Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	abraham_n	work_n	wrought_v	5,418	5	9.4241	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33498	The books and divers epistles of the faithful servant of the Lord Josiah Coale collected and published, as it was desired by him the day of his departure out of this life.	Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Collection of the several books of Josiah Coale.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Whore unvailed.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Vindication of the light within.; Parker, Alexander, 1628-1689.; Whitehead, George, 1636?-1723.; Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1671 (1671)	Wing C4751_PARTIAL; Wing C4760A_PARTIAL_CANCELLED; ESTC R23397	193,793	414

nor stood in his Counsel therefore have they not profitted the people nor turned them from the evil of their wayes neither are they brought to the knowledge of the Truth by which Freedom and Redemption is witnessed So their Preaching is vain and their Faith is vain and they remain in their sins which separates them from God and are dead while they live and are unrestored and unreconciled and have no assurance of their eternal wel-being And when any comes into a serious Consideration and unto a true sence of the sad state they are in and how they have lived and spent their time all their Life long Then Judgment and Wrath Condemnation and Pangs and the Sorrows of Hell conpasseth them about and then seeing themselves in the perishing state are even at their wits end yet these things they consider not in the time of their prosperity Wherefore all people every where who desire to come out of these Distractions and Confusions and Hurryings and Contentions about Faith and Worship and Ordinances and out of the Pollutions which the World lives in and to come into the Spiritual Worship which is in the Spirit and in the Truth To you I say that is the Spirit of Truth in you all in which God will be worshipped which reproves you of sin in your hearts and as you come into obedience to that it will bring you into the Spiritual Worship For the Spiritual Worship consisteth in Obedience to the Spirit and this is the everlasting Ordinance of God viz. Christ the Light the quickening Spirit for him hath God ordained of old to all that believe and work Righteousness for Salvation So all being exercised in the Light and with the quickning Spirit here you are exercised in the Ordinance of God and here the living Substance is known in which the Shadows Types and Figures end And here the Hand-writing of Ordinances is blotted out And here the Law ends which was contained in Ordinances mark that in Christ the everlasting Ordinance Concerning FAITH ANd the Living FAITH which gives the Saints victory over the World this cometh by hearing of the Word which is nigh unto you all even in your hearts and in your mouthes and as every one comes to hear and obey it you will thereby be begotten in the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints by which they wrought Righteousness and that is the Faith which giveth victory over the World and which worketh by love for the purifying of the Conscience from dead works to serve the living God and without this Faith it is impossible to please God for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin So search your selves and see whether you are in this Faith yea or nay or whether your Faith be not a dead Faith For that which doth not lead to work righteousness is a dead faith for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also yet by works only there is none justified and faith without works is dead for the Faith of Abraham wrought with works and by works Faith is made perfect So let not any deceive themselves with a fained faith or framed in the imagination for that is a vain faith and not able to save you Also beware that your Faith towards God be not taught by the Precepts of men for that will stand you in no stead neither will it give you victory over the Pollutions of the World nor purifie your hearts from sin Wherefore mind the Word which is nigh by the hearing of which Faith cometh even the Living Faith by which the Just live which was once delivered to the Saints and which we earnestly content for Concerning HOPE ANd the living Hope which maketh not ashamed but puryfieth the heart even as God is pure This is not witnessed nor known but through the tribulation patience in the experimental working and operation of the Spirit of Life in the inward parts and Word of Life For by the Word of God which lives and abides for ever are we begotten again unto a lively Hope which we have for an anchor both sure and stedfast in all our Tryals and tossings and hurryings which we meet withal in the World and amongst the hypocritical Professors thereof whose Hope will perish in the day when the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven upon all who hold the Truth in unrighteousness But he whose Hope is begotten by the operation of the Word and Spirit of Life even he it is that purifies himself even as God is pure So all who desire the Way of Life to knowe and to walk in the Path of Peace which the Worker of Iniquity knows not I say unto you all it is in the midst of the Paths of Judgment which Christ the Light the wisdom of God leads unto So every one the light in your own Consciences minde wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of the Fathers love hath enlightened you and as you Wait in it you will finde it checking and reproving you for sin and iniquity in the secret of your hearts and Consciences and as every one comes to be guided by this Light which is the way it will be an infallible guide unto you to lead you in the way of Righteousness and in the midst of the paths of Judgment and the worker of iniquity you will see judged in your own particulars daily and the Prince of this World will come to be cast out as you dwell in the Judgment and this is the way whereby Sion comes to be redeemed Wherefore dwell in that which judgeth the man of sin in your own particulars and joyn not to that Nature which would lead to work iniquity or unrighteousness but joyn to that which in your own particulars judgeth it and here the Cross you will know which the whole World are Strangers to and then the Old man will come to be weakened and to be put off with his deeds that the New man be put on which is created in Righteousness and true Holiness but this work is not wrought nor effected but though many Combats Trials and great Tribulations which formerly you were not acquainted with while you were lead captive at the Devils will and followed his lusts and the strong man armed kept the house then all was at peace but when the stronger is come the other must be bound and a spoil of his goods must be made and his heritage must be laid waste for the coming of the second Adam Christ Jesus the Light of the World is not to send Peace on Earth but a Sword and then you will hear of Wars and rumors of Wars see then that ye be not troubled for these are but the beginning of sorrow but the end is not yet So as every one are exercised with the Spirit of Truth in your own particulars which reproves you of sin this will lead you into all truth and to work Righteousness and will bring you to fulfil the Royal Law and

to his chief Arguments therein produced by which he hath in vain endeavour'd to accomplish the aforesaid work by him undertaken A. S. His first Argument produced to prove the Church of Rome to be the true Church consisteth of nine particulars as followeth viz. That is the true Church and no other which is one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church Which is visible infallible inerrable in which is power of miracles out of which none can be saved But the Roman Pontificial that is to say the Faithful People dispersed all the World over in communion with the high Priest Bishop or Pope of Rome is such and no other Therefore the Roman Pontificial alone is the true Church Reply To which I reply that the true Church of which Christ alone is Head and Supreme Governour is in it self one holy Apostolick Church c. I shall not go about to deny But as touching that grand Question by A. S. stated before his Argument here inserted viz. which is this Church c. I answer this is a thing indeed disputable amongst many yea amongst many thousands yet not at all questionable nor yet doubtful unto me for I am well satisfied therein and in all other things that appertain to the way of Life and Salvation but that the Church of Rome is the true Church as A. S. affirmeth and by his many Arguments hath endeavoured to prove I do not acknowledge but deny and doubt not but I shall in this short ensuing Treatise prove the contrary to the Satisfaction of every judicious Reader First Although the true Church of which Christ is in visible Head is one yet the oneness of the Church of Rome is not a sufficient Argument to prove her to be the true Church for wherein doth her oneness consist farther then in Idolatry Superstition Murther and such like abominations of which much might be mentioned which was never practised by the true Church in the Apostles dayes but in these things the Church of Rome is one Witness her Worshipping Idols or Images bowing to that she calls her Altars and the rest of her Supestitious Ceremonies witness the Killing Burning or Drinking the Blood of so many Thousands as she hath done for many hundred yeares past as the whole Christendom full well knows therefore the Church of Rome is not the true Church Secondly And consider was not the company of Priests one in Hosea's dayes who murthered in the way by consent whom the Prophet compared to troops of Robbers Hos 6.9 And is not the Church of Rome one as they were for hath not she murthered many by consent of most of her members in the way that she is in consider these things But then A. S. saith That she is one in matters of Faith and governed by one invisible Head Christ and by one visible Head the Pope the true Successor of Peter c. and therefore she is the true Church Answ 1. I answer that she is perfectly united in matters of Faith I utterly deny witness the History of the Counsel of Trent which copiously relates the Divisions and Contradictions amongst them there about matters of Faith But admit that it were so that she were one in matters of Faith that doth not prove her to be the true Church unless she could prove her Faith to be the true Faith by which righteousness is wrought Heb. 11.13 And which is made perfect by works of righteousness James 2.22 But the Faith of the Church of Rome is not the true Faith as her works of unrighteousness before mentioned clearly make manifest therefore the Church of Rome is not the true Church Secondly That the Church of Rome is governed by one invisible Head Christ that I also deny and her fruits before mentioned and that which I shall hereafter mention sufficiently declares the contrary and as Christ said to the Jews If you were of Abraham you would do the works of Abraham but now you go about to kill me thus did not Abraham So say I of the Church of Rome If she were governed by the one invisible Head Christ as the true Church was then she would have the mind of Christ who came not to destroy mens lives but to save them as the true Church had 1 Corinth 2.16 but she hath not the mind of Christ Witness her destroying the lives of many not onely of those that believe not but of those that believe Therefore she is not governed by the invisible Head Christ and consequently is not the true Church but the Whore that drinks the blood of the Saints Thirdly But that the Church of Rome is governed by her visible Head the Pope I shall not go about to contradict for although that proves her to be one in subjection to the Pope yet it doth not prove her to be the true Church because Christ never ordained a visible Head to his Church but that the Pope is the true Successor of Peter as A. S. affirms that I do deny and it remains for him to prove it or for some of his Servant to do it for him for after Peter was converted he never gave consent to the murthering of any as the Pope hath done many Therefore he is not the true Successor of Peter 2. That the true Chu ch is holy or as A. S. saith the spotless Body of Christ that I do acknowledg but the Church of Rome of which the Pope is visible head is not holy nor the spotless Body of Christ 1. For the spotless Body of Christ the true Church was baptized with the holy Ghost and with fire the Spirit of Judgment and of burning and thereby her filth and her spots were purged away from her and she was washed from Idolatry and covetousness c. as the Apostles testified 1 Cor. 6.11 and thereby she was fitted for Gods Kingdom and was made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and had the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2.16 who came not to destroy mens lives c. Luk. 9.56 But the Church of Rome is not washed from Idolatry nor free from Murther as her worshipping of Idols or Images doth testifie and as her killing and destroying about Religion and Worship beareth witness which the Spirit of Christ never allowed of not the spotless Body of Christ never practised Therefore the Church of Rome is not holy nor the spotless Body of Christ And as to that affirmation of A. S. in the third Number of his first Chapter viz. Every man as he is Regenerated in Christ and a member of his body is holy and a Saint though as he is the Son of Adam be is a lyar and a sinner Answ To this I answer That the most part of all the Sectaries in the World will joyn with him in that particular therefore he need not so much cry against them but the True Church will not own that Doctrine neither can I own it because it is the Doctrine of Devils and the Spirit of God testifies against

c. then all men are left in the dark for no man is able to know that God will save any but by his Word which is contain'd in the Scriptures for this is the Word of Salvation or that which directeth to the Means by which we shall obtain Life 8thly Without this meaning Scripture we know not that there is any God or Christ or Salvation by God in Christ c. Lastly It leaveth men to walk by Fancy or Imagination c. Answ To all which I shall answer That for as much as we the People of God called Quakers do not assert or own a third Testament Way which J.N. seems to fight against and oppose it would be as superfluous for me to reply to his Sylogisms as it hath been in him to offer them and I should therein but answer a Fool according to his Folly and so become like unto him which I am no way enclined to do but shall proceed to examine whether or no those dreadful Consequences asserted by J. N. will follow the denying of the Scriptures to be the Word of God and a Perfect Rule for all men to walk by and none other First How doth it take away the general ground of Faith from all men to deny the Scriptures to be the Word and Rule c. seeing the Word is still owned to be in beeing and to be heard which was the Ground and Author of the Faith of Abraham and the Holy Men of God who believed before the Scriptures were written 2 Cor. 4.13 And because they believed therefore they spoke forth the Scriptures by which it appears That the Faith that was once deliver'd to the Saints which we are earnestly to contend for was received by them through hearing of the Word before the Scriptures were written and therefore the Scriptures were not the Ground of their Faith so that to deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God is not to deny or take away the Ground of that Faith which by the Spirit or Word was once deliver'd to the Saints For the Apostle in 1 Cor. 12. ● declares the Ground of the Faith which the Church had receiv'd and which he labour'd in the Word which wrought mightily in him for the building of them up in to be the Spirit when he spoke of the diversity of Gifts which they had receiv'd he said To another is given Faith by the same Spirit And this doth not at all oppose or contradict that Scripture which saith Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God because the Father Word and Spirit are one Substance and are not divided but the Scripture is not one Substance with the Father and Spirit so that he who heareth the Word heareth the Father and the Quickening Spirit also And this Author of Faith as I said before was heard and believed before the Scriptures were written and remains the same this day as yesterday and the same forever a Foundation of Faith that standeth sure and is not a far off from every one but is nigh even the Word nigh thee in thy Heart and in thy Mouth and this is the Word of Faith which the Apostle preached and which we preach by the hearing of which Faith cometh so that denying the Scriptures to be the Word is not to deny the Ground and Foundation of true Faith neither is it in the least to under-value the holy Scriptures which so frequently testifie of the Ground and Foundation and Author of the true Faith Secondly And as for his affirming That to deny the Scriptures to be the Word is to deny the Ground of Faith for the Remission of sins Answ I answer No if the Word be the Ground as most true it is the Ground is not deny'd by denying Scriptures to be the Word because the Scriptures which testifie of the Word are before proved not to be the Word And they which had the Seal of Acceptance with God had without Controversie the Seal of Remission of sins because without Remission there can be no Acceptance But the Servants of God had the Seal or Testimony of Acceptance with God even some before any part of the Scriptures were written as Abel Enoch Abraham c. therefore the Scriptures were not the Ground of Faith for the Remission of sins but the Word which was before the Scriptures were written so that to deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God is not to deny the Ground of Faith for the Remission of sins And the Prophet David who sometime complained Psal 38.4 That his Iniquities were gone over his head as a Burden too heavy for him to bear afterwards declar'd Psal 103.12 That as far as the East is from the West so far had the Lord removed his Transgressions from him Now where did the Scriptures tell him that his Iniquities were put so far from him Or how were they the Ground of this Faith by which he thus spoke and by which he had this Evidence of the Remission or Removing of his sins Was not the Word which was settled in the Heavens and which was a Light to his Feet c. the Ground of this Faith Which Word healed him when he was in Distress and when his Wounds stunk because of his Folly which Word still remaineth and is owned as the Ground of Faith for the Remission of sins though the Scriptures be not acknowledged to be the Word Thirdly And for his saying It maketh void the Exercises of Faith in the precious Promises of God for what hath Faith to exercise it self but only the Promises of God in Scripture c. Answ I answer The true Faith which Christ is the Author of hath the Power of God in which it stands to exercise it self in as the Objects thereof through which Power of God which is the Gospel Life and Immortality is brought to Light 2 Tim. 1.10 as Fruit of that Faith which stands in Christ the Power so that Vertue and Knowledge is thereby added to the Faith by which the true Believer is built up in his Holy Faith so that denying the Scriptures to be the Word doth not make void the Exercises of Faith nor take away the Ground in which true Faith standeth as J. N. vainly imagineth because the Scripture is not the Power of God in which the true Faith standeth Neither doth it follow as J. N. asserteth That Faith must be exercis'd in Scripture or else upon Fancy and Imagination because it may be exercised in the Power of God as in the true Ground thereof which is neither Scripture nor Imagination nor Fancy for the Apostle said That his Speech and Preaching was not with enticing words of man's Wisdom but in Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power that their Faith might not stand in the Wisdom of Man but in the Power of God 1 Cor. 2.4 5. And in this are the Exercises of that true Faith which by the Spirit or Word was once deliver'd to the Saints and which we now

the Name of the Lord and for God that the Spirit of Christ doth not nor never did admit or allow of persecution or of destroying mens lives about Worship and Faith towards God neither are any of them true Christians whatsoever they profess that are found so doing For it is not a bare profession of Christ and of zeal for his cause and crying up Ordinances c. that makes people true Christians or that gives them acceptance with God or will make them well-pleasing unto God But that which makes a man a true Christian is his obedience unto that Spirit which baptizeth into the true Faith by which Righteousness is wrought Heb. 11.33 and into Christ who is the Author of faith and will bring him to have the mind of Christ as the true Christians had and will make him partaker of his divine nature and will teach him to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World and to do to all men as he would they should do unto him which is according to the Law and Prophets that Christ came to fulfil And indeed there is nothing that can bring a man into this true Christian state but only the working and operation of the Spirit of Christ in his inward parts which all ought to obey and submit unto For the persecuting Jews who were uncircumcised in heart and ears and did alwaies resist the holy Ghost they professed as great Zeal for God and his Cause as the Apostate Christians now do and they look'd for the coming of the Messiah of whom all the Prophets prophesied and professed they would Adore him and Reverence him c. and said That if they had been in the dayes of their Fathers they would not have slain the Prophets Mat. 23.31 who prophesied of the coming of Christ and so they had seemingly a great Zeal for God and his Truth But alas a Murdering spirit was found in them for notwithstanding they professed That they would not have kill'd the Prophets yet they kill'd the Son who was the end of the Prophets And although the Prophets signified the Time when Dan. 9.24 and the Place where the Messiah should be born Mic. 5.2 yet when he was come according to the Prophets which they profest these Professing Jews would not own him nor receive him John 1.11 because he reprov'd their Hypocrisie and their Murdering spirit John 8.40 but they Crucified and Slew Him And this is the very State of the Apostate Christians this day For who is there now amongst them but will profess as great Love to Christ as the Jews in Christ's dayes did to the Prophets who prophesied of him and who is there now among'st them but will say Had we been in Pilate's dayes 〈◊〉 would not have crucified Christ nor delivered him up to be crucified as the Jews said of the Prophets yet notwithstanding their so saying they do as the Jews did for now in this day of his spiritual appearance which they profess they look for and expect they are found persecuting of him in his Members under the sam̄e pretence that the Jews persecuted him in their day viz. as a Blasphemer c. And so the Persecutors were in all ages blinded by the godd of the World who was a murtherer from the beginning and though they could see the iniquities of their fathers and predecessors in persecuting and killing the Prophets yet the envy of their hearts was such that they could not see their own iniquities in persecuting and slaying the Son who was greater than the Servants whom their fathers slew so as I said before it is not a profession of Christ and his Ordinances or zeal for his cause that makes people true Christians neither is God Worshipped upon any of those mountains where the persecuting and destroying one another is but the Worship of God consisteth in obedience to that Spirit of Truth which condemns all those works of darkness and cruelty and in his own Mountain of Holiness where nothing hurts nor destroys Isa 11.9 And such is the Father now seeking to worship him that will worship him there and is now gathering his Sheep from off the barren Mountains upon which the Whore sits where they have been scattered in the dark and cloudy day of Anchrist's reign and where the Wars and Fightings are even to his own Holy Mountain where they shall learn war no more Isa 2.4 And this is the work that the Envious and Murtherous one opposeth and bestirs himself with all his force and might in his Instruments of Cruelty and Men of War arming of them with all kind 〈◊〉 weapons that possibly he can form to fight against this Appearance and Work of God for so it hath been that since we who are reproachfully called Quakers were raised up to be a people to bear Testimony for the Name of the Lord and of the working of his Spirit and Power we have alwayes been even as a Butt for all the Archers of Babylon even from every Mountain to shoot at and our sufferings have not been only in our persons and estates as the spoyling of our goods and scourgings and cruel mockings and imprisonments many unto death as this Nation to her anguish must be made to know but even all sorts of Babylons Merchants or they that trades in every part of her or within her Subburbs have oft made it their business to write and print against us endeavouring thereby as much as in them lay to render us odious to our own Nation and to Nations about us under pretence that we were Papists and Jesuits and that we propagated Jesuitical Principles c. but they being almost if not altogether weary of that work finding it to be to no purpose for the truth which we profess hath still got ground and flourisheth through all these things now at last the Papists or Jesuits themselves who I perceive have a secret hope of a day once more in this Nation they begin to put out their heads and to print against us and so both Protestants and Papists even every head and horn of the Beast after whom the whole World wonders are found pushing against the Lamb and the Saints Rev. 17.14 For of late a certain Pamphlet accidentally came to my hands written by a perfect Roman Catholick who subscribed his name A. S. in which he seems to shew himself sensible of the great distractions that are throughout the whole Christendom about the true way of worship and concerning the true Church and first states a Question viz. which is this Church c. and afterwards makes it his business to prove the Church of Rome to be this true Church and that by divers Arguments by him stated in a Syllogistical manner And I also finding the Author of the aforesaid Pamphlet therein smiting at the People of God called Quakers and endeavouring to render them odious by affirming they are led by a deluding spirit c. I found my self somewhat concerned to return a brief reply

the many Writings of his own which remain upon Record will speak forth to those who are of a true spiritual understanding what he was yet notwithstanding all these things were in my mind and divers other Considerations which occasioned me to defer the publication hereof so long as till now yet being I could not be so clear in my duty towards God and my Brother in neglecting to give forth this my Testimony concerning him and in suffering so precious a Testimony as his last was wholly to be put in oblivion I have with freeness and cheerfulness of heart undertaken it And when it pleased God to manifest his Eternal Power in the heart of the aforesaid R. F. it is well known unto many how effectually it wrought in him insomuch that although he was before a man of great abilities and parts and knowledge accounted of among men even excelling many of his equals yet he was content and willing in obedience to the Power of God to become a Fool to the World and to be stript and emptied of his own wisdom and knowledge which stood in the state faln from God and his Power and to suffer the loss of all worldly reputation and favour and the pleasures and delights thereof that he might win Christ Jesus and be found his Servant clothed with the Righteousness of Faith preferring the simplicity that is in Christ beyond all worldly wisdom and honour whatsoever and his Sufferings for the sake of Christ beyond all worldly reputation and so great was the change that was wrought it him that he became a wonder amongst many and the Word of God and his Power was great and mighty in him and through him in which he was sent forth by the Lord who had manifested himself unto him to preach the Everlasting Gospel to the Poor and to declare of that great Power of God of which he was made a Witness and of the Effects of its operation and so powerfull was his Message and Testimony that many were begotten into a firm belief thereof and believing the Report were turned from Darkness to the Light of Jesus with which they were enlightned and from Sathans power unto the Power of God which wrought mightily in their hearts to the changing of their minds and affections from things that are below towards things that are above all that is fading and corruptible and to the bringing of Life and Immortality to light in them And although they were atttended with many foul temptations because of their obedience to the Truth and Light of the Spirit of Grace and brought in many distresses in their passage from Death unto Life yet was he so experienced in the Depths and Subtilties of Sathan and also in the Dealings and Goodness of God in such conditions and estates that he had obtained the tongue of the Learned and could as oft times he did speak words in Season to the strengthning of the weak and refreshing of the weary and to the reviving of that which was near ready to faint So that he was in the Lords Hand even as a Father to the fatherless and as eyes to the Blind and feet to the lame and the eye that truly saw him blessed hm and the ear that heard him gave witness unto him for through the Power of God which enabled him he delivered the Poor and the needy and built up many that believed in their most precious Faith and confirmed them therein And went about from place to place through the Land of his Nativity turning many from Darkness to Light and confirming the Churches and doing good And his Service was very great for the Lord in his day for he was so furnished with Heavenly Wisdom and Understanding through the Grace of God and also so seasoned thereby that his Patience Meekness and Humility exceeded many And although God had so endued him with Heavenly Vertues and Abilities exceeding many yet was he not pufft up therewith neither sought to exercise Lordship over those that were weaker and younger then himself but gave place unto any that had the least Gift of God to exercise so that through the Spirit of Meekness and Humility with which he was adorned he was exceeding lovely and beautiful and the hearts and souls of many were affected therewith who in simplicity thirsted after Righteousness and such waited for him as for the Rain upon whom his Doctrine so dropped Yet nevertheless he was terrible to the Worker of Iniquity and the Sword of his Mouth was very sharp for the Word of God was therein and when he had to do with any who opposed the Truth and Way of Life and Salvation which we profess and walk in as oft-times he had his Weapon was very sharp to them and they were not able to resist the Wisdom of the Spirit by which he spoke for thereby he confounded their wisdom and broke their Weapons in pieces so that they were oft ready to Blaspheme God because of the plague that it was to them and a Conqueror he was over the Beast and false Prophet against whom he made War in Righteousness in and though the Power of the Lamb in whose Spirit he finished his Testimony and Course in the Faith And as the Enemies of the Truth of God were many and in divers shapes that this valiant Souldiers of the Lamb had to encounter withal so he was alwayes furnished with Armor and Weapons fit for the Work and Service in which he was exercised by which he was enabled to encounter with and Conquer all But at last that his Armor and Weapons might be proved to be sufficient to encounter with the Enemy of Truth in all kind of Appearances and Transformations it was his lot with me and divers others of the Servants of the Lord to be engaged against the Enemy of Truth who had transformed himself into the likeness of an Angel of Light and under a seeming pretence of appearing on the behalf of God and his Cause c. and against Formality and Traditions begun strongly to oppose the Truth of God and the Ministry thereof in and through his Servants and Messengers who have approved themselves as the Ministers of God and as his Embassadors and to cry against our Assemblies and manner of Worship and our Exercise therein as only Formal in which we have always found the glorious Presence Power and Majesty of the Lord amongst us refreshing comforting and strengthening of us even according as our Hearts Souls can or could desire so that we were engaged to justifie the Lord in opposition to that gainsaying spirit of delusion by which many were beguiled led away after Satan to their hurt And in our Testimony for the Lord and against that self-separating gainsaying Spirit the Power of the Lord did greatly accompany and assist us and was as greatly with us as in any service that he had called us unto The sincere and upright in heart who have kept their first Love and their first Faith

as J. N. confesseth to the wounding of his own Work And indeed What he hath acknowledged is to be known by the Spirit is even enough for any man to know or enough to give Satisfaction to every Soul who breathes after the Knowledge of Acceptance with God For what can give more satisfaction to a man then to know the holy Will of God by his Spirit and to know his Adoption and to know that God is his Father Certainly there is no cause for him that hath this Knowledge to question his Acceptance with God And this may be known without Scripture even by the holy Spirit of Promise as J.N. confesseth therefore to deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God doth not deny the Knowledge of Acceptance with God and thus out of his own Mouth he is judged Seventhly He saith If the Scriptures be denied to be the Word of God c. then all men are left in the dark c. for no man is able to know that God will save any but by his Word which is contain'd in the Scriptures for this is the Word of Salvation or that which directeth to the Means by which we shall obtain Life c. Answ That none are able to know that God will save any but by this Word that I shall easily acknowledgd because it s the Word only that is able to save but that the Scriptures are this Word or alone able to save that I do not acknowledge but deny and J. N. hath produced no Proof for his Assertion but only his own Affirmation nor indeed can he although he boldly saith They are the Word of Salvation yet they no where say so of themselves but they testifie of the Word of Salvation and That it was sent unto the Children of Abraham and unto all amongst them that feared God Acts 13.26 Mark This was not the Scriptures that were sent amongst them but the Word of Salvation or that Word which is able to save Jam. 1.21 which the Apostle there besought the Children of Abraham to receive with Meekness calling it the Ingrafted Word or as some English Translations have it The Word that is grafted in you so this is the Word that is able to save the Word of Salvation the Word of Faith in the Heart c. which Word was in the Beginning the Author of the Faith of the Fathers by which Jacob knew that God would save even before Scriptures were written which made him say Gen. 49.18 O Lord I have waited for thy Salvation By all which it appears That to deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God doth not leave men so in the dark as J. N. affirmeth but that they are still in a capacity to know that God will save and also to see the Salvation of God which is promised to them that order their Conversation aright And whereas he saith That the Scriptures direct to the Means by which we shall obtain Life I Answer I shall easily acknowledge that for as I have before said they contain many true Testimonies of him who is the alone Leader unto Life and they are profitable for Doctrine for Instruction c. that people may be directed to Christ the Way which they testifie of and that they may be turned from Darkness to the Light which discovers the Darkness and that they may come to receive with Meekness the ingrafted Word or the word which is grafted in them by it to be taught and led unto the Possession of Life for this is the Means by which Life is obtain'd which the Scriptures testifie of and direct unto and for this Work we own the Scriptures to be profitable But this doth not run paralel with the Affirmation of J. N. in the 24th page of his Book where he affirmeth That Life was in the Scriptures for its one thing to say that there is Life therein and another thing to say they direct to the Means by which Life is obtain'd If John Newman asserted no other thing then the latter there had been no Controversie about this Point for so far we own the Scriptures But his Confusion sheweth what his spirit is oft-tmes contradicting and opposing himself as is usual with those that oppose the Unchangeable Truth But I perceive an Objection may arise in the Ignorant concerning this thing That if the Word which is able to save be grafted in people and be nigh unto all even in the Heart and Mouth why then are not all saved or why do not all see the Salvation of God or why did the Apostle Exhort them to receive it with Meekness if it were in them already I Answer though the Word or Spirit which is one was in them yet they being disobedient thereunto did not receive it or had not received it but had alwayes resisted it as the Apostle tells them Acts 7.51 and so were like unto those that Job spoke of saying They are of them that rebel against the Light who know not the Way of it c. Job 24.13 so that although the Word or Light or Spirit be in a people and they rebel against it or resist the reproofs and Instructions thereof or do dispite to the strivings thereof how can such be said to have received it for they only receive the Word and the Spirit that receive the Reproofs and Instructions thereof and in them it is known to be a Spirit or Prince of Peace and a Word of Life and Consolation and such know their Beloved to lye all might betwixt their Brests but although he be nigh even in the hearts of many they cannot be said to receive him while they rebel against him and therefore they are not saved but condemned by him For this is the condemnation that Light is come and men love Darkness rather then Light Joh. 3.19 and though he lighteth every man that comes into the World yet it s only they that receive him the Light that he gives Power unto Joh. 1.12 by which it appears that all that were englightned by him did not receive him so that the Light the Word the Spirit may be in people and yet they that received it but reject it in its Reproofs Counsels and Instructions and therefore they are not saved by it but condemned for which cause it was needful for the Apostle to Labour to turn them from Darkness to the Light wherewith they were enlightned to Exhort them to receive with meekness the engrafted Word or to submit unto the operation of the Word that was in them that by it they might be saved for none experimentally knows its ability to save but they who receive the Reproofs and Instructions of it and are Doers or Obeyers thereof and such are taught thereby as by the Universal Grace which hath appeared unto all men which bringeth salvation to order their Conversation aright through which they come to see the great Salvation of God Eighthly Now I come to the eighth sad Consequence that J. N. saith