any were otherwise minded they were to be let alone till God revealed it to them And whatsoever People or Church though they claim infallibility that teach a contrary Dâ—ctrine unto this we have good Reason to suâ—peâ—â— it to be that hasty dâ—â—ving and overdriving Spirit that would force a Faith 〈◊〉 God hâ—th not given it not to be the infallible Spirit of 〈…〉 the Church of Rome hath given a vehement 〈…〉 and Tortures they have exercised towards them who 〈…〉 their Principles and own their Judgment in all things Bâ—t 〈…〉 Gentleman blinded thy Eye 〈◊〉 he made thee 〈…〉 question 〈◊〉 truth of Scripture and â—hat it proceeâ—ed from the iâ—fall his Testimony of God's Spâ—râ—t and if thou hadst a certain feeling of the same in thy 〈…〉 Conscience to let this go and mâ—ke this void as an iâ—â—uffâ—cient Ground to receive Christianity upon and to lean to a Prop without thee and to â—e judged by men who have been as fallible and changeable in their Judgments as the Moon which have assumed the Name of Catholick Church whose Testimony thy Instrucâ—er I perceivâ— told thee ought to be received concerning what was 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 disobâ—dience they are desâ—late 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 half and that since the Apostles dayes and then was she not so Visible and Universal as she had been before the Man-child was caught up unto God now if thou reckonst 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 yâ—ur assertion that she hath been visiâ—le and so Universal these fifteen hundred Years and if this could be proved that Rome hath been so whether doth it not rather demostrate her to be the Whore that sate 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 your 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 hath been shed under the Name of Hereticks by thâ—â— vâ—sible Catholick Church among the Nations this twelve hundred 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 won state and questioned the Foundation whereupon thou hadst received Christianity the next thing he labours to make void is the Spirit of God its Testimony which thou didst lay claim to but I feel had little Portion in what thou saidst at last he makes thee doubt of the infallibility of this Spirit which thou hadst spoken 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 Operations he perswaded thee that all was uncertain and therefore no confidence to be given to any Spirit of 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 God's 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 And because thou sayest I am Richand increased with Goods and have need of nothing c. These Scriptures were brought unto thee to make thee more Blind the first is spoken of the Degenerate 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 assurance of the Spirit of God in them that have 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 knowledge and feeling with the like confidence to prove they were in the Truth and Christianity a delusion and thy intructer said what would you reply to them We have more to reply in such Cases then time will permit now or the state of the Case require seeing it is but a supposition and we take no thought what to answer the Gain-sayers of Truth withall but rely upon the Promise of the Father and of his Son Jesus Christ who said to his Disciples take no thought for it shall be given you what to answer in that day which Promise all that are true Disciples shall find true to the end of the World but some-what more we have to say it may be then thou said when thou
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 Commandments 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 letting 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 Priviledges 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 noâ— 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 affairs yet were they by the assistance of God's Spirit infallible in delivering matters of Faith I say as they were assisted by the holy Spirit of God they neither erred in private affairs 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 Prelates â—f 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 Prelates to fail either publick or private but I say he that is not faithful in his own actions affairs can never be faithful in the Lord's but it seems â— General Council cannot faâ—l when the supream Pastor the Pope is there but if he be not it seems by R. 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 R. 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 Stephanus 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 Latteran 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 Peter's Successors and had the Keys of binding and loosing and all these Councils and many more which were of the Roman Faith which in R. 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 look with their Faces several ways like Sampson's Foxes and therefore let not R.E. nor none of his Catholicks think that the Church of Christ now coming out of the Wilderâ—ess again can receive all their contradictory Decrees and invented Fopperies 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 Foggy mists of Darkness Clouds of Ignorance to fly away But R. E. ceases not here but heaps up one Peice of Darkness upon another till Blackness of Darkness appears 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 Peter 's Confession for that saith he is too remote or mediate and antecedent for if Christ had meaned himself or Peter's Confession he should have spoken according to the Grammar Rule and Construction Upon that Rock or upon this Rock I have built I do build and not I will build In the 63d Page and in the 64th Page he tells of a Church Visible having two Heads of an Independent Head and a Dependent Head and in the 66th 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 it Where R. E. hath read of a visible Church with two Heads I know not and to take it for infallible I intend not and where is Peter called a visible Rock and the chief Pastor among the Apostles doth not this contradict Scripture doth not Christ say The Gentiles exercise Dominion one over another but it shall not be so amongst you he that will be greatest among you let him be your Servant and he that will be chief let him be your Minister and as for thy visible and militant Church we read no such Words in the Scriptures of Truth we read of a Church of God of the first-born whereof Christ was the Rock and the Foundation and another Foundation can no Man lay then that which is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 And Paul saith in ver 10. As a wise Master-Builder I have laid the Foundation I hope R.E. will not be so impudent as to say he had laid Peter or that he had preached up Peter to believe in for Remission of Sins nor for the Foundation
Angels Worshipping Relicks 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 dost not we will take it for granted thou darest not lest 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 are 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 God's 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 Westmoreland this 18 th of the 5 th Moneth 1665. F. H. A General Epistle To the Dispersed and PERSECUTED FLOCK OF Christ Jesus IN THE DOMINION OF ENGLAND AND All Parts and Regions where this shall come who have believed in Christ the Light of the VVorld and now suffer for his Names sake DEarly Beloved whom God hath called and redeemed out of the World and the Vanities thereof to follow the Lamb in the Regeneration through the Cross and Suffering in this Age wherein the Whore Beast and false Prophet and all that have drunk of her Cup and have received the Mark of the Beast and are led aside to believe Lyâ—s that proceed out of the Mouth of the time serving flattering deceitful Workers of this Generation who are all joyned together iâ— theiâ—â—â—rength and Power to act every Way against the Lamb and his meck Appearance who takes away the Sins of the World and against all them that are made clean through his Blood and are come out of the Pâ—llutions of the Wâ—rld and to make War against the Râ—mnâ—nt of the Seed of God who are begetten again to the lively Hope of Christ Jesus and to the Inheritance that fâ—des not away and to root out and destroy and weary out through cruel Suffering the Saints of the most high that so the Prince of Darkness might rule in his full Power and Authoriâ—y in his Instruments and Servants without Opposition or any Gain-saâ—ing And as God out of his everlasting Love hath redeemed and translated many from great Darkness wherein they have bin hâ—ld in the time of Unbelief into his marvellous Light to walk in it and to bring forth the Fruits of the Day of Light Faith and Righteousness to the Praise and Glory of his Grace who hath called them and translated them for that very End to shew forth his Power and Glory in the Earth who have been quickned and raised by it out of the Grave that they might bear Witness thereunto and testifie of it both in Word and Work against the World and the God thereof who now rules in the Children of Disobedience therefore is his Wrath the more kindled and his Fury great against them that are departed out of his Kingdom and will not yield their Hearts and Necks to be subject any more unto his Yoak by whom they have been enslaved and held Captive under many and divers Lusts which the Wrath of God is revealed against and to be revealed against and because they are made free by the Frightness of the glorious rising of the Sun of Righteousness in his Power and quickning Life in their Hearts which hath broken his Yoak of Bondage and destroyed the Law of Sin and Death which sometimes had Power over them but now being made Conquerors of them through the Power of Christ the old Dragon the Deceiver of the Nations who is out of the Truth labours by all means to bring them back again under his Yoak and his Devices are not a few which are set on Foot at this Day to make all bow unto him which the Children of Light are not ignorant of who are and have been watchful against the mysterious working of his Power within and also without in his Instruments who have received great Power from him to propagate his Kingdom that stands in Wrath Evil doing and Cruelty And therefore all had need to watch and be circumspect that they that are escaped be not ensnared and entangled again lest their Bondage be greater and the Yoak heavier then before Therefore the Lord moveth often in my Heart to exhort all unto Watchfulness and Diligence and so much the more because the Dayes are perilous and the Times dangerous and the Temptations many on every Hand so they that look out are in Danger to be ensnared and let in the Enemy and Fears and Doubts and Unbelief enter and questioning in the Haste Can God deliver or will he deliver or hath he any Regard unto our Afflicâ—ion And because the time seems long and they cannot see to the End thereof their Hearts fail and their Faith is in Danger to be shaken and they lose their States therefore it concerns every one to watch and pray that they enter not into Temptations neither be overcome with the wicked One neither of the fading Pleasure Profit and Ease that the Children of this World do enjoy which is but for a Time and then is the Beginning of endless Misery Therefore all dearly beloved look over all the Sufferings and Troubles and Temptations and Necessities and over the Devil and all his Works to the Beginning and to that have an Eye which was before they had a Being to the Lord God everlasting who made Heaven and Earth have an Eye and let your Eye be fixed on him which destroyes the Devil and all his Works and will reward the Workers of Iniquity according to their Deeds with everlasting Torments Dearly Beloved who have been under great Sufferings Losers for Christ's sake and the Gospel's in this Age like as many faithful Witnesses have been in former Ages I am a Sufferer with you and am sensible of your Griefs Affliâ—â—ions Necessities and Tribulations which are many and do bear and suffer with you all in my Heart and in the true Sence and Feeling of you all dispersed every where where God hath placed you in the Earth my Heart Soul Life and Spirit breatheth forth unto you all and your Burden is mine your Afflictions are mine your Sufferings are mine I do weep with them that weep I am sorrowful with them that are sorrowful and what which is a Grief