Vanities as well as our Ministers seeing the Apostle taught the same Doctrine Now to him that worketh not but beleiveth on him that justifieth the ungodly His faith is counted for righteousnesse Even as David describeth the blessednesse of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without works for as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one that is Christ shall many be made righteous being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ And did not the Apostle John teach the same Doctrine And if
much strictness in their lives as any Quakers as Luther writeth of himself when he was a Monck and of several others Also the young man in the Gospel said All these Commandements I have kept from my youth and I believe many of the Pharisees were as strict and zealous in their way as they and the Apostle Paul testifieth of himself while he was a Pharisee that touching the righteousness which is in the Law blameless But all that his and their righteousness did not make them nor manifest them to be Christians because they did do those works not from an inward principle of life but for life to be justified and saved thereby as the Papists and Quakers do Now what the Devil spake in this sense is most true Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life and what would not a man do suffer for the saving his soul and gaining heaven But all that a man can do and suffer will not make him a Christian nor manifest him to be such if he beleive not the Gospel nor profess the same For if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved saith the Apostle Rom. 10. 9 10. for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation and therefore Luther saith that Doctrine is heaven and practice is below here among men and therefore I am of the opinion or judgement of those that understand Christ his words You shall know them by their faces to be meant their doctrines as well as their lives because generally false Prophets and false teachers are such as walk very strict in their lives yea the devil is more cunning then to send men of profane lives to vent and spread errors for he knoweth people will not be easily deluded by such and therefore he sendeth such as cover over their errors with the sheeps clothing of a pretended strict holy life then any others as the fals teachers did among the Galatians and the ringleaders of all sects and errors ever since have done wherefore I return their own Argument upon their own heads which they often bring against our Ministers that they are the false Prophets Christ spake of I say their teachers are the false Prophets because I know them by their fruits their errors which they hould and teach as well as their practise Judas was a true Apostle called by Christ and yet a covetous wretch and a devil but that did not prove him a false Apostle he being called by Christ and teaching the Doctrine of Christ Also Christ saith the Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat Wherefore what they command you that observe and do for they say and do not so that by Christs commanding to hear them it doth appear that the Pharisees not walking according to what they taught was no ground to prove them false teachers nor to refuse to hear them they being called to teach and teaching the truth It is one of the cunning wiles of Satan to perswade people as the Quakers do not to hear any Minister that walketh not perfectly in his life and that they are no true Teachers that have any failings in their lives though lawfully called and teach the truth and one of the other hand to perswade people that those are the onely true teachers that walk with an outward shew of holynesse though never called to teach teach false erroneous doctrines contrary to the grounds of Religion and this the Apostle Paul proveth saying false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ and no marvel for Satan himself is translated into an Angel of light wherefore the Apostle warneth the Galatians though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you then that which we have preached let him be accursed the false Apostles and false teachers pretended to be the only holy men for they taught That faith alone was not sufficient to justifie but that they must joyn their good works and that the Apostle Pauls Doctrine tended to carnal liberty and taught people to live in sin as the Quakers say of our Ministers and their Doctrine But the Apostle charged the Galatians and the Corinthians not to hear them for all their pretended holyness seeming like Angels because they preach another Gospel of their own as the Quakers do for they teach the same Doctrines those the false Apostles taught namely that we are not justified and saved by believing what Christ did and suffered for us but by hearkning to and obeying not Gods Commandements but a light within us and some of them do deny Christs Body to be risen from the grave and to be in Heaven and are not these sufficient grounds to write against such people that hold teach and maintain such erronious doctrines I mean not their persons but their errors What esteem soever many have of them for their outward pretended holyness I say outward for did people see their hearts they would see them foul the Lord said unto the Prophet Ezekiel Sonne of man these men have set up their Idols in their heart he did not say they did worship Idols with their bodies and do not the Quakers set up idols in their hearts when they set up their inward works in the room and place of Christ What do they else when they say and teach that they are not justified and saved by what Christ did and suffered but by what they do in obeying a light within them and is not this to make an idol of their own works which is worse then the Papists Images made of wood and stone and is not their maintaining that they can perfectly keep the law by living without sin a making of themselves equal with Christ for it is his Prerogative only to have no sin that Satan found no sin in him and to say which of you can accuse me of sin and do not they thereby Idolize themselves and will people still be so mad to Idolize them by saying they have no sin and that they never sin Wherefore I hope I have answered that Objection There is one objection more which I have heard against others writing against them and I must look for the same Wherefore I shall indevour to answer that and so conclude The 2. Objection That it is lost labor to write against them because they are a peeople so wedded to their own opinions and so self-conceited of their own knowledge that they will not be convinced let any man say or write what he will against them Answer I confess it was an Objection that did stick much with me before I began to write and did keep me back for some time from writing but I did satisfie my self before I began and shall indevour to satisfie the Reader Wherefore I say first That I have heard and known some that have
with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the throne and the smoak of the Incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand Now that Altar was Christ and that Incense was nothing else but Christs merits and mediation by which alone the prayers of all Saints are perfumed and so become acceptable with God or before him for we do not conceive that Christ now in Heaven maketh any vocal prayers to to God the Father for us but that he doth continually present the virtue of his Death and Sufferings before his Father whereby not only our persons are accepted but our services also Now whoever doth deny this intercession or mediation of Christ doth in effect deny Christ because they deny the end of Christ his coming and all such the Apostle John saith That whoever denyeth that Jesus is the Christ is Antichrist and many deceivers are entred into the world which confesse not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh this is a deceiver and an antichrist Now all those that do deny the end of Christs coming in the flesh do deny his coming in the flesh and all those that deny perfect Justification from all sin in and by Christs Death Resurrection and Intercession alone do deny the end of Christs coming and that you Quakers do for you say you are made perfect not by what Christ did and suffered but by what the Spirit worketh in you I some of you have affirmed that Christ never rise from the Grave and that his body is rotted in the Grave and some of you have made a mock of this Doctrine of Justification by the Imputation and Intercession of Christ and some have written against it in theis Pamphlets Now I pray you that revile against all others that are not of your minde calling them Antichrist and the brood of Antichrist Now see whether you are not the Antichrists your selves and the deceivers spoken of by the Apostle We know from whence you learned this Doctrine better than your selves and that is from your Fathers the Papists as I said before for all you cry out against them and all others that are not of your minde to be Popish and as this Doctrine of the Papists and yours doth make Christ and his Mediatorship void and uselesse so it doth make Faith to be uselesse for if a man be justified and saved not by what Christ hath done and suffered for us but being free from sin inherently in us by following and obeying the light within us then we need not believe our perfection because we see and feel it in our selves Now the Apostle defining Faith what it is saith That Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen and the just shall live by Faith and we walk by Faith and not by sight even as Abraham the Father of the faithfull is said by the Apostle to believe against hope and believed in hope and being not weak in faith he considered not his own body nâ—w dead neither yet the deadnesse of â—arahs wombe though he did see and feel nothing in his body nor Sarahs whereby to believe that he should have a Son yet he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in Faith giving glory to God And being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousnesse Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered for our offences and was raised for our justification Now the Apostle doth argue that as Abraham believed the promise contrary to what he saw or felt in himself so also should we And as this doctrine doth make Faith void and uselesse so doth it also make Repentance uselesse for if a Christian can live without sin then he need not repent for sin Now the Doctrine of Repentance is of use in the Church as we may see by what the Apostle writeth saying Godly sorrow causeth repentance never to be repented of also Christ saith to the Church of Ephesus I know thy works and thy labour and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them which are evil and thou hast tryed them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast born and hast patience and for my name sake hast laboured and hast not fainted Such a commendation as never any Quaker deserved and yet Christ said neverthelesse I have somewhat against thee remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works Now these were the first Churches and lived in the purest times and yet had need of repentance and dare you Quakers say you are more perfect than they I know you are so in your own eyes but Christ knoweth you are solely pride and â—ypocrisie and how you hold and maintain the Popish doctrine That a man is not justified and saved by Faith in believing only what Christ hath done and suffered for us and for our salvation but those workes of the Spirit in us in being obedient unto the light within us Now that you may see and know that this is an old Popish doctrine I shall shall shew you what Luther writeth concerning the Papists judgement in this particular who knew better than you do because he was trained up many years in the same Religion having been one of their Monks I shall write his very words in his Exposition of the Epistle to the Galathians upon chap. 2. ver 16. Know that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ We have alwaies saith he recourse to this article that our sins are covered and that God will not lay them to our charge not that sin is not in us minde as the Papists have taught saying that we must be alwaies working well untill we feel that there is no sin remaining in us Yea sin is indeed alwaies in us and the godly do feel it but it is covered and it is not imputed unto us of God for Christs sake Also on the chap. 3. ver 20. Who loved me and gave himselfe for me the Papist saith he use this Verse God will no more require of man Than of himself performe he can Moreover they say that nature is corrupt but the qualities of nature notwithstanding are sound and uncorrupt upon which ground they reason that mans will and understanding are sound and uncorrupt are pure and perfect in him and therefore do infer that a man is able of himself to fulfill the Law and to love God with all his heart and so consequently to be justified thereby It is well known by all that have read the Jesuites writings or have had
any conference with the Papists Armenians Pelagians and Familists that they all hold plead and maintain that there is a light in every mans conscience which if he improve and husband well they may attain Salvation by which you may see how much you are deluded and deceived that think your selves run so far from the Papists when you are run to their chief principles of Religion I do not much wonder at your change seeing you are fallen from this article of Justification by Faith alone for as Luther well observeth and foretold Wherefore saith he I say as I have oftentimes said that there is no remedy against Sects and Errors or power to resist them but this only article of Christian Righteousnesse if we lose this article it is impossible for us to withstand any Errors or Sects as we may see at this day in the fantasticall Spirits the Anabaptists and such like who being fallen away from this article of Justification will never cease to fall erre and seduce others untill they come to the fulnesse of all iniquity Minde There is no doubt but they will raise up innumerable Sects and shall devise new works but what are all these things though they have never so goodly a shew of holinesse if we compare them to the Death and Blood of the Son of God who gave himself for me and is it any strange thing to see a man go astray when he hath lost his right way Now Christ is the way and the only way all other wayes are by-paths of a mans own invention he is the rock of ages the chief corner-stone and who ever stumbleth on him he must be dashed in pieces and though a man do erre in many things as we all do yet if he hold fast the foundation he shall be safe and this doctrine of Christian righteousnesse or the righteousnesse of Christ alone apprehended by Faith is this sure foundation and if we miscarry in that we perish eternally but holding that fast we shall be safe to all eternity And now I shall endevour to answer you and the Papists objections concerning this doctrine preached and maintained by our Ministers that a Christian is made perfect by what Christ alone did and suffered and not by any thing done in us or by us Now you Quakers and the Papists do object against this doctrine that it is a doctrine that giveth people liberty to sin and to neglect good works for say you if we lay all our sins upon Christ then we make him a pack-horse for to bear our sins and it matters not how we live in sin Christ having satisfied for them For answer to this I say that this doctrine is a doctrine of Christian Liberty and not a doctrine of Carnal Liberty but such who have carnal hearts and never felt the life and power of Faith have abused this doctrine of Christian Righteousnesse to Carnal Liberty and will abuse the same for the best things are most subject to abuse but the abuse of any thing doth not take away the lawful use of it In the Apostle Paul's dayes there were such for the Apostle having preached the doctrine of Free Grace That where Sin abounded Grace did much more abound what then shall we say shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid Offences will come saith Christ but woe be unto those by whom they are given Some followed Christ for by-ends and there were many in the Church of Corinth and Galatia and Philippa that walked disorderly but yet the Apostle Preached and writ this doctrine of Free Justification We know in civil things how apt men are to abuse them as Wine and strong Beer to Drunkennesse good Meat to Gluttony shall we say therefore they are not good nor lawfull to be used and we know a sick Stomach cannot well digest the best meat and shall we therefore say the meat is not good do you not know that Christ saith that many are called but few chosen many called to the external profession of the Gospel but few that live answerable thereunto But the Gospel is still the same and to be Preached as the Apostle saith I am called to Preach the Gospel and wo is me if I Preach not the Gospel and the chief cause why so many walk disorderly is because people do not believe this doctrine of Free Grace for The Grace of God which hath appeared and bringeth Salvation teacheth us That denying ungodlinesse and wordly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world The apprehending of the love of God in Christ is that which draweth the heart to love God and love our Brethren as it is said of Mary Magdelen Her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much Her loving much was not the cause of her sins being forgiven but her sins being forgiven was the cause of her loving much as appears by Christs own words But to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little As for the other Objection That this doctrine of being Justified by the righteousnesse of Christ alone is a means to make men neglect good works I Answer That no man can do one good work before he be justified by Faith in Christ for The person must be accepted before the work can be accepted By Faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain but without Faith it is impossible to please him The Lord had respect first to Abel then to his offering for as Christ saith Either make the tree good and his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt Now we are made good trees only by bâ—â—ng ingraffed into Christ by Faith and all the works that men do before Faith though never so good for the matter and morally good in themselves yet are they but beautifull abominations in Gods sight the person being not Justified the works that a man doth though good in themselves do not make any man good no more than the good fruit on a tree maketh the tree good but because the tree is good therefore the fruit is good But you Quakers and Papists say then it matters not whether a man do any good works seeing they make him not good By which you manifest your grosse Ignorance of the truth for the Scripture doth teach that good works do declare and manifest the truth of our Faith that it is not a dead but a living Faith as the fruit which the tree beareth doth shew and manifest what the tree is if the fruit be good then is the tree good if the tree bring forth no fruit then it is a barren tree or a dead tree and that is the Apostles meaning when he saith that Faith without works justifieth not The Apostle treateth of manifesting and declaring the truth of our Faith that it is a living Faith and not a dead Faith or rather a bare profession of Faith for saith
Minister because the People unto whom he Preacheth liveth in many sins then I say by the same ground you may as well prove that the Prophets and Apostles were no true Teachers for the Lord sometimes sendeth his Prophets among a people not for their conversion but to harden them in their sins and to leave them without excuse Noah was a Preacher of righteousnesse and Preached to the old world to have them repent and yet they repented not but God brought a Floud and drowned the whole World except Noah and his Family and will you say that Noah was not therefore a Preacher of righteousnesse or a true Preacher and afterward was not Noah overtaken with drinking the Wine that he made of the Grapes that he was drunk and yet that sin of his did not prove him to be no true Teacher Also Just Lot so called did labour by Teaching Reproving and Exhorting the Sodomites to repent and turn from their wickednesse but could not prevail and God destroyed them with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven And Lot after that great deliverance fell into grosse sins namely Drunkennesse and Incest was he not therefore a good Teacher Also the Prophet Samuel what pains did he take with the Children of Israel to reclaim them from their sins but could not prevail for the Lord said they have not rejected thee but me was he not therefore a true Prophet Also the Prophet Elias how little did he prevail with the Children of Israel to reclaim them insomuch that he saw none but himselfe that was not fallen to worship Ball saying They have slain thy Prophets and I am left alone Also the Lord said unto the Prophet Esai Go and tell this people Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes least they see with their eyes and hear with their eares and understand with their heart and convert and be healed Then said I Lord how long and he answered Untill the Cities be wasted without Inhabitants and the Houses without Men and the Land be utterly desolate And the Prophet complaineth that all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and a gain-saying people And was not the Prophet Isaiah therefore a true Prophet but you will say these were before Christ was come in the flesh Wherefore I shall shew you the same in effect after Christ his coming in the flesh to omit what Christ complaineth of concerning the obstinate Jews in which I might be large only take that one complaint of his O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy Children together even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and ye would not behold your houses are left unto you desolate Now if Christ who was God as well as Man complaineth that Jerusalem would not be gathered or converted unto him is it any strange thing that those that follow him do see such small fruit of their labours Wherefore take a view of what followed after Christ his Ascention and after the full accomplishing of Christs promise to send the Holy Ghost The Apostle Paul after he had with much labour by preaching gathered a people in Corinth what fruits did spring up and grow among them there was great divisions and contentions among them every one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ Also the Apostle saith that it is reported commonly that there is Fornication among you and such as is not so much as named amongst the Gentiles that one should love his Fathers Wife and ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned Also the Apostle complaineth that there were divisions among them about the Lords Supper For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken and was not the Apostle therefore a true Teacher of the Gospel of Christ and was not the Church of Corinth therefore a true Church of Christ according to you Quakers tenets or opinions they are no true Churches in which there are divisions and in which there are any sins and corruptions and so much is implyed and expressed in your Paper where by the way I shall now write something to confute that error of yours in which you are not alone for you have too many that erre with you for company besides Quakers Now I have read several of your Pamphlets in which you write that the Church is in God and is Spiritual and that there is no true Church where there is divisions and where there is sin this Richard Farnworth Burroughs and several other wrâ—teth wherefore I desire you to take notice that the Apostle Paul writeth to these Corinthians and calleth them the Church of God at Corinth notwithstanding those corrupt Members that were among them such as you can scarse finde in the worst of our Congregations Also the Apostle writing to the Galatians calleth them the Churches of Galatia and that the Apostle saith O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth and are ye so foolish having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh that is by the works of the Law which the Apostle calleth Flesh Also the Apostle writing to the Thessalonians calleth them the Church of the Thessalonians which is in God and yet the Apostle saith there were some unruly persons among them and some disorderly persons which the Apostle calleth Brethren That the withdrawing your selves from every Brother that walketh disorderly for we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly working not at all but are busie bodies And if any man obey not our word by this Epistle note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed Minde Yet count him not as an Enemy but admonish him as a Brother Surely the Apostle wâ—s no Quaker for they deny to call any man or woman Brother or Sister though they walk never so orderly if not of their minde but say they are Heathen this I have heard several of your company speak Also Christ himself unto the Church of Ephesus saith That Thou hast left thy first love and unto the Angel of the Church in Pergamus That thou hast them that hold the doctrine of Balam so hast thou them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate And unto the Angel of the Church of Thiatira I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezabel which calleth her selfe a Prophetesse to teach and to seduce my servants like the women among you Quakers that take upon them to Teach And unto the Angel of the Church of Sardis I know thy works that thou hast a name that
Congregation and if any through ignorance doe sing that which is not sutable to their condition may not or must not others in the same congregation sing those things that are sutable to their condition That the Psalmes to be read by such is no sin unless you count reading the Scripture to be sinne and why may they not as well sing them as read them seeing the one is a duty as well as the other they may sing them doctrinal as well as read them doctrinal as the truths contained in the Psalms and such may be convinced by singing them as wel as reading them as in the particulars objected O Lord I am not puft in mind may not a proud person be convinc'd that he ought not to be proud and when a wicked man singeth My heart is bent to keep thy Law may not he thereby be convinced and taught by that Doctrine that his heart ought to be bent to keep the Law That it is ignorance of a mans own condition and of the matter contained in the Psalmes to think or say that the Psalmes are not sutable to our conditions for every Psalm setteth forth either the Attributes and workes of God and his Christ or else describeth the estate and wayes of the Church and People of God or describeth the estate and wayes of the wicked or else it doth lively express mine own affections and afflictions temptations and comfort But whatsoever the matter of the Psalm concerneth either of God or his Christ the godly or the wicked my self or others the good or evil estate of one or other it ever ministreth fit matter and occasion to me of singing forth the prayses of the Lord since the name of God is to be blessed in and by all whether it goe well or ill with our selves or others and I believe that there is no condition the Church is or can be in in general nor no condition which any Member is or hath been in but there are Psalms sutable to the same and several Clerks are able to chuse such Psalms as are fit and sutable for all times and for all states and conditions of the Church and sutable for all Ordinances and sutable to all Doctrines And lastly the general practice of the Churches of Christ is to me a thing much to be considered and that it was the practice of the Churches of Christ after the Apostles dayes several Histories do testifie as Mr. Cotton doth largely prove in his book written in defence of this Ordinance of singing of Psalmes against the Antipsalmist But you follow the Papists your Fathers who are as great enemies to singing of Davids Psalmes as your selves and I could wish that some Protestants were not too much tainted with that Opinion The Papist in contempt of singing of Psalmes call them Genevah Jigs as you Quakers and other Sectaries the brood of Antichrist scoff at our Ministers and people for singing of Psalmes calling them Hopkins Jigs But I hope I have sufficiently proved that we follow the example of Christ and his Apostles and all reformed Churches and that you do sin in not following the command and example of Christ and his Apostles and therefore are not perfect and so I pass from this particular in which I have been the longer in regard I have been so often opposed by you for practising this duty And now I come to a fourth particular in which you walk contrary to the rule of the Scripture and that is your practice in suffering and maintaining women to teach in your meetings which you call your Church Now this practice I have not only heard of but am an eye and ear witness of having heard two several women speak and teach in your meetings where I heard them speak such nonsensical erronious stuff that it is a shame to write it And this practice is justified and maintained in Print by one of their chief teachers Richard Fanworth for so he saith is his name in the flesh who hath written a Pamphlet called A woman forbidden to speak in the Church the Grounds examined the Mystery opened the Truth cleared and the Ignorance both of Priests and People discovered where by the way take notice that where ever the letter of the Text doth speak directly against your errors then you say there is a Mystery in it and that none can open but your selves But where the Letter of the Scripture seemeth to speak for your errours then you say away with your mystical meanings the Scripture is to be understood as they speak according to the Letter which I have often heard from your own mouths and read in your books Wherefore I shall indeavour to prove Mr. Fanworths Mystery opened to be the mystery of iniquity proceeding from the spirit of Antichrist being directly against the Doctrine of Christ contained in the Scripture For saith the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians Let your women keep silence in the Churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the Law And if they will learn any thing let them aske their husbands at home for it is a shame for women to speak in the Church also the Apostle to Timothy Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence Object But you Quakers say that there is a mystical meaning which none know but your selves And that is that by the woman is meant the flesh and by the speaking is meant the Spirit which is in the Saints and that may speak in the Church whether in man or woman male or female this Farnworth writeth in opening the Mystery Also Sarah Blackbury when I alledged the Apostles words to her in William Bonds House after she had been three or four hours there a teaching or prating on the Lords day she made me this Answer thou art the woman for thou art Flesh that is weak and therefore thou art to keep silence and I may speak because I have the Spirit by which the Scripture was written but thou hast not the Spirit and therefore hold thy babling for thou knowest not the meaning of the Scripture To which I replied but what is meant by the Husbands that the women are to learn of and to ask them at home To which Susan Bond answered Christ was the Husband and of him they were to be taught and Sarah Blackbery seemed to like the Answer well for she made no exceptions against it neither can she nor any one else if their doctrine be true that they all have an infallible Spirit and cannot erre else they cannot be perfect for error is sin and I shall prove this to be an error when I have taken away the false Vizzard which you have put upon the these Texts of Scripture Wherefore to shew you your error I shall shew you the great