were knowne in the Christian world by giving heed unto seducing spirits and doctrines of Devills speaking lyes through hypocrisie having their consciences seared as with an hott Iron By which it is evident that it is the last dayes In which saith the Apostle perilous times should come c. noting them out unto us by almost twenty Epithets which are all of them verified in the Papists and the Quakers for what one commeth short in the other compleateth And wee may still expect that evill men and doctrines shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived see 2 Tim 3. Chap And that there shall come false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders so that if it were possible they should deceive even the very Elect Mat 24.23 24 25 26 27 28. Admonition These things considered wee ought to be seriously admonished and perswaded hereby to take heede unto our selves that wee be not deceived by these seducing spirits these false Christs and false Prophets Behold saith our Saviour I have told you before Wherefore if they shall say unto you behold he is in the desert goe not forth behold he is in the secret chambers beleeve it not For as the lightning c. I say therefore if the Quakers tell us loe here is Christ or loe there nay if they shall prevaile so farre as the Lord knoweth how farre hee will suffer them as it may be to shew great signes and wonders yet let not us be deceived Behold hee hath told us before that wee might be forewarned and forearmed So that wee are inexcusable if wee be deceived And therefore that wee might not be deceived with these seducing spirits and doctrines of Devills Let us take admonition from the Spirit of God and not thinke our selves so steadfast and immoveable as that wee may not be deluded for even the Elect themselves may be so farre lead away with the errour of the wicked as to fall from their owne proper steadfastnesse though not totally nor finally see 2 Pet 3.17 18. And first then let us take heed least these seducing spirits provoke and stirre us up to a dislike of and enmitie against the Ministers of God for this is the first step that leadeth them to delusion but let us love and honour them as Embassadours of Christ and let this love be without dissimulation not in word and tongue onely meerely complementall but indeed and in truth and let it be exprest upon all occasions especially who ever it be that teacheth us and that administreth unto us spirituall things let us see and take care that they doe not want of our carnall things For according as wee sowe liberally or sparingly in these respects the same shall we reape from the hand of God Let not the Quabers deceive us in these respects God is not mocked And let us not account it as a matter of indifferency for it is our dutie and therefore it is called communicating To doe good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifice God is well pleased and let him that is taught in the Word communicate to him that teacheth in all good things Now communicating is distinguishable from distribution or giving to the poore because of the poore wee receive nothing in recompence but from the Lord onely neither doe wee expect it Whereas in case of communicating wee receive one good thing for another yea and that many times more valuable than all the carnall things that we can communicate So that we ought not to account it as a worke of charitie but as a worke of pietie and dutie unto God for the Ministers are his substitutes or Receivers And therefore wee ought as the Apostle Injoyned Every first day of the weeke to put apart by it selfe as the Lord hath increased us and give it in to the Churches treasurie that there need be no trouble in gathering of it and that to be disposed to the Ministrie and to the poore as may be thought most needfull and convenient by faithfull men I have heard of an English Lawyer of late yeares who was so conscientious of his dutie to God in this respect that he put apart every tenth shilling that he got with his practise and disposed of it for pious and charitable uses as hee found occasion and hee so increased that he grew very rich and honourable and so lived and dyed in great esteeme And I doubt will rise up in Judgement to the condemnation of many carnall and worldly professors that make no conscience of their duty unto God and their faithfull Ministers nor to the poore neither in these respects And I much feare that the people of God themselves are much blame-worthy and neglective of their duty in these respects And that it tendeth greatly to the hinderance of the Gospell and the disparagement of their profession besides their owne detriment which is very great as I could largely instance but this is a subject deserves a whole Treatise Onely this Item I desire wee might remember that if the Scripture be true hee that in these respects soweth sparingly doth and must receive but sparingly if he be a Christian and that both spiritualls and temporalls from the hand of God and hee that soweth liberally doth and shall and may certainly expect to reape aboundantly from the hand of God both for this life and the life to come The which is easie to confirme from many testimonies in sacred Scripture besides many examples that might be produced from experience amongst us to wit of many professors of great estates going to decay that are provident enough for things of this life if not too covetous And the reason is because the Lord doth not blesse them in what they goe about but bloweth upon their designes and labours and estates And it is but just and according to his Word For professors ought to be as lights to the world and so to let their light shine that they might see their good workes and glorifie their father which is in heaven and as they excell in other graces so they ought to excell in this grace also And to exemplifie true Christianitie and obedience and subjection to the Gospell of Christ in every duty both to God and men that so they might also be blessed of God and increased accordingly that so they may witnesse the truth and veritie of his promises and blessings pronounced in Scripture in such a case And for further satisfaction that it is a duty which God requires at our hands Consider with mee these Scriptures and Reasons and promises also 1. If wee must communicate to those that teach us in the Word in all good things Conseq That there is no exemption of any good thing wherewith the Lord hath blessed and increased us Rea For all is a generall word and includes every good thing Instance According to that Text Serve the Lord with all thine heart and with the first-fruits of all thine increase So shall
ministred by the hearing of faith preached as wel as sometimes immediatly both which administrations I own as true But I come now to his other main Tenent which chiefly tendeth to the disparagement of the Scriptures and which chiefly ingageth men to oppose him in it as a work of Sathan And why should not I whiles I am in the world what in me lieth indeavour to destroy the works of the devil see 1 Joh 3.8 He saith further in his Book against Baxter speaking of the Apostles that they did never say the letter was the Word And in his 7th Querie in the end of his Book he enquireth whether the word of God can be changed or can it admit of several meanings as to one particular thing A I Answer that James Naylor may wrest the Scriptures to his own destruction and he is not so infallible but he may misunderstand the genuine meaning 2 Pet. 3.16 2. He enquireth whether it be visible or invisible A I answer the Word was made flesh and dwelt on earth and is now visible in Heaven and yet is here invisibly in spirit in the hearts of his people but how the word was made flesh James Naylor understandeth not 3. He enquireth is there any word but one or whether was that word before the letter and shal be when the letter is turned to dust A. To which I answer that Christ the essential word is but one we own but one Christ who shal remain when the Quakers have burnt their Bibles if they wil burn them as some of them have said it were all one to them if the Bibles were all burnt Foster by name hath so exprest himself and they say they are all of one mind then such esteem they have all of the sacred scriptures which we account of as not only the word of men but the word of God as so I shal make to appear that it is not blasphemy as they most wickedly assert but our bounden duty to own and call it the word of God and that it is blasphemy in them to deny it and cal it carnal and a dead letter And the Lord assisting I shal prove 1. That there is not only one but many words yea words of God so taken in scripture 2. That what God hath spoken is his word 3. That whatever Christ hath spoken who is the essentia word is also the word of God 4. That all scriptures given by inspiration of God and all expressions of men unto which they are moved by the Holy Ghost are the words of God and that it is not they that speak but the spirit of their Father that speaketh in them 5. That every word of God is pure and also true by whomsoever spoken but nor such lies as these of the Quakers but they are the words of another spirit then the spirit of God as I trust in God to make it manifest as so I ought And before I begin for fuller satisfaction how they account of the scriptures take notice that I find it in a little Book called The holy Scriptures clearing it self from scandals or an Answer to a Book written by Richard Farnworth who is commonly called a Quaker written by Thomas Polard who had opposed them by argum nt in a publick way Which Thomas Polard saith that they cal the scripture carnal and a dead letter and say it wil never bring a man to the knowledg of God but that all that is gotten from the scripture is but brain knowledg And I find in a Book of Naylors against one Thomas Moore how he answereth this to wit being asked by Moore whether the writing of the Prophets and Apostles be a dead letter He answereth that without the spirit it is nor can any without that spirit that gave them forth understand them or know the voices of Prophets or Apostles aledging Luk 24.45 Act 13.27 A 1. But where doth the scripture or the spirit of God cal the scripture a dead letter or carnal and that it wil never bring a man to the knowledg of God but that all that is gotten from it is but brain knowledg A 2. Where is it said in scripture that the spirit of God and the scripture are seperated The words that Christ hath spoken they are spirit and they are life and Moses said unto the people set your hearts unto all the words that I testifie unto you this day which ye shal command your Children to observe to do all the words of this Law for it is not a vain thing for you for it is your life and through this thing yee shall prolong your daies Deut 32.46 47. And again the law is spiritual faith saith the Apostle I am carnal Rom 7. and Prov 2. My sonn if thou wilt receive my words and hide my Commandements with thee so that thou incline thine ear to wisdom and apply thine heart unto understanding if thou seekest for her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledg of God see v 1 2 3 4 5. See also Pro 3.1 2. My sonn forget not my Law but let thine heart keep my Commandements For length of daies and long life and peace shal they add to thee see also ch 4.1 2 3 4. Let thine heart retain my words keep my Commandements and live And ver 13. Take fast hold of instruction let her not go keep her for she is thy life Consider I say whether the wisdome of God so pathetically expressing her self to us if possible to perswade us to attend and hearken to the words of his mouth and to keep his Commandements and instructions and treasure them in our hearts as words of life to our souls and marrow to our bones as in another place and that for this end we should teach them to our Children as I might be large upon any of these Texts But whether I say doth the wisdome of God account the scripture as a dead letter let all wise men judg and whether they have not in them more spirit of life and power then the words and writings of James Naylor and whether they ought not rather to be observed and beleeved and trusted in for eternal life Now it is evident that the directions of James Naylor as a way to be infallibly guided and to attaine unto life and peace and rest for our souls is one thing and these directions are another his directions are to attend and hearken to that spirit and light within though it be a question whether it be the spirit of God or a lying spirit and a question whether there be at all any light within but grosse darkness and he that is in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth til he be enlightned by the Word and Spirit But he that hateth his Brother is in darkness until this present time it were wisdom therefore for James Naylor himself to try his spirii and light by the Law and
word of God 3 Assertion To wit What ever Christ hath spoken who is the essential word is also the word of God Reason First because he is the Sonne and Heire yea and even God himself and not only man For in him dwelleth the sulnesse of the Godhead bodily He whom God hath sent speaketh the word of God John 3.34 Therefore what words he spake were the words of God and therefore it was truly said of him by the people to wit Never man spake like this man Coloss 3.16 And therefore it behoveth us not to let the words of Christ slip but to let it dwell richly in us in all wisdom John 3.34 For his words are the words of the word of God He whom God hath sent speaketh Gods words The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life The fourth and fifth Assertion proved Rom. 7.14 For we know that the Law is spirituall but I am carnall Deut. 4.2 You shal not add unto the word that I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it that yee may keep the commandements of the Lord your God which I command you Observe that he enjoyns them that they shall take heed unto the word which he commands them speaking in the singular number as if it were but one word But when he shewes them the end of this his Take heed he expresseth it in the plurall number and maketh that plurality the same in the conclusion to wit That you may keep the Commandements of the Lord your God which I command you Clearly shewing that that word which he commanded them in the singular number was the Commandements of the Lord their God in the plural number So that it is evident that all the words and commandements of God in the whole Scripture being the words of God by whomsoever held forth may properly and truly and justly be called the word of God in the singular number Reason For as God spake those ten Commandements and writ then upon two Tables see verse 13. so all the rest of the scripture is not onely spoken but written and every part of it written or spoken by Holy men of God as they were moved by the spirit of God that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope And there is none that is ordained to eternall life but if hee read the Scriptures or heareth them read or spoken but if he understand them he doth believe them And there is no man justified through faith in Christ but he loveth the Scriptures and will own them as words of Spirit and Life and not account them as a dead Letter but as the word of God and as words of eternal life in which there is spirit and spiritual life communicative unto them yea even every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is as spiritual food and nourishment whereby they grow up unto greater degrees of spirituall life where it is begun and whereby they presse forward unto perfection Those precious promises therein contained are the savour of life unto life unto them and they cannot but relish them as sweeter to them then the hony and the hony comb They cannot but with David love Gods Law and it is their meditation continually they doe esteem of the words of his mouth more then their appointed food they doe account them as a Lanthorn unto their feet and a light unto all their paths they grow thereby to be wiser then their Teachers because they keep them and to have more understanding then the ancients because they keep his precepts His words are sweet unto their taste yea sweeter then hony unto their mouth They vow and doe resolve that they will keep his righteous judgements Read much of this Psalm 119. All that are men and women after Gods own heart have the same spirit of love to and delight in and beliefe of and benefit and comfort by and from the sacred Word Law Precepts Judgments Statutes and Promises contained in the Scriptures and therefore cannot but hate every false way or contradictious way or way and works or words whatsoever that tend to the disparagement or contradiction thereof And therefore it was that our dear Saviour honored them so much as that he kept all Gods Law and fulfilled it perfectly and witnessed also that Men therefore erred because they knew not the Scripptures nor the power of God And he opened the understanding of his Disciples that they might understand the scriptures And he opened the heart of Lidia that she attended to the things that Paul spake And it is enjoyned unto Kings that they shall write them a Copie of the Law in a book which shall be with them that they may read therein all the dayes of their life that they may learn to seare the Lord their God and keep all the words of the Law and of the Statutes to doe them that their hearts be not lifted up above their brethren and that they turn not aside from the Commandement to the right hand or to the left to the end that they may prolong their dayes in their Kingdome See Deut. 17.18 19 20. Timothy was commanded to give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine 1 Tim. 4.13 These and many such like which I might produce are farre unsuitable to the Spirit and Doctrine of James Naylor which directeth onely to a light within which in many is clouded with sottish ignorance till they hear the Word which is ordained of God to save them that believe and is the meanes which they ought to use for getting that light and spirituall understanding which the Fountain of wisdome holdeth forth therein and doth thereby communicate to his poore dull ignorant creatures his Spirit being with it and as the Porter of their understandings that they may understand them and comprehend in measure those internall hidden and secret mysteries therein contained The Apostle Paul had served God with pure conscience from his fore-fathers and yet his light within informed not his conscience but that he thought it his duty to doe many things against the name of Jesus insomuch as through pure zeale persecuted the Church and wasted it exceedingly til he was called to from heaven See 2 Tim 1.3 And that notwithstanding all his learnednesse in the Scriptures and blamelesnesse of life concerning the Law For the reason was not because he knew not the Scriptures or did not search them but because he did not understand them aright but according to the false glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees which had clouded them so to him so that he did not know them in their genuine sense and proper meaning but under a false glosse For else he should not have erred for saith Christ ye therefore erre because ye know net the Scriptures nor the power of God And biddeth Search the Scriptures for they are they that testifie of me And the Scriptures are alle to make us wise unto salvation yea to make
not be well accepted if wee justifie our selves in such poore degrees and measures of love both to God and men 3. For hee requireth fruit suitable to his tillage as is easie to prove the moralitie of such duties from the nature of love as it may be I shall the Lord assisting mee 4. But without all controversie in such cases as abovesaid to give more then a tenth yea if need require to sell all that wee have and give it to the poore or if called to it even to lay downe our lives for the brethren which is the most of all yet it is nothing too much under Gospell-dispensations for it was never so plainely and properly required of the Jewish Nation for it is commanded even by Christ and by his holy Apostles And suitable promises both of treasure in heaven and a supply on earth both to us and ours that wee shall not want nor have lacke of any thing As in the primitive times it was really exemplified They trusted God and obeyed his word and even made all things common and his promise was made good so that there was none that lacked And this in all likelihood will be so againe when the hearts of the fathers are turned to the children and the hearts of the children unto their fathers Which is as much to say as when the Spirit of God in the Ministrie of his Word taketh a kindly Impression in the hearts of his people so as to naturalize them to himselfe and the Ministers and people one to another so as to make them one as God is one yea like the primitive Church Of one heart and of one minde For then they proove and exemplifie the naturallnesse of the Law For then onely and not till then nor but onely with such who are so joyned can it ever be expected nor will it ever be suitable to have all things common nor could it else be expected that none should lacke and be neglected And without all question wee ought to be one as God is one as Christ hath prayed for us and as it may therefore certainly be expected for all his prayers were effectuall And therefore wee ought to endeavour after this unitie in the spirit which is the bond of all true peace and amitie And so often as wee pray that the kingdome of God might come with power that is to say that the Spirit of God might Rule in our hearts so often we pray that the kingdome of God might come so with power to all his people and that wee might be one as God is one and that wee might be one in him see John 17.21 ver 22 23. Nay if it cannot be denyed but that not onely our goods but even our lives and all should be readie at hand to be offred up in behalfe of our brethren and for the glory of God in witnesse to his truth if wee are called too it And if the love of Christ and the love of the brethren should be so ardent in us as to make us willing even to part with our lives in such a case How much rather should it easily induce us to part with our goods and that not onely a tenth but all that we have For as the Apostle John affirmeth Hereby perceive wee the love of God because hee hath laid downe his life for us And wee ought to lay downe our lives for the brethren But whoso hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowells of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him My little children let us not love in word nor in tongue onely but in deed and in truth Even so I also conclude this infallible resolve from the same ground Resolve That whoever hee be that hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowells of compassion from him There is no signe of the love of God in that man But much more when they shutt their bowells from supplying the wants of their faithfull Ministers who teach them in the Word who come unto them in the name of the Lord and bring them glad tydings good newes a rich treasure precious promises blessings from on high Christs owne Embassage representing his person delivering his message and blessing them also in the name of God and the Lord Jesus Christ yea in the name of the most high God possessor of heaven and earth Surely I say it and that without all peradventure that neither the love of God nor the love of Christ nor the love of the brethren nor of his faithfull Embassadors dwelleth in that man Rea For if a man loveth not his brother whom hee hath seene how can hee love God whom hee hath not seene yea the Invisible God whom never man saw neither can see but onely in spirit through an eye of faith save onely in man who is his Image when once perfectly renewed And whom wee ought to love and respect and honour accordingly as wee see his Image repaired in him yea though never so poore and despisable in the world and in the worlds account And therefore to make it cleare that these dutyes of Communication and distribution are morall duties required in the morall Law of God and that they are not Ceremoniall abrogable Lawes but must abide till all be fullfilled Take these further grounds 1. They were not onely Commanded in Horeb but by Christ himselfe and by his holy Apostles see 1 John 3.23 This is his Commandement that wee should beleeve on the name of his Sonne Jesus Christ and love one another as hee gave us Commandement Now the measure of that love which Christ hath Commanded is not a little and so away but the measure is Even as Christ hath loved us But without all controversie if the measure must be so as Christ hath loved us Then it will ingage us if occasion require even to lay downe our lives for the brethren But if it will ingage us to lay downe our lives Then much more our estates as hath been said not onely some but all if need so require for the glory of God and the good of the brethren and for the furtherance of the Gospell Resolve And therefore there needeth no stinting as in the time of the Law to a tenth part For where they are taught of God to love one another with that measure as they ought it will naturally ingage them so as they cannot be satisfied with giving a tenth nor any part at all if need so require but they will part with all and their lives to boote for the name of Christ and rather than any should lacke that belongs to him And though a tenth was sufficient in the time of the Law yet I cannot finde in all the new Testament any ground at all to build our faith That a tenth is sufficient in the dayes of the Gospell nor any stint at all under all that wee have if wee finde it needfull for the
gather strong Resolutions to take Solomons advise to wit to cast our bread upon the waters In regard that after many dayes wee shall finde it And to give a portion to seaven and also to eight in regard wee know not what evill shall be upon the earth And the advice also of our blessed Saviour to make our selves friends with the unrighteous mammon that when wee faile they may receive us into everlasting habitations Now to cast our bread upon the waters and to expect to finde it after many dayes would seeme very unlikely But though our Communicating to the Ministers or giving to the poore seeme as unlikely as that in our apprehensions for yeelding us any returne yet wee need not feare the promise of Christ is cleare wee shall in no wise loose our reward in regard wee doe it in a good intent either out of love to the Ministers or compassion to the poore or in love and obedience unto Christ or because they belong to him or for the furtherance of the Gospell and the glory of God yea though wee be not certaine that they are any such men yet if wee be not certaine to the contrary let us account it as our duty and let not covetousnesse sway us to the contrary for it will be to our losse if wee neglect our duties 3 Object A third Objection may be raised to wit That in many places the Ministers are provided for by tithes and other wayes so as they need not to us for any such communication the poore are provided for in another way according to equalitie so as wee have many of us that are Christians little occasion at all to expresse our thankfullnesse to God for his increasing of us in these respects of Communication and Distribution And therefore wee may well beleeve that our vocall and cordiall thankfullnesse to God in such a case may serve the turne Answ I answer that if wee put apart by it selfe as the Lord hath increased us with a full purpose of heart to expresse our gratitude for such his mercies when occasion is offered for workes of pietie or workes of charitie The Lord will finde us occasions suitable for disbursing the same in due time If hee that seeth our hearts see us willing and obedient and cordially thankfull as wee ought to be And so will finde us occasion to lay up our treasure in heaven where neither moth nor canker can corrupt neither theeves dig through and steale And there is one argument which might make us earnest and very diligent in seeking occasions to distribute and communicate if wee were but as wise in our generation as the men of this world If wee can beleeve what Christ hath promised us and if wee cannot doubtlesse it is our shame and will be too our losse And that is this to wit It is evident and needeth no more proofe that the men of this world are earnest and diligent in seeking how to lay out their moneys for gaine and profit and rather then let it lye rusting by they will be content with a very little as six or eight or ten in the hundreth and that for a whole yeare but in case they heare of a good bargaine either of land or merchandize how industrious they will be to buy it themselves and to prevent others and sometimes to defeat and beguile their neighbours to get it before them or take it out of their hands and very injuriously being so covetous of it But Christ hath promised us not onely ten in the hundreth but an hundreth for ten nay an hundreth fold in this present life besides in the world to come life everlasting for what ever it be that wee forsake or part withall for his sake and the Gospell And yet wee are such fooles in these respects that if occasions and necessities and it may be shame it selfe doe not finde us out and almost compell us thereto wee seldome seeke any such occasions but are likemeere unthrifts in these respects In so much that our constant practise yea I may say of the generalitie of Christians is as though wee did not beleeve any truth at all in these plaine and faithfull promises of our blessed Saviour For else without question wee should be more diligent in seeking and more glad in finding such occasions and opportunities of doing good and of communicating And I am afraid it tendeth greatly to our detriment here and in the life to come For the manifest wisdome of the men of this world in their generation and things of this life shall certainly rise up in Judgement against us and condemne our folly for having a price in our hands and opportunities offred us and neglecting to take them whiles wee have time And knowing also both the uncertaintie of riches and of our time and lives as wee cannot but know and see by experience And considering also that wee cannot deny but if wee take it not and be obedient and free and liberall in these respects wee neglect our duties both to God and men The Lord grant us more solid wisdome in these respects then is yet exemplified amongst the best of Christians else our reckoning will be poore when wee come to account how wee have traded with our Talents lent us for this purpose with direction how to use them for the glory of God and the good of men yea for the advancement and furtherance of the Gospell of Christ and for the proofe and exemplifying of the naturallnesse of our love and the truth and visibilitie of our Christianitie and unfained faith and obedience unto God And let us consider a little further to wit What love and respects the Ministers of the Gospell both doe and ought to exspect from us and that not in word and in tongue onely but in deed and in truth Especially considering that wee ought to account them as spirituall Fathers whom wee ought to love and to obey and honour as such if wee be children spiritually begotten And it is but naturall to us that wee should so doe so that wee can hardly doe otherwise if wee be not bastards And wee are necessarily ingaged if wee expect their blessings of us to be effectuall To make them savourie meate that their soules may blesse us as Isaac said to his sonne Esau For it is not bare verball formall blessings that will be efficacious to cause the blessing to rest in our houses and on all that wee have But it must be their faithfull cordiall soule-blessings that can be effectuall or that wee may trust unto to be certainly efficacious as blessings indeed For how can wee expect any such cordiall soule-blessings from such whom wee make not any savorie meate such as their soule loveth if wee shew no love either to God or the Lord Jesus Christ or his faithfull Embassadors and servants how shall they blesse us in faith how can they beleeve that God will make their bleslings efficacious and blessings indeed to such covetous worldlings
who value their carnall worldly things above God and Christ and the furtherance of the Gospell and things of an eternall nature Nay how can or dare they blesse such covetous men whom the Lord abhorres which is onely proper to wicked men I say it is onely proper for wicked men to blesse the covetous whom the Lord abhorres see Psal 10.3 And what greater signe of covetousnesse can be exhibited then the neglect of this duty And the love of money is the roote of all evill therefore how shall any man expect any good branches or sprouts from it I am very confident and not without many good grounds from Scripture which I can easily shew that this sinne of covetousnesse doth and may raigne in professors of Religion and they not discover it in themselves but may expect salvation through Jesus Christ till they depart this life and yet be eternally damned see onely for this Mat 25.41 to the end where their sentence is pronounced against them altogether for their neglect of duty even to the least of those little ones that beleeve in Christ and is really accounted as a neglect of duty to him to wit I was hungry and yee gave mee no meate c. The place is well knowne I wish it were as well laid to heart by all that professe Christianitie There would not so many goe blindfold to hell One would thinke it sufficient to know these things before-hand to warne all men as the Apostle doth to beware of covetousnesse as the most dangerous roote of sinne that can be least growing in the heart of man And the rather because it hath so many cloakes and covers both to hide it selfe from our owne eyes and the eyes of others As frugalitie good husbandry providing for our families the examples of other men that are well accounted of for Christianitie and the expectation of others that are nearer in relation for doing such works as are required of us and the faults discernable or suspected to be in the objects of our charitie or beneficence or because wee have not enough for our selves but that wee may come to want it for our selves or ours or wee are not yet sufficiently rich in lands or goods our neast is not throughly feathered for our selves and ours our ambition is not satisfied and such like many which are easily produced they are so common and every one hath them ready upon all occasions to hinder them from doing good the answering whereof would make my booke swell to a great volume But this I say briefly that if any of these or any other beare sway in us to hinder us in the least from our duties this way it is a great signe that covetousnesse raignes in us for the present and that so continuing it will bring us to hell one would thinke it enough to know that the Lord abhorres us if wee be covetous to make us to abhorre our selves and repent in dust and ashes for the least token of it to be found in us For whom the Lord abhorres wee ought to abhorre likewise wee ought to hate covetousnesse where ever wee see it in our selves or others And where wee see it raigne in any man wee ought to abhorre such a man as odious and abominable yea as a base spirited and ignoble person such as is not worthy of any Christian fellowship or communion The Apostle hath enumerated covetous persons amongst such as are so scandalous as that they are not to be compared together with if they be of such as are called brethren see 1 Cor 5.11 And so doe I likewise if they appeare to be such but these many cloakes doe so hide and cover them both from themselves and others as Judas was hid from the Disciples under specious pretences and covers to his utter destruction That they are not easily found out but goe for Saints of God and without so much as being suspected And were it not for swelling my booke over great it were easie to discover this odious sinne and such in whom it raignes and to make them appeare odious by convincing arguments and that from Scripture-grounds such as no man can deny But it would require a prettie volume I must not be so large in this Treatise but shall leave the further prosecution thereof till another opportunitie A paralell list of some of the manifest contradictions betwixt the teachings of the Spirit of God and of that spirit by which the Quakers are guided spirited and acted to wit 1. Their spirit teacheth them that there is no light but one spoken of in Scripture and that this light is within in every mans conscience and so they must turne their minds inward to looke for light and obey that measure of light they finde there for it is sufficient to leade them into all truth and to guide them in all the wayes of God and is an infallible guide so that if they obey that light within they cannot eire nor commit any sinne and that if they have but the least measure of the Spirit of God it is sufficient so that they need not to search the Scriptures for attaining to the knowledge of God and of Christ nor the teachings of men for they have that within them which will teach them sufficiently And all have this light they say yea every one that commeth into the world and this light is Christ the eternall light But the Spirit of God teacheth us That there are more lights than one though all from that eternall light For saith Christ As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world John 9.5 And saith he Yee are the light of the world speaking to his Disciples Mat. 5.14 15 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes c. And John was a burning and a shining light Now these inferiour lights are not lighted to be put under a bushell but on a Candlesticke that they may give light to the whole house to wit the whole Church they were lighted from that eternall light for that purpose and not to be covered Nor shall their light held forth in Scripture be covered from the true Church but they doe and shall give heed thereto as to a light shining in a darke place Nay though Satan himselfe be transformed into an Angell of light They shall not beleeve every spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God seeing many false Prophets are gone forth into the world And by their fruits they shall know them and finde them to be Theeves and Robbers and shall detect them by the light of God held forth in Scripture which is a sure word of Prophesie containing many sure examples and patternes and commands which are and shall be as a lanterne to their feete and a light unto all their pathes And therefore they will give attendance unto reading and to exhortation and to doctrine and they will teach them to their children and to their childrens