understanding of it and they that are without this are like to kill one another about words and names and sounds and titles and jotas but still wants the key that opens and gives an entrance into the knowledg of the things of God which alone is the Spirit of God that gave forth the Scriptures Last of all R. E. after he saith the three former props which is the basis of the whole foundation and glided over as sleightily as he possible could although he hath never stated the matter right indeed as to remove all things out of his way which might hinder him in his cause which he drives so hard on in to wit to set up a certain company or multitude of men visible and universal as he saith to be the only infallible Judge to convey Faith to the World and to be the certain and infallible Judge in all matters that either pertaines to the Worship of God and to be believed under pain of Damnation as his term is all along without questioning at all either their Doctrine or Principles or comparing them with the Doctrine of Christ or Primitive Christians whether they be true or false whether they be with or against but all is to be received by an implisite faith hand over head and by whole sail for it will admit of no examination nor doubt but all must be received of necessity as infallible and upon so great a necessity to as R. E. saith if you will believe him would make it so that all forfeits eternal Salvation for not receiving all the Doctrines of this Church and consequently procures eternal damnation unto themselves who refuse it so that if I should say no more but even lay down his assertions which are scattered up and down his Book called an Epistle to all Nonconformists it were answer enough I hope to many whose mouthes I hope would be filled with arguments and sound and grounded ones too or at least with faith in their hearts to oppugn and not receive all these bold assertions without examination or trial only upon the account of infallibility from the Universal Church of Rome falsly so called but R. E. having removed away all the stumbling blocks which is in his way as he judges the private spirit he hath concluded not to be this rule and judge which I judge he hath no opposers in though he have spent much paper and time in his scribling humour which hath been his manner in former days as he confesseth page the first neither reason nor the Scriptures are this rule and judge but he hath concluded the Catholick Church is but all along he hath waved that which indeed is the only and alone rule and judge infallible viz. the Spirit of God but either calls it the private spirit or concludes it is intailed upon the Church so that she cannot erre page the 54. which I shall say something further unto That there hath been a Church of God and a peculiar people whom God hath singled out as to be objects of his love which feared him in their hearts and bore a Testimony of him and worshipped him according to the manifestation of his Spirit unto them whether by word or revelation which was certain and infallible unto them that received it is granted and this was alwaies but little in comparison of the multitude of the fallen Sons of Adam and the rest of the Nations and people that served and worshipped strange Gods and never made such a boast of universality and visibility as this supposed Catholick Church hath done since the Apostacy entered in which the Apostles foresaw and prophesied off before their departure out of this Tabernacle and since many have believed in Christ and the Worship of the Jewes extinguished and a fatal overthrow of their Civil Government and Kingdom are two main reasons of extinguishing their Worship and hath been no invitation to any to turn Jewes or holden in their worship seeing they have lost their Government and Dominion and are as scattered people without privilege and is no inducement for the World to joyne to them therefore seeing the face of that Government was demolished and their Worship ended but only as to themselves who remained in their unbelief and seeing that the Doctrine of Christ did so far prevail as to extingush it and put out the Glory thereof in the Apostles dayes and sometime afterwards and also the Gentiles Worship and their false Gods and dumb Idols which they were led after the power of God prevailing through the Apostles the Ministers of Righteousness by whom many were converted unto the Faith of Christ the summe and substance of all shadowes many being converted to the Faith did hold forth a publick Testimony and it became in some reputation and many preached him of envy contention and strife and for filthy lucre covetousness and self-ends and many followed their pernicious wayes and yet held the name of Christ and Christianity and thus began the mystery of Iniquity to work and the Devil to turn so far Christian in name only because it was in vain among many to hold forth the Jewes Worship or the Gentiles Worship because they had an inclination another way after Christianity that came into more repute with the World and therefore suffered the name or many to profess it and under this name and under this Cover to bring forth his works of darkness and the fruits of the flesh and the nature of Christ wanting and here was the beginning and rise of your universal visible Church Secondly For the first two thousand years before the Scriptures were written R. E. saith the Church of God was this rule and judge and infallible director which might to some indifferent man have been granted but that I see which way his course bends viz. to the setting up of Men as judge and rule and guide and detracts from the Spirit and power of God in which the ability and power of the Church of God stood and from which alone they received this proper power right because their understandings were enlightened and their judgments informed to declare the mind of God freely according as it was revealed and to give true judgment why is not this attributed rather to the spirit and power of God that was manifest in them rather then to persons seeing their ability stood and their power only as they kept in Covenant with God and as any erred from that in any age or fell from that they came to be blind guides and to give false judgment as some such there were in all ages Thirdly R. E. saith that after the Scripture was written the Church of the Jewes was rule and judge unto the Jewes cites Deu. 17. 8. Thou shalt come to the Priests Levites unto the Iudge and enquire and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment and according to that which they shall tell thee thou shall do And likewise he quotes Mat. 23. 2 3. The Scribes
world further then by preaching repentance in it for the Apostle saith what have we to do to judge them that are without and this Church as in God was secure to relie upon for she had the Oracles of God committed unto her and every one may relie upon this pillar if they dare trust it which I see R. E. dare not because he likes not to be tyed to their Doctrine declared of in the Scriptures but would have all to take what they say for granted without the Scripture or the Apostle example or spirit and is not this unreasonable in thee that would have the Church to be believed or that which calls it self so by name when she teacheth not conformable to Scriptures and to the faith which was once delivered among the Saints and would thou have a Church reckoned infallible and to be believed when she doth not her duty the Churches privileges is in speaking truth and judging righteously and the Devil was a lyer from the beginning and is out of the truth and where hath thou read that he teaches conformable to Scripture and so may be believed is not the promise of God to his Disciples as they continued to the end and as they kept his Commandements and were they not known to be the Church of God and Disciples of Christ by this and was not the promise to them that hungred and thirsted after Righteousness and to them that did overcome and was not the exhortation to the Church of Philadelphia hold fast that which thou hast that none take thy Crown Rev. 3. 11 12. Was there not a possibility of leting go that which they had and of loosing the Crown or else why is the exhortation But I see R. E. would lay claim to promises and privileges without all condition and will not be tyed to keep the commands of Christ nor would not have the Church tyed to follow the Doctrine of the Primitive Church nor will not admit of any possibility or probability of failing or erring nay not so much as a mistake but as to infallibility and certainty I have said enough before and the confidence or rather the impudence of R. E. is easily seen and to make up all he concludes the Apostles as Men were subject to error in their private affaires yet were they by the assistance of Gods Spirit infallible in delivering matters of faith I say as they were assisted by the holy Spirit of God they neither erred in private affaires nor matters of faith but as they were not assisted by this they were subject to err for in this stood their only ability to teach instruct exhort and judge and as they were guided by this Spirit they were infallible and so R. E. saith that the Prelats of the holy Catholick Church as Men they are fallible in their own private actions and affairs yet when they are assembled in a general Council with their supream Pastor they are still made infallible in determining matters of Faith It is well that R. E. will grant that there is any possibility for their Prelats to fail either publick or private but I say he that is not faithful in his own actions and affaires can never be faithful in the Lords but it seems a General Council cannot fail when the supream Pastor the Pope is there but if he be not it seems by E's discourse it is more doubtful the like he also judges if the eleven Disciples and the seventy too with the Brethren and Elders if they had all been to define matters of Faith if Peter had been wanting which this Catholick Church calls the Prince of the Apostles there had been some doubt of their infallibility in point of faith as though the promise of God and the Spirit of God had not been with the rest of the Apostles as well as Peter but a word or two and more hereafter of the infallibility of General Councils the Nicean Council decreed flat Idolatry about Worshipping of Images the Council at Constantinople condemned their Proceedings and made void their Decrees yet both these in E's account must needs be infallible the Council at Basil as Albertus Phigious saith decreed against all reason and against Scriptures the Council of Calcedon which was one of the four that Gregory the great compares to the four Gospels that their Decrees were as certain and infallible yet Pope Leo did not stick to condemn it and all them as unadvised Stephanius Bishop of Rome made void the Decrees of Formosus and Sabinian the Pope commanded that Pope Gregory's Mass and all his Writings should be burned Leo the fourth abrogated and made void the Acts of Adrian the Basil Council determined that the Council of Bishops was above the Pope but the Latterine Council under Leo determined that the Pope was above the Council and they decreed also that he that should think otherwise should be held for a Heretick but the Council of Basil aforesaid decreed that they that judged that the Council was not above the Pope they were Hereticks Innumerable more instances I might give but that I will not trouble my Reader with such unprofitable stories and all these Popes said they were Peters Successors and had the keys of binding and loosing and all these Councils and many more which were of the Roman faith which in E's account could not err but must needs be infallible and yet are as contradictory one to another as light is to darkness and black to white and looks with their faces several ways like Samsons Foxes and therefore let not R. E. nor none of his Catholicks think that the Church of Christ now coming out of the Wilderness again can receive all their contradictory Decrees and invented fopperies and constitutions of Men for infallible the day is broken the light hath taken hold of the ends of the Earth the Sun is risen which shall make all the foggy mists of darkness and clouds of ignorance to fly away But R. E. ceases not here but heapes up one peece of darkness upon another till blackness of darkness appear and he tells of a visible Church Mat. 16. which is builded upon Peter that visible Rock for that Rock there spoken of is not Christ saith he but Peter for immediately after he names Peter whereas saith he if he had meaned himself or Peters confession for that saith he is too remote or mediate and anticedent for if Christ had meaned himself or Peters confession he should have spoken according to the Grammer Rule and Construction Vpon that Rock or upon this Rock I have build I do build and not I will build in the 63. page and in the 64. page he tells of a Church visible having two heads of an Independent Head and a Dependent Head and in the 66. page he saith he hopes that it will appear clear to all as it did to him that the visible Church is that Rule and Judge appointed by God and all upon pain of damnation are to submit unto
in himself that his reasons or arguments should be of that weight to convince or convert any seeing he hath rendered himself and they that knows him can testifie he hath always been a changable man and unstablt in all his ways tossed up and down like the Waves of the Sea and now at last fallen into the black gulf of darkness but it seems by his own writing in his Epistle that it hath been his former method being filled with a scribling humour in the days of his ignorance as he saith when the vail of pride and folly hung between his eyes which appears to hang there yet for any thing I can see having condemned himself and also repented as he saith for being in the head of a Troop of the rebellious Army a Captain and yet after Conversion and illumination and repentance as he saith subscribes himself Captain Robert Everard argues both pride and folly and gives but a small shew of repentance but rather argues fanedness and flattery and him to be a time-server and a man-pleaser And whether he intend by his Epistle to all the Non-conformists to the Church of England or all the Non-conformists to the Church of Rome is doubtfull for then the Church of England hath to conform in part as well as others though I believe the Church of Rome will claim a good part of her Discipline to be theirs only it wants the formality of Language something might largely be spoken as in return of answer to the things contained in the said Book but that it may be supposed some of those people with whom he hath formerly conversed which he now calumnates with notorious error will not receive his Epistle as an infallible and Heavenly Oracle but rather will return him some publick answer for the vindicating of their own Principles and also shewing him his weakness how soon he was turned aside with and for a thing of nought and also that he should be so bold as to turn in a moment their Instructer and Teacher when he hath but newly learned within a year or two the Principles of his own Religion which he saith he adores God in and so is but a novis and unskilfull in the word of righteousness though his web be very long of Linsie Woolsie and his words be many which will pass away as wind and have small effect I hope of gaining many Proselites to be Members of that visible Church which hath ruled over Nations Kindred and Tongues which are the Waters upon which the great Whore sits I take my self little concerned or that people with whom I am joyned in the fellowship of the Gospel of Christ Jesus who are Non-conformsts to the World and ever resolves to be according to the Apostles Doctrine and to all Hypocrites and Time-servers and them that serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies of which this Generation is full who will transgress fon a morsell of Bread and conform to any thing and every thing for the smiles of the World ease and liberty in the flesh but the followers of Christ-hath not so learned Christ for who so will raign with him must suffer with him Neither should I have said much if the quarrel had been personal or about some circumstantial matters which a Man may be with and without and they neither add to nor diminish from his goodness and vertue but seeing it is a quarrel not only against us that are alive but against the faithful sufferers who laid down their lives in flames of Fire and the very Foundation of God which is the most sure thing is struck at and the spirit of God turned out of doores in regard of its office of certainty and infallibility and the Scriptures of truth laid aside as an insufficient thing except the Interpretations of Men be added to it for its authority and the constitutions of fallible and erring Men set up for rules and Men as Men set up as Law-givers and Judges over Mens Conscientes and Lords over Faith and to be the most certain thing for any Christian Man to rely upon and to believe as the old phrase is as the Church believes to pin ones faith upon others sleeves and to hang ones hope of anothers shoulders to put ones eye out that God hath given them to see with and then see by anothers may be led into any hole or ditch and this to be published with such confidence as the only infallible guide to which all Christians are to submit world make a Man half dumb to speak and stammer forth some thing as a testimony against such palpable error and manifest darkness put off with such confidence and usher'd in among Christians in such an age as this when Light and life is broken forth as a morning without Cloudes in Goshen where Israel the true Seed Inhabits I could not but say something in vindication of that certain sure everlasting truth which the Devil is out of by which the Saints are made free indeed in their inward man from sin and Non-conformists to the World its error wayes and worship and also to shew the mistakes of the Author and how easily he hath been drawn aside to lean upon a broken Read all his particulars which are of any weight or moment shall be considered and weighed in the righteous Ballance of equity and answered in their due place for the confirmation of them that do believe and for removing the stumbling blocks out of the way of them that doubt or stagger least they fall in such dark Pits as these viz. as to deny the spirit of God to be a sufficient guide and take away its infallibility and place it in Men that have erred do erre and may erre and call them the only sure infallible guide for all Christian men to follow But to speak something to the seeming weighty matter which weighed down R. E. his Judgment and cast the Scales so far as that all his hope faith foundation religion was weighed down at one draught and by such feeble things as put him to silence which he heard from his Laycatholick as he cals him argues a very weak a poor foundation a sandy which was so soon driven away but one thing is to be minded because he hath minded it himself of his Conversion as to matter of time this Conversion hath happened to fall out since the happy Restauration of our Gracious Soveraign to his Crown and Dignity as he saith this to some will render his Conversion somewhat suspicious whether he name this time as only accidental or the Restauration of the King the cause somewhat of his Conversion I shall not determine but however he having been behind before in Conformity resolved to make a good step to before the next time to avoid suffering loss and reproach But to speak a little as to the Discourse which R. E. hath published as the weighty matter whereby he was convinced their Judgments now it seems becoming
a man to be no man because he is not so tall as another but I see R. E. and his Catholick would have all Shoos made by their Last though they will not fit every mans feet Faith is the gift of God there are divers degrees and measures according to the mind and good pleasure of the giver so that he that hath received any measure or degree must not be excluded as having no faith though he attain not to that degree that some do enjoy and the Apostles Doctrine was that every one should be perswaded in his own mind and if any was otherwise minded they were to be let alone till God revealed it to them And whatsoever people or Church though they claim infallibility that teaches a contrary Doctrine unto this we have good reason to suspect it to be that hasty driving and overdriving spirit that would force a faith where God hath not given it not to be the infallible spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ of which the Church of Rome hath given a vehement cause of suspition by their cruelty and tortors they have exercised towards them who could not receive their Principles and own their Judgment in all things But R. E. the Lay-Gentleman blinded thy eye when he made thee call into question the truth of Scripture and that it proceeded from the infallible Testimony of Gods spirit and if thou had a certain feeling of the same in thy self and in thy own Conscience to let this go and make this void as an insufficient ground to receive Christianity upon to lean to a prop without thee and to be judged by men who have been as fallible and changable in their Judgments as the Moon which have assumed the name of Catholick Church whose Testimony thy Instructer I perceive told thee ought to be received concerning what as is pretended to be revealed or not revealed by God yet all must be obliged to stand to their Judgment though never so repugnant to the Doctrine of Christ and practice of the Church of Christ in the first Primitive times truly so called yet it is granted that the Church of Christ are the dispersed Members through the World though not of it agreeing in one faith being in the power of God and being led and guided by the Holy Ghost their Judgments ought to be received which cannot as lead by the Spirit fail in giving true Judgment in matters of faith which pertains to Salvation but as men they may fail and as erring from the spirit they may fail and infallibility is not intailed to the persons of any men but as they continue in the grace of God and walk in the spirit and bring forth the fruits thereof nor to any place or City but as they continue in Covenant with God for the promise of God was to Jerusalem and Mount Zion and to many other places and people in divers Cities where the glory of God once appeared but now through their Apostacy and unbelief and disobedience they are desolate as to the presence and power of God and their Sun is set and they are covered as with the shadow of a Cloud but this true Church whereof I have spoken was seen to fly into the Wilderness for time times and a half and that since the Apostles days and then was she not so visible and universal as she had been before and the man child was caught up unto God now if thou reckon the Roman Church to be this true Church shew the time times and half a time wherein she fled into the Wilderness and how long she hath been there and when was the time of her return and if ever she was there how that will hang together with your assertion that she hath been visible and so universal this fiften hundred years and if this could be proved that Rome hath been so whether doth it not rather demonstrate her to be the Whore that sat upon the many waters which waters are Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and what Church instance if thou can doth lay claim to the Nations Kindreds Tongues and People to be yours and to rule over so many Kings of the Earth as you lay claim to be universally of your faith and of your Church which gives us a shrewd character to believe that indeed you are mystery Babylon besides the blood of the Saints that have been shed under the name of Hereticks by this visible Catholick Church among the Nations this twelve 100. years doth give clear evidence that it can be reckoned or imputed unto none but you But I would not grate too hard upon thee being but a new convert but when thy instructer had made thee doubt of thy own state and question the foundation whereupon thou hadst received christianity the next thing he labours to make void is the Spirit of God its Testimony which thou did lay claim too but I feel had little portion in what thou said at last he makes thee doubt of the infallibility of this spirit which thou had spoke on might for ought thou knew be the spirit of error and thou not able to distinguish betwixt the spirit of God in thy self which is infallible and the spirit of error nor to distinguish betwixt their opperations he perswaded thee that all was uncertain and therefore no confidence to be given to any spirit or faith in ones own particular which is the most absurd and ridiculous thing in the world so to judge For if there be no certainty or assurance given to any man or means to every man wherein he may be assured of the certainty of Gods will then whither should any go or upon whom should any lean seeing that no credit can be given to any thing that any man believes and this were but tossing up and down men from mountain to hill that they might never have rest for their souls And as for Jer. 17. and Eccles. 9. Rev. 3. The heart of man is deceitful c. No man knows love or hatred c. And because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing c. These Scriptures was brought unto thee to make thee more blind the first is spoken of the degenerated estate where deceit bears rule and not truth the second is spoken of visible enjoyments which are common to all and the third was spoken to one who had erred from the spirit and was exalted in pride because of external performances but having lost the power was miserable c. But what of all this doth this any whit at all detract from the certainty and assurance of the Spirit of God in them that hath it what shall we reason thus because some have been led aside and are deceived by their own hearts lusts that therefore all may be deceived even them that have the spirit of God God forbid and we have some what more to answer an Arian a Jew or a Turk if they should urge the like knowledg and feeling
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 amongest 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 and 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 the 10. ver 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 the remission of sins nor for the foundation of faith for that had been contrary to the Apostles commission and their Doctrine for saith the Apostle We have not preached our selves but Christ the Lord and our selves your servants for his sake And I may say to thee R. E. as Paul said to the Corinthians when they were striving about Men 1 Cor. 3. 21. therefore let no man glory in men for all things are yours or as he saith in the 1 chap. 13. ver was Paul crucified for you or were you baptised in the name of Paul were they not carnal that so gloried was Peter crucified for us or were we baptised in the name of Peter is not your visible Church carnal who thus judges that Christ intended Peter to be the foundation of his Church for what was he or the rest of the Apostles but Ministers by which many believed and if thou had been present it is very like would have instructed Christ what to have said and bidden him have spoken after the Grammer Rule and Construction upon that Rock I will build my Church for Peters faith in Christ is to mediate it seems and his confession too remote and anticedent to be the Rock meant in the 16. of Mat. 18. and therefore Peter must be imediate and the Rock upon which Christ hath doth and will build his Church but as imediate as he was and a sure a Rock as he was when he began to rebuke Christ he turned him about ver 23. and said unto Peter Get the behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me for thou savours not the things of God and so say I to R. E. and his Catholicks they savour not the things of God but it is thy private spirit and your own Interpretations and not the mind of Christ and how far anticedent is Peter's Confession of Christ the Son of the Living God is it not in the 16. ver and wherein was Peter blessed but in this that it was revealed to him that Christ was the Son of the Living God the Rock of Ages and the foundation of his Church and as for thy visible Church with its two heads indipendent head and dependent head which sure must have two bodies where they can be found but that I shall leave to R. E. and I hope from the grounds that thou hast here laid which did appear so clear to thee that none will be afraid not judge that such a visible Church with two heads is to be rule and guide to all to whom all is to submit under pain of Damnation which is to have Peter for its Rock which if he had been living he would have denyed you all as seters up of Men and â—leighters of Jesus Christ the Rock of Ages the Foundation of the Church the Head of the Body the Rule of Life the Judge of quick and the dead the Law-giver directer instructer and preserver of his Church for ever but R. E. goes on and saith it only remains that we consider which among all these congregations now on Earth which pretend themselves to be this Church of Christ for having once found her and knowing that she is so assisted with the Holy Ghost that she cannot teach us an error we shall no more dispute the verity of her Doctrines then we would have questioned the Articles of Faith taught by the holy Apostles or the words of Christ himself wherefore if this Church this infallible guide shall teach us that Infants ought to be Baptised and that it is as lawful to desire the Saints departed to pray for us as to desire the Prayers of them that are alive and that the body of Christ our Saviour is really and truly present in the Sacrament of the Alter or any other article of Faith we shall no more doubt it then the first Christians did the verity of what the Apostles taught them Among all those Congregations on Earth that looks upon themselves to be this Church and spouse of Christ there is one if thy eye could behold or if thou could discern it but before thou can there is an eye in thee must be put out and there is a wisdom in thee that must be confounded and turned into foolishness before thou can discern it in its glory as it is but however that is it undoubtedly which is begotten into the faith through the publication of the immortal word of Life who are translated from death unto life who have received the power and spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ and meets in his name and power and doth witness his presence among them and have received a measure of that infallible Spirit of truth which leadeth into all truth and out of the pollutions of the World and are dead unto the World and baptised into the sufferings of Christ and are crucified with him who keep unviolated his Statutes and commands without adding to or diminishing from who walk in the order of the Gospel and are not conformable to the world nor to that which fallen men sets up but to the power of God which worketh in the hearts of all that believe to the framing of them a meet habitation for God to dwel in and abideth in the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and are sayers and doers speakes the truth and doth the truth and holds the truth in Righteousness and the faith once delivered to the Saints in a pure heart and a pure Conscience who prayes in the spirit and with understanding who publisheth the truth and declares it in the spirit reaching to the Consciences and to the witness of God in all that hears who rejoyce only in Christ Jesus the great power of God and the wisdom of God and hath no confidence in the flesh nor fleshly performances whose faith stands not in words but in the mighty power of God which she hath received according unto the promise of God this Congregation or Congregations
which is one and doth hold the one head by which all the members of Christ are knit together in the one faith by which they overcome the world this undoubtedly is the Church of Christ and the spouse of Christ. But whether R. E. will not dispute against the verity of her Doctrine I question notwithstanding all his submission in words and if this Church should teach that Infants are to be baptised with Cream and Spittle and signed with the Cross as absolutely necessary to Salvation or that it is the duty of the Saints alive to pray to the Saints departed this world or to teach that Christs body which was broken for us and hanged upon the tree at Mount Calvary that this should now be in a morsel of bread and a sup of wine and conveyed thither by the Priest and this to be really the body of Christ if this Church should teach any such Doctrine there were good and weighty reason to question seeing that R. E. before hath said that they cannot be infallible who contradict one another and teach two contrary Doctrines and yet say they are both infallibly directed so to teach I hope R. E. will grant that the Church in Christs time and the Apostles was infallible and it taught no such Doctrine but to the contrary therefore that Church which pretends infallibility and yet teacheth such Doctrines as before mentioned contrary unto Christ and the Apostles cannot be infallible neither led by the infallible Spirit and all hath good reason to question the verity of these things more then what the Apostles taught seeing they are contradictory to Christ and the Apostles teaching and contrary to Scripture and contrary to the witness of God in all Consciences and as I said before this Church of God whereof I have spoken now though not denominated by any other name then the Church of God is and hath been assisted so by the Holy Ghost as she hath not erred when she only hearkened to its instruction and direction but when the wisdom of the flesh and the worldly part and States and Governments and Policies and Princes have been minded more then the Spirit of God then error hath been taught and the greater part in a Council have overswayed the rest and established error by decree and hath enjoyned it under penalties to be received as sacred and holy and infallible of which we find the Church of Rome exceeding guilty and therefore do conclude notwithstanding the promise of God to his Church that kept in Covenant with him that this Church of Rome have erred and do err both in faith doctrine and practice of the infallible Church in the Apostles days and therefore their Doctrine is more to be questioned then the Apostles and they not fit to be this rule and guide and directer unto which R. E saith all is to submit under pain of Damnation Scar-Crows will hardly affright men of understanding but unreasonable Creatures it may And last of all R. E. he saith he will conclude his whole proof with an argument from Heaven and of the highest nature and makes it evident that the Roman Church must be this guide and judge which God hath appointed because of the gift of Miracles and cites the 15. of John and 24. If I had not done among them the works that no other man did they had not had sin and now I say that the Roman Church hath done works and Miracles such as no other Church hath done therefore if we refuse to believe her we shall have sin and shew our selves haters of God and he instances St. Ber. St. Mal. St. Dom. St. Fra. which wrought Miracles and of Austin the Monk which taught Christian Faith first in England and his fellow Monkes which was then confirmed by wonderful Miracles from Heaven not in confirmation of those points and articles of faith which you hold with us but of those which you call Popish and superstitious as the Sacrifice of the Mass and about respect and veneration which is given to Saints Relicks and Images and about the Doctrine of Purgatory and payment of Tythes and R. E. concludes if we will not believe what you have not seen you destroy faith which is an evidence of things not seen Although R. E. make a great boast of the Miracles of the Church of Rome which no other Church hath wrought the like and therefore concludes that the is this rule and guide unto which all is to give ear unto under pain of Damnation and these Miracles he saith is argument from Heaven and proof of the highest nature believe him who can if time would but permit and the Reader have patience to read most or many if not all the Miracles he so much crys up might be declared to his and their shame the very report and relation thereof cannot but be reckoned as fabulous and fained stories and proceeds from that lying spirit which was in the false prophet which wrought Miracles before the Beast and deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast and them that worshipped his Image which must be taken alive and cast into the lake of fire Revelation 19. 20. It is an a dulterous Generation that seeks a signe And yet did not believe when they had Miracles wrought by the finger of God amongst them yet they said it was by Belzebub the Scribes and Pharisees said if he be the King of Israel let him come down from the Cross and we will believe but the power of Christ was not to be shewed at the blind will of the Pharisees neither would they have believed if he had come down though Miracles have been wrought by the power of God and is according to his Heavenly will and is not limited either to men time or place yet it is not so sufficient an argument from Heaven as R. E. saith to prove the Church of Rome this true Church seeing that the Devil and Satan and Antichrist shall come with signes and lying wonders and if it were possible deceive the elect and Janes and Jambres withstood Moses in working lying Miracles before Pharoah to the hardning of his heart and Chrysistome in his Hom upon Mat. 49. saith in the end of time power shall be given to the Devil to work signes and Miracles so that the Ministers of Christs cannot be known by working of Miracles but by working none at all and Augustine saith though some said Prayers at the Tombs of the Dead and obtained their desires as they said saith away with these things they be either juglings and mockeries of deceitful men or else delusions of lying spirits Chrys. in his Hom. upon Matth. 49. in old times it was known by Miracle who were the true Christians and who the false but now Miracles is rather among them that are false Christians and as for your great Miracles which thou saith the Chronologies and Histories speak of J. L. as Bed and Holm Sheads Stows and others we look upon them
one the Lay Gentleman he mentions and himself speaking to one speaks to both First Whether that any can be certain that the Christians in general is more true then the Turkes Jewes or any other and whether any can be infallibly assured of this that it is not possible for one to be mistaken in this and again the answer amounting to no more then this you conceive you are in the right you hope and believe you are not mistaken but it is possible you may be mistaken in this for every Man is a Lyer and every Man and all Men and every Church is fallible and subject to error and with these and the like words R. E. was extreamly troubled as he saith and knew not how to answer without shuffling Answer The true Christian Religion stands not only in name nor in words nor in conforming or transforming to this or that outward practice which the Disciples of Christ were exercised in which divers in the latter days in their old corrupt minds not having their hearts renewed have taken on the outside and have got the form and wants the life and the power and are not partakers of the Divine nature of Christ and such a bare profession as this has no certainty nor infallibility in it neither the assurance but that they may be mistaken and may be subject to err as well as Turkes or Jewes or any other but the true Christian Religion indeed whom Christ will own as true Worshippers of Him stands in power in life and in being obedient unto his living commands and precepts which he giveth forth unto his Disciples and manifesteth by his Spirit his Sheep hear his voice and know it from the voice of a stranger And he giveth the knowledge of his will to all that believe in the measure of his eternal Spirit which he hath given every one a measure of to profit withal and by it to be guided into all truth out of all error and this Spirit is infallible and gives certain assurance to all that receive it that they are in that way which is acceptable to God and they feel comfort unto their souls coming daily from the presence of Christ who is the Rock of Ages and the sure foundation upon which his holy Church is founded which is the pillar and ground of truth and they that are living members are not grounded upon a fallible certainty or upon a conjectural supposition or a vain hope which is without bottom but upon that which is sure and stedfast lasting and everlasting and all men in the unregenerate estate are lyers but they that are born from above are of the truth and lie not and are not subject to mistakes because the seed remains in them and walkes in the pure Religion which keeps unspoted of the World and they that have no other ground for their Religion but only without them and from the report of others are short of the true foundation for that may be truth in it self indeed which is not true to another nor he truly partakes of it and here is all the supposing conjectures and mistakes and fallible certainties which it seems R. E. and his lay Gentleman too when the axe is laid to the root of the tree indeed and not withstanding all the laying claim to infallibility and certainty its but grounded upon a report without and the traditions of men from Generation to Generation For them that believe but only because of the true report without and cometh not to witness the thing assured in their own hearts by the Spirit of the Lord these will not be long of that faith 't is true many did believe because of the Apostles Declaration and report but at last came to feel the witness of God in their own hearts testifying the self same in so much that they could say and truly too though we have believed through your words at the first yet now we have heard him our selves and that which giveth perfect assurance which admits of no doubts nor fallibleness for such evidence all true Members of Christ's Church have in themselves which carries divine authority and satisfaction in it to every particular Believer and so I say with R. E. in this it seemes unreasonable to perswade any to receive this or that for a truth when they that so perswade are uncertain in themselves neither dare say their judgment is infallible which is that old Protestant Principle indeed and also the Principle of many Sects who differs from the pretended Catholick Church of Rome who persecuted one another about outward things even as the Heathen about their Idols and yet will need sit as Judge in Mens Consciences with their fallible spirit though I speak not of every individual person neither can I justifie the Roman Catholick Church so called who layes claim to infallibility and whatsoever they judge to be Heresie must be reckoned as such though never so manifest a truth and to place infallibility in men that may err and have erred from the spirit I like not neither for this is to give that to men that belongs to God and to make the Judgment of fallible men above the Judgment of the infallible spirit of God and this I look to be great ambition and pride in any to lay claim to the greatest things as infallibility and certainty of assurance and the most free of error and yet falls the shortest of it of any as hath been made appear by many learned and grave Men of former ages and also if a necessity were might be made appear that the Church of Rome who saith she cannot err have been as uncertain both in their Doctrine and Worship as any yea more one Pope contradicting and throwing down that which another did establish and one Council decreeing and another disanulling as I could easily make appear but that I would not be tedious to the Reader in things that have been so manifest neither do I desire to wade out into diversity of matters in so short a Discourse But that which R. E. and his Catholick instructer calleth late wild and loose opinions that men of different faiths may be saved and this countenanceth schisme and breeds rebellion as it is said 't is true faith is but one which is saving and there is no differance in that for the difference is among Men where that is wanting and only have the words and name of faith and want the life and power Neither am I so narrow spirited as R. E. and his Catholick as to exclude all out of the faith who may differ in their perswasions in some Circumstantial things if yet they hold Christ the head and what makes R. E. so verilent as to judge all in error and to be out of the true faith seeing the Protestants and all sorts of separates professe Justification and Salvation only through faith in Christ Jesus as well as the Church of Rome and it were unreasonably judged in me if I should conclude
own profit and their own bellies who mingled their own Inventions and traditions with the Doctrine of Christ and brought the Scripture for a Cloak and the Apostles practice for a president and could say falsly as the Apostles said in the truth It seems good to us and the Holy Ghost that these our Decrees be observed for God hath placed us as Judges and directers as them that are appointed of God himself To which all Christians are to submit and none to question and if any do question or will not obey it is the Kings and Princes duty in every Country to cause all to submit to these our Decrees and orders or else to be punished as Hereticks with death for we are the Apostles successors and we are the elders of the Church and we have the infallible Spirit and though we make Decrees contrary to what the Apostles made in their day yet none is to question that the Church was but in its Infancy then as unwasht and unswadled and in Persecution but now she is grown up to a greater stature and power and indowed with greater privilege and that may be necessary now that was not necessary then and last of all called themselves the Clergie which signifies the Heritage of God and so excluded all others but themselves And these things are true and certain and have been made good by many sufferers for Christ and this kind of Clergie or Heritage made the Heritage of God indeed to fly into the Wilderness who had the infallible spirit and the witnesses to prophesie in sackcloath and then Mystery Babylon began to sit a Queen and to gild her Cup and to fill it full of abomination and brought in Judaisme and the practise of the Apostles and their own Inventions and patched up an endless kind of worship and service consisting of out-side things in a great part in postures and gestures and meates and drinks and dayes and times and vestures and Bonnets and Caps and Coules and such other like trumpery which they made the Nations drunk with and greedy after and if any scrupled at any of those things or any other the Holy Catholick Church hath decreed it and she cannot erre for she is infallible though the errors thereof cannot be numbered and this R. E. thou rests satisfied in as thy only rule and judge and director and thou hangs all thy faith here and saith thou shall not scruple to believe what authority teacheth thee to be revealed by God no more then if thou heard God himself speaking I say unto thee as the Apostle said the Serpent hath beguiled thee as it beguiled Eve and further say as the Prophet said thou must arise and get thee hence for this is not the rest for thou wilt see thy self plunged into such a layborinth of uncertainties as thou never was before if the Lord ever open thy eye And R. E. gives an account that after his reading of some contravertal Books hath made some Collections as to himself and also declares that all dissenting judgments grants there must be a way and a rule appointed to teach us to deside all doubts to judge of all matters and to teach us the true way to Heaven with certainty but who this rule or judge is is not agreed upon by all which he hath collected into four heads First some sets up the spirit to direct them and to be this means Secondly another will have every mans own natural reason to be this rule and judg Thirdly others will set up sole Scripture and the fourth assignes the Holy Catholick Church to be that Judge and Directer Other then these he saith he never heard of any for he saith he always esteemed the Quakers Light to be either the Spirit or Natural reason but which R. E. doth not know and all the four before mentioned he saith he hath examined and treateth largely upon them all wherein he goeth about and giveth grounds and divers reason and divers Iuterpretations of Scriptures he layes wast all the former three and establisheth as he thinks the fourth as to be that way and rule and Judge and governing power to deside all doubts as that whereby all are obliged to submit unto as to Christ himself and this was that question which he was to gain satisfaction in and therefore he saith he ceased to enquire of their Doctrine or this or that article of faith and hang altogether upon this point before mentioned Answ. 'T is true it is granted by all that there must be a way and a rule as the means appointed of God to answer all doubts and to give satisfaction to every man of the certainty of that which he believes and who this way and judge and rule is every one ought to be satisfied and the four heads into which thou hath collected the whole Controversie of all dissenting Judgments in Christianity takes up the whole as to this particular which have ordinarily been holden forth among Christians But I judge thou dealt not wisely in thy Inquisition and search for satisfaction to hing all on this pin but rather to have examined further as concerning matter of Doctrine and matters of Faith held forth most especially of this party to whom thou was so much inclined and see how thou could have swallowed down that Doctrine of Purgatory and sacrifice for the Dead and Justification by a Man 's own works and of Bread and Wine after the words of Consecration by the Priest is Transubstantiated into the very body and blood of Christ and becomes whole God their Saviour and Redeemer for these are principal things either greatly necessary to Salvation or greatly unnecessary and when thou had tryed and found these to be so repugnant unto the Doctrine and faith once delivered among the Saints in the first Plantation of the Gospel this might have put a stop unto thee that thou could not so easily close with their judgment and pretended infallibility who pretends to be only guids and yet leads into the greatest errors in matters of greatest moment But as to the four particulars mentioned I shall not stand to trouble either my self or the Reader as to speak much what of that which is no part of my faith or judgment but only to vindicate the truth against the many false conceptions of changable men And first of all R. E. begins to treat of the spirit and perverts the Scripture at his first on-set and saith as touching the spirit bearing witness in secret with our spirits or as he saith in plainer terms the private spirit this saith R. E. I considered could not be the means to convey faith unto the World nor the rule guide or judge which I enquired after nor indeed the true spirit of God which he promised to his Apostles Secondly Those who pretend this guidance do not believe God but themselves only and their own perswasions which tell them they have the spirit of God but they can give no other account but they
believe others but thou hath been so busie abroad in quareling and contending about words and names and empty shews without substance and life that thy mind is all over grown with thorns and briers scrawling and scratching and entangling thy self and others so that that which should savour the things of God is over grown in these and it s buried and to them that are like heaths in a desart knows not when good comes neither doth know what they enjoy that dwell in the fat Vallies and the Pharisees had such unbelieving hearts though Christ was the express Image of God and did the works that never man did yet being without faith and without reason they said he was a Blasphemer and all his works was done by Belzebub and would never be convinced that any thing he did was of God and that spirit is near thee which would represent the fruits of the Spirit to be delusion and them that bring them forth like them in Bedlam and what though Turks Jews Pagans Mahomet and the false Christians do pretend to the spirit and guidance by it and yet bring forth the fruits of the flesh doth this make the spirit of God void or the certainty of it to them that believe or do make their fruits of none effect God forbid thy ignorance is manifest but here thou ceases not thy tongue being thy own and thou being at liberty and speaks thy own words which in the end shall become thy burden Thou vapours and vaunts over them to wit all the Nonconformists and saith what can you say for your selves any of you which these Enthusiasts who have gone before you to maintain their errors but the rule and judge and then thou concludes that which God hath appointed to be rule and judge to all the world and capable of being known and heard by all and cannot contradict it self nor must be contradicted by any under pain of damnation if you cannot shew it to have been your rule you ought to lay aside your folly as destructive to humane society and them that hath pretended the spirit the strongest party and sword upon the vote will prove it self the most convincing spirit and force the weaker spirits to submit or cry for thou concludes the Nonconformists have no other Testimony to try your contradicting spirits in matters of greatest moment but force and success if you have I pray you inform me what it is Ans. If the wind had not turned into another door divers Nonconformists believes we should have had another song from thee if time had but favoured thee so far as to have granted thee the privilege of thy Troop to be Captain which name thou holds up yet i' th pride of thy heart though thou have lost thy force success and pay which was the greatest plea when time was with thee and not long since too which makes thee measure every Man's foot by thy Last and thou might have received information before thou had made a conclusion had been the part of a wise man before thou had set thy self as Judge over all thy former fellowships which thou fainedly pretends so great love to and before thou had discovered their nakedness if it be nakedness to all the world in such a publick insulting bravado as this like Goliah of Gath and as for what some Nonconformists both to the Church of Rome and to the Church of England too which thou creeping and sneakingly flatters and saith its established and therefore thou will not meddle thou might have said dare not for thy spirit is well enough seen by them only to have the spirit of a slave and not a free member of the true Church of God and it s no part of vertue nor honour for thee to insult and glory over them who are in suffering and adversity when as thou dare not meddle with them who are as contrary to thee as the former this is but the spirit of a Coward and is ignoble and base and ever so to be accounted by all the Children of Light who dare put all to venture which they do enjoy on this side of Immortality and to suffer the loss of all visible things for their Testimony and the truth which they believe and for bearing witness against that which is contrary unto their faith as did the valiant Primitive Christians of old and that which some Nonconformists can say is more then thou can believe although demonstrated in the evidence of the spirit of God with sound reason and evident example from the Scriptures of truth and though thou and thy former fellowships then and thy new fellowships now have made this vapour which for ought I know might lay your hands upon your mouths all considering what contradictory Doctrines and fruits hath been brought forth since the night of Apostacy entered in and all the World wondered after the Beast some hath this to say he that pretends to the Spirit and the thing cometh not to pass that they speak or prophesie let him be accounted a false Prophet again they that pretend guidance of the spirit as some formerly have done and yet bring forth the fruits of the flesh as variance hatred emulation strife contention heresie false Doctrine persecution force and violence let them he counted as truly they are deceivers and deluders which have gone out into the world and deceived a great part of Mankind of which Rome hath not had the least share clear it when thou can Moreover he that pretends to have the spirit of God and layes down another foundation to build upon in matter of Faith in matter of Rule in matter of Judgment in matter of Doctrine then that which the Lord of Life and Glory hath laid down he is a Deceiver and an Antichrist but R. E. hath laid down another rule another way another Judge another foundation for Faith and let himself make the Conclusion if he once dare joyne to true Judgment other Foundation can none lay then that which is already laid to wit Christ Jesus the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and of the Church of God by which they were all builded up as a holy Habitation for God to dwell in through the spirit Again the Apostle saith All Judgment is committed to the Son both in Heaven and Earth and again he saith himself I am the Way the Truth and the Life and none can come to the Father but by me and again the Spirit of Truth shall lead and direct his Disciples into all truth and sealeth unto them their Justification Redemption and Salvation And this R. E. would lay all wast and void and why because many hath pretended to it and hath fallen short therefore all the aforesaid things must be laid aside as uncertain and not to be trusted unto and a certain sort of Men called the Apostles Successors who have sought their gain and worldly Interest and to enlarge their Dominions and to make themselves Lords over Mens faith and over Mens
Consciences whatsoever they say though never so contradictory to the Primitive Doctrine delivered in Christ and the Apostles days yet all must be received upon pain of Damnation as R. E. saith and this he calls the Visible Church and the infallible Judge and Rule and Directer and hath laid wast the Office of Christ and turned the spirit out of doors and made it ineffectual and would perswade all others to look to this from the true Foundation and so is a Deceiver and an Antichrist Again we have this to say he that teaches a contrary Doctrine then that which was once delivered unto the Saints is a Deceiver and deceived and this was Christs Doctrine once deliverud unto the Saints Swear not at all and love your enemies pray for them that persecute you do good to them that hate you And many more precepts which this visible Guide to wit the Roman Church holds not but hath made void First it teacheth its Members to swear and again gives absolutions to remit them of their Oath if she think fit and both must be reckoned infallible and them that are your enemies instead of praying for them you curse them and instead of doing good to them you hate them and stirs up all your strength against them to destroy them instead of convincing of them in love and sound judgment Instance the days of King John and divers other Princes which felt your fury and wrath and also Frederick the Emperour after he was Interdicted was made to go to Rome to before the Popes Palace and to stand bare foot and bare leg with his Wife and Child two or three days in Winter waiting for Peters Successor his Absolution But it may be thou wilt say this was in love to them and in charity to their souls but let all unbyassed spirits judge and whether have not you when you have been the strongest party made force violence and success your greatest engine and plea to plead with all Nations and whatsoever people that dissented from you either in matter or form instance Germany Bohemia Moravia and divers other Kingdoms and Provinces besides the Indians in America which you destroyed chiefly for their Gold and Treasure under this pretence that they were Infidels and forced a faith upon some and a belief by the violence of your cruelty and swords which made the Noble Man of India say he had rather go to Hell with the Infidels of America as you called them then to Heaven with the Spaniards so cruel a people members of your Catholick Church what might I speak of the King of Castile against the poor Moors of Grandia who were put to cruel torments by force and violence which is a reproach upon this sort of Christianity unto this day and what persecution was raised against the Peddamount Christians by the force of this infallible Judg falsly so called and what Massacres in France and also in Ireland in latter years propagated by the Popes Nuncio a chief Embassadour from the Roman Sea to carry on that design to root out the Hereticks what destruction of people in a most barbarous inhumane preposterous and prodigeous cruelty some killed in the their beds some knocked in the head like Oxen some stripped naked in cold winter and bereaved of all their enjoyments and driven as sheep naked to the shambles and at last driven by scores into Lakes and Rivers and drowned some burned alive in their Houses some tender women strangled in Childbed and their tender Infants taken from their Mothers breasts and tossed upon Spears points and to my knowledg license and pardons given and sent from Rome to divers of their Emissaries there that it should be lawful for any servant or Catholick bondman to steal wast and purloyn their Masters Goods if Hereticks for the weakening and disenabling of them to resist the Roman enterprise begun these things and many more are legable in bloody Characters which I hope this Generation will not easily blot out of their memories so as to commit all faith all hope all religion and all infallibility and judgment to such a degenerated Generation as R. E. would have us do and with such audaciousness is not ashamed to blow his trumpet as in the head of an host to animate and encourage all to come to this black Standard for protection and direction judgment certainty and infallibility under no less then pain of Damnation and why but because Peter was sometime Bishop of Rome as they say and had given unto him the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever he bound on Earth was bound in Heaven and whatsoever he loosed on Earth was loosed in Heaven and because Christ said giving answer to Peters faith upon this Rock I will build my Church therefore all the Bishops and Popes as heires apparent succeeds him in laying claim to headship and doth none of his office nor none of his work and this foolish foppery and private interpretation hath been put off at a very great rate for Catholick Doctrine which brings to my mind a pleasant story I have sometime read of a certain poor Man meeting a certain Bishop at a certain time in great pomp and glory which the poor Man beholding took up a Laughter and being enquired of by the Bishop wherefore he laughed said he that Peter should be such a fool as to live such a poor miserable life as he did and persecuted in the world and to leave his Successors so rich to inherit such pomp and glory with that the Bishop replyed and said Thou fool I am not in this glory as I am Bishop of such a place but as I am Duke of such a place at that the Man smiled again and said When the Duke was in Hell for his pride where then would the Bishop be But to let this pass I am sure them that layes claim to be Peters Successors as to Patrimony and Riches which he was never endowed with for sometime he said Silver or Gold have I none but doth little of his work in converting of souls or feeding of the flock of Christ and doth lay claim unto his privilege and power but will not come near him in Doctrine labour and suffering for his Members and therefore I say to thee in thy own words lay aside thy folly with the consequences of it as destructive to the Church of God to hang all their faith upon such uncertainties but even to humane societies which I have mentioned and might instance more but that I would not be tedious to the Reader Lastly Yes some have some other Testimony by which spirits are tryed and may be tryed to be of God otherwise then by force carnal sword a strong party or success that 's thy own and not ours we have the holy Unction which is poured forth whereby the Saints knew all things and tryed the spirits whether they were of God or no and he that confesses not Christ come in the flesh is Antichrist and he
that confesses that Christ is come in the flesh only in word and because others hath said so and doth not witness sin condemned in the flesh and turned from and to have power over it the same is a false witness and is an Antichrist also and also we have other things to try spirits by we know a proud angry hasty perverse spirit is not the spirit of God a persecuting Lording Spirit is not the spirit of God and again they that teach a contrary Doctrine to the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles they have the spirit of error again they whose practice and conversation is not suitable to the practice and conversations of Christ and the Apostles and Primitive Christians that they are in the spirit of error again they that would force a faith by any humane constitution or law which is repugnant to the Law of God or by force of the sword or any carnal weapons they have the spirit of error for the weapons of the Lamb and his Followers are not carnal weapons but spiritual and yet mighty through God to the beating down of the strong holds of wickedness and to prevail over the Powers of darkness again the Testimony of God in every mans Conscience which is an unerring Testimony this savours the things of God and by this the things that be not of God are discerned and this will put a perfect difference between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error but what can be said to a man in unbelief that hath closed his eyes The next thing which R. E. saith he consider'd was that the Natural reason of every man could not possibly be rule and judge that I sought for for saith he if reason were to be rule and judge then it would follow contrary to Scripture that it is not impossible to please God without faith and it would likewise follow that every Religion would be truth consequently contradictions would be true consequently there would be many Religions and no faith at all for reason excludes faith as in the 26. page of his Book Thy tongue is thy own and thou art at liberty and goes whether thou wilt speaks what seems good in thy own eyes hath never yet known another to gird thee and lead thee whether thou would not I stand not to vindicate every mans Judgment neither to prove other mens conceptions but seeing thou hath taken in hand to lay all Mountains wast afore thee that stands in thy ways thou hast raised up some in thy discourse for others to stumble at and hath spoken many false things without distinguishing and puting a difference between Light and darkness between Natural reason and Spiritual reason I could not chuse but say somewhat Although it is no part of my belief that the Natural reason of any man or every man is able to be rule judge and guide to any man in the things of God yet faith is not in opposition unto pure reason neither is pure and spiritual reason in opposition to true faith but in harmony with it and one with another as they are the gifts of God but the Natural reason of all the fallen sons of Adam is corrupted and is too short and too narrow too cross and too perverse as to be rule and judge in the things of God for the Natural man by all his endowments in the transgression perceives not the things of God for they are spiritually discerned and the things of God that are spiritual and eternal are above the reach of Natural reason and yet thy consequence is false for faith doth not exclude pure reason and faith doth not make blind the understanding but enlightens it and though it is impossible to please God without faith yet it is impossible that that faith should be without reason the Apostle desired to be delivered from unreasonable men that had not faith so it is manifest they that have faith have reason and them that have no faith are unreasonable and where thou hath borrowed this rule I know not that a man must believe that which he doth not understand seeing the Apostle saith to the Romans even of the Gentiles who had not the Law nor the Scriptures that that which may be known of God was manifest in them for by that it is manifest they understood the mind of God and knew him for Paul saith further when they knew God they glorified him not as God but were unthankful c. and again he that believes must know that God is for none can believe in that which is not for to perswade any to believe in uncertainties which is not manifest in the understanding doth rather beget unbelief and doubting then true faith but thy paths are so full of darkness I shall not traduce them and thy consequences is false for pure reason teaches not contradictions neither doth teach that there is no faith at all neither is faith excluded by pure reason as thou ignorantly saith in the 26. page and is it not reason that I should believe in him whom I know is the Creator and Governour of all the World and pure Religion is so far from excluding faith that they that have true faith have reason and stands not in opposition to faith but this I conclude that the reason of fallen men is corrupted and is an uncertain thing to relie upon and so not a competent Judge in matters of so high concernment as touching everlasting Salvation The third thing which thou treats upon is against them who have pleaded that the sole Scriptures are sufficient of themselves to teach true faith from time to time to direct rule and govern us and to be rule and judge and to supply the place of Christ and the Apostles As I said it is not my intention to vindicate other mens quarels which is no part of my faith notwithstanding I should be sorry but that every thing had its true weight and measure and shall not in the least detract from the price value and true worth of the words of truth to wit the Scriptures of truth which were spoken forth by the spirit of truth and by the holy Ghost as it gave utterance but as men erring in their Judgments runs sometimes to the right hand and sometimes to the left hand and walks not in a straight path some men are seting them up above that which they were intended for and placing them in the stead of God Christ and the Spirit and others are too much debasing them and disesteeming them as that they would set up the Judgment of variable and changable men who hold and teach things in contradiction to the Scriptures and repugnant to the mind of the spirit in them that spoke them forth But first of all I say not against thee in this thing that the sole or whole Scriptures are not sufficient of themselves to teach true faith and give the knowledge of God without the spirit for many have got the words and yet
hath not received the spirit nor the power which the Scriptures declare of such wrangles and contends with the words and opposes the life and the power the Jews had the Scriptures and knew by them where Christ should be born and knew by them what his works should be when he was manifest and yet rejected him unto whom all the Prophets bore witness from Moses to Samuel and from him to John and they were never intended by God as to be set up as Judge and Guide to wit the words without the power and Spirit of God yet notwithstanding though I cannot set them up in the place of God and Christ and the Spirit nor contend ignorantly as some have done that they are the author of true faith and that they are the eternal word of God which the world was made by that they are the light and the way the truth and the life and that they are the desider of all Controversies and sole and absolute and only Judge of all matters of faith and of all matters that ever hath been or ever shall be in controversie to the end of the World without the spirit of God neither am I of that ignorant mind as some are that the Letter and the Spirit is unseparable as that whosoever hath the Scripture must needs have the Spirit or whosoever hath the Scripture must needs be infallible without the Spirit all that are of the aforesaid Judgment are but wranglers for the most part about words and contenders against the power of God and godliness and brings the words to oppose the life and them that have the spirit and walk in it for a Natural man may read the Scriptures and yet not perceive the things of God neither perceive the mind of the spirit but wrest to their own destruction as Peter saith because they are unlearned untaught by the spirits teaching though otherwise learned enough in Languages Tongues and Speeches Secondly Yet I cannot detract from them neither undervalue them or disesteem them as uncertain or of no use or of little use but what ever themselves declare themselves to be that I own them to be to wit the Words of God the words of Christ the words of the holy Prophets and Patriarkes and Apostles who were endued with the Holy Ghost and spake forth the Scripture as they were moved thereby in several ages of several things and unto several states and conditions as they were led thereunto by the holy Spirit and they are a certain declaration of things that were done and believed and practised by the Jewes under the first Covenant and by the Apostles and Primitive Christians in the New Covenant and contain many precious and holy precepts and commands doctrines examples exhortations admonisions reproofs and instructions and are as lively examples and holy patterns for all the Saints in light to follow by which we are given to understand what Faith what Hope what Patience what Love what mercy what long sufferings what consolation and what vertue and what inheritance the Saints in light were made pertakers of through faith in Christ Jesus Likewise what Doctrines were held forth and what practice they used in the Primitive times when they walked in the order of the Gospel and had fellowship with God the Father and the Son and one with another in the light of the Gospel which is the power of God through which they witnessed Salvation and remission of sins and published it unto others that they might believe Thirdly The Scriptures testifies of Christ and were written that they might be believed and received and read that there by every one that believed might be made wise to Salvation through faith in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3. and instructed in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished with all good works and whosoever doth teach any Doctrines contrary unto the holy Men of God who spake as they were moved by the spirit of God which dwelt in them the Scriptures are witnesses against such that they have not the Spirit of God but are led by another spirit which brings forth contrary Doctrine and another faith then once was delivered among the Saints and whosoever brings in sets up other precepts constitutions orders and practices in point of Worships in opposition and contrary unto those practices which were held forth in the Primitive times and would set up other Traditions then the Apostles delivered either by word or writing such are manifest to have the spirit of error and are innovaters and bringers in of other things as necessary in point of Worship among Christians which the Apostles and Ministers of Christ did not see necessary then and yet they wanted no part of the Councel of God for Paul said he had declared the whole Councel of God and further more they said we have the mind of Christ and Christs mind is not variable Fourthly Though divers of the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles be lost doubtless as is evident by divers places of Scripture yet blessed be God that there are those preserved which do bear witness of the one thing absolutely necessary unto Salvation and of the Ministrations that were appointed of the Lord for the Church of God to observe both in the first and second Covenants so that Christians of this last age are not left without example and president which all ought to have an eye unto and a diligent regard and though there be divers Coppies of that which is called the Original Tongues and divers Translations yet he unto whom the Spirit of God is given and waiteth in the measure of Christs Light shall receive it doth see and shall see the mind and will of God in every age and the mind and intent of the spirit in them that spoke forth the Scripture and can receive the matter therein contained as though they had heard them speak that spoke it at the first and though the Translaters were Men yet I have such an honourable esteem of their labour that I believe they have not varied wittingly and willingly from the best Coppies that was extant in their age neither that they were altogether void of the Spirit of God in such a good work which conduced to the benefit of Mankind but were assisted by it for so good a work and there be many figures and trophes improprieties of speech mysteries and difficulties yet all these comes to be made easie and plain to them that are witnesses of the same spirit that gave them forth and though there be deversity of judgments and professions of Religion one clashing again another and thwarting another and contradicting another and all will seem to bring the Scripture for their proofe which yet canuot maintain and prove every thing good especially when their Doctrines contradict one another This is granted it is only their private interpretation and not the Scripture and for want of that Spirit that gave it forth for that alone gives the true
And as for all thy Collections out of the Prophets of the promise of God to his Church Isaiah 54. and 56. and of its indowments and glory and excellency and of his puting his spirit in them and of his word in their mouthes and that it should not depart from the seed nor the seeds seed for ever this is granted and the promise is not to Men as Men but to the seed which is not many but one but Israel was this true Church then in the time of this Prophesie though it have relation to future ages also and if R. E. looks that this promise should be to Israel after the flesh the Church then visible and in being he mistakes himself and he egragiously errs and contradicts the Scripture in sundry places which saith your house is left unto you desolate their Sacrifices ceased the Glory of God departed from them their Prophets prophesied a divination of their own brain and their visions were as visions of the night and the Lord spake not to the most of them yet they said falsly thus saith the Lord in their revolted estate for they were erred from the spirit and gone from the seed and joyned to another seed and their holy flesh was departed from them though as men they had the same flesh still go learn what that means and yet notwithstanding all this the promise of God was not violated neither unfulfilled on Gods part for the promise was not then neither now is to Natural Generations or that which is born after the flesh or to men as men and Creatures but as they are the seed and as they are Men of God and as they are born again and new Creatures and if thou will have an intailing here it is intailed which cannot be cut off for the Covenant stands not to Men in such a place that carries the name of Office or Authority but as they are led by the Spirit the infallible Judge rule or guide as they walk by this and in this they cannot err and they erring from this they are subject to be deceived and to be mistaken in all things and every thing of which there is evident examples in the Scriptures of truth in divers ages of them that professed themselves members of the Church of God and so visible as R. E. speaks of yea and the greater part too that have erred and their paths hath been reckoned by the Lord as crooked and perverse and their Habitants full of cruelty and this is given for an instance the visible Church of the Jewes did err and go aside notwithstanding all the promise of God to them and as they looked that it still belonged to them because they were invisible profession though they had turned their backs upon the Lord and their hearts too and violated his Covenant yet still as I said the promise of God and the Covenant of God is not made of none effect nor broken on Gods part but stands with the seed for ever who are circumcised in heart and who worshipes God in spirit and truth and in uprightness of heart and hath no confidence in the flesh nor fleshly privileges nor external performances but only trusts unto the gift of Righteousness manifest in them by which Justification comes upon all that believes and the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ and the fulness of the promise of God but these things I know though they be holy faithful and true are a sealed Book and hid from all eyes living in the flesh who hath not been baptised into the death and suffering of Christ. Fourthly That Christ by his own mouth and the mouthes of the Apostles did promise that there should be a Church which the Gates of Hell should not prevail against and this Church was established upon the Everlasting Foundation and the Rock of Ages and was indued with power from an high and with a great measure of the spirit of God according unto Christ's promise which more plentifully was poured forth after Christs departure and after his Ascension and great gifts were given unto them the word of Knowledge the word of Wisdom the Interpretation of Tongues the gift of Tongues the gift of Prophesie the gift of discerning Spirits healing the sick working of Miracles c. and all these foresaid gifts were given for the work of the Ministry for the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and unto a perfect man and to the measure and stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes. 4. 11 12 13. And all these were instrumental through the Spirit of God which was with them and in them the only means to bear witness unto those things that they had learned and believed and to publish the word of faith abroad unto the World and for all these aforesaid ends above mentioned which though R. E. and his Catholicks will need lay claim to the succession by way of office yet by their Doctrine denies in part the very end wherefore such gifts were given to wit the Doctrine of Purgatory for if they did perfect the Saints or were brought up to the knowledge of the Son of God and to perfect men in Christ Jesus and to be without sin what need had there been of raising up this damnable Doctrine out of the pit to purge from sin after they be dead seeing they were to be perfect men while they were alive and the Ministry was given for this end but yours it seems cannot have these effects on this side of the Grave and therefore they must perfect them in the grave and so be Ministers in another World And this Church thus gathered and endued before mentioned with the infallible Spirit of God if any that did sometime believe and were joyned unto it did walk disorderly as not becoming the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ they were to be admonished and exhorted and if they persisted in their disorder it was to be told to the Church or the whole body and if such a one would not hear the Church he was to be reckoned as a Publican or a Heathen and to be denyed as to have any fellowship with him till manifest repentance was shewn but we never read that this Church did shed any mans blood or burn any or give consent to destroy any instance if thou can though obstinate and Hereticks too and in this amongst many other things the spirit of your Church is seen to be contrary to the Primitive Church and you out of Christs Doctrine but R. E. argues further and saith but if Christ by his Spirit doth not preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching error instead of truth I may receive such errors as may damn me unto which I say Christ by his spirit doth preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching error if they continue in the guidance thereof and err not
largly of by other hands and pens so that I need not say much But Miracles be not evermore undoubted proofes of a true Doctrine nor such absolute signes of a true Church nor such infallible arguments as from Heaven as R. E. saith his is and so I shall conclude with that which Austin said unto Faustus the Manicha Ye work no Miracles and yet if ye wrought any at your hands we would take heed of them and Jer. 23. saith the false Prophets have deceived my people by their lies and by their lightness and by their dreams and Miracles And so hath this false fained pretended Catholick Church done deceived The Nations and bewitched them with such lying fabulous stories and false and ridiculous miracles and sorceries and inchantments as is above mentioned and many more of the like nature might be mentioned but that I would not be tedious to the Reader which if they were summed up all would hardly make up a Heavenly argument and proof as R. E. saith it doth that their Church is the only true Church and fit to be the rule and judge of all matters of faith and now Reader view over their Miracles before mentioned and see if thou can receive them because the Church of Rome saith they are true and must not be questioned for if thou do thou art like to come under a hard censure by the verdict of R. E. and his Catholick Church first to be reckoned as an unbeliever secondly to be a hater of God and thirdly in not believing these Miracles or whatsoever else shall be declared unto thee by the said Church or else thou comes under no les penalty then eternal damnation as R. E. saith in the 80. page of his Epistle but it is a small thing to be judged by man and especially such a man who hath gaded abroad and changed his way so osft so that he hath forgotten the true path of Righteousness to walk in or else never knew it and hath turned and wheeled about and now at last doth as the poor Indian doth with his Deer skin hangs it upon one shoulder and so upon the other shoulder to shelter him from the wind and tempest that comes of that side But the day is dawned and mens spirits are discovered beyond their words and all the turnings and wheelings of things upside down is but as the Potters Clay for God measures every man not by his words but by his heart and spirit and works and will judge every one in Righteousness according to their deeds And R. E. goes on as confident that his arguments and reasons laid down hath prevailed and almost takes it for granted that it must needs be evident to all that the Roman Church is the true Church and saith he knows but one single point between the Catholicks and them that stand devided from them and that is saith he that we follow a several rule to guide and judge in the great affaires of faith for all sides are bound to believe all truths sufficiently propounded to them to be revealed of God and therefore if the presence of Christ in the Sacrament Purgatory worshipping of Images Invocation of Saints and prayer to the Dead and for the Dead if these or any other point of faith be sufficiently propounded by denying them Gods varassaty is denyed and God thereby made a lyer The difference stands betwixt you and them that are devided from you in more particulars then thou art aware of or ever will be able sufficiently to propound them to be revealed of God though it is true some are but devided from you in Circumstantials and Ceremonies and some others in some points of Faith and Worship yet some deny you in the very ground though 't is true the different rule by which each party are directed is a great and a main thing thou saith this Church Catholick is the rule but I say and am not alone that Christ is the way to the Father and the way to the Kingdom and the rule and means by which his Church is governed and he is the Lawgiver and the judge and all Judgment is committed to the Son and it is he alone that propounds truth sufficiently and they that are in him are new Creatures and that which is the new Creatures rule guide and judge is the rule guide and judge of the Church of God and Christ is the author of faith and it is nothing that availes any thing with God but the new Creature and as many as walk according to this rule peace is to them Gal. 3. 16. and Christ hath not left his people without guide for he said lo I am with you to the end of the world So as to commit the guidance thereof to fallible men who may assume authority without his power and to fasten those things upon God as to be revealed from him when the Lord hath spoken nothing and we are so far from looking that the main grounds that thou lays down to prove your Church to be this rule and guide and the many Doctrines propounded by you are not sufficiently propounded to be revealed of God but rather they are the imaginations of your own brain and things packt up since the Apostles days by different Popes and different mutations and alterations in your Church for filthy Lucres sake and so to deny them is not to deny Gods varassaty neither to make God a lyer as thou falsly saith but thou and you are the lyers as to propound those things to be revealed from God and to be received by all under pain of damnation when God hath revealed no such thing but the contrary and so thy own words at last shall turn to be thy burden because thou saith the Lord saith and hath revealed and sufficiently preposed the real presence of Christ in your Sacrament of the Alter as a devine Revelation worshipping of Images Prayer to the Dead and for the Dead and all the foolish imagination which you have brought in and intruded and thrust upon people by force and these are sufficiently propounded as thou saith as devine Revelations and the Father Son and Holy Ghost or the Incarnation of Christ silence deceit and for shame blush so to say the Prophets who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and prophesied of things to come they declared of the Father Son and Holy Ghost all and prophesied long before that a Virgin should bring forth a Son whose name should be called Emanuel God with us and the Government should be upon his shoulders this the Pope hath usurped and you put it upon his Shoulders but your invented Doctrines aforesaid are meerly the imaginations of your own brain which neither the Prophets nor Apostles bore witness unto but against and therefore it is thy and your great presumption to make God Christ and Apostles the foundation of all this rubbish straw and stuble which thou would put off as devine revelation and as sufficiently preposed as the
Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles was nay blush for shame they brought in the Prophets for the peoples sake to prove that they had testified of the same before and had declared the coming of the just one besides they commended themselves to the witness of God in every mans conscience and upon waiting upon the Lord and in the measure of his spirit they found the things even so and by searching the Scripture as the Bareans did and found the things even so as had been declared of but upon due consideration we find not these foresaid Doctrines so propounded as to have the Testimony of the Prophets and Apostles neither doth your Doctrine and worship answer the Witness of God in every Man's Conscience and so to deny you is not to make God a lyer but God true the Prophets and Apostles and the witness of God true and you lyers who contradicts them and their Testimony and the power of God and would assume it to your selves though you be erred from the spirit and would put all under the name of infallibility and by such heavenly arguments as R. E. calls them to wit the Miracles aforesaid by which you have deceived the Nations and blinded the eyes of the people but the time is come and Light and Life is broken forth that the skirts of the Whore must be discovered and her nakedness must appear and her fornications and adulteries shall be manifest unto all so that you shall not proceed much further And I hope by this time in E's words it will appear evident to all whose eyes God in any measure hath opened that this Catholick Church so called is manifest in what hath been said to R. E. not to be the Church of Christ neither their Doctrines and practice devinely propounded neither she taken from henceforth as the only infallible judge rule and directer in all matters of faith which all are to receive upon pain of damnation as R. E. saith though she sit as a Queen and hath known no sorrow but on the contrary she to be a blind guide that hath bewitched the Kings of the Earth and the Nations which are waters which is the universality R.E. boasts of with her inchantments and sorceries which from henceforth shall not be taken as infallible but fallible and as that Church that hath not conveyed the true faith which was once delivered to the Saints but rather hath spread abroad error and false Doctrine and the traditions and inventions of Men instead of the Doctrine of Christ and would put off all this under the name of Authority and power from God and sufficiently propounded and infallibility and under the penalty of the highest curse upon not receiving it but the Sun is risen which hath discovered all your deceit lay down your carnal weapons Cain's weapons and your humane power by which you have prevailed more by force and cruelty upon the Nations then by found Doctrine or that plea of being Peters successors I say come forth with your spiritual weapons which the Church of God had in the Primitive times and prevail as far as you can but oh you want these and therefore you are necessitated to take up force and violence the Dragons power to compell all to come to your Church Further R. E. in his Postscript hath been confident of what he hath declared that it is of such force what he hath said for the Roman Catholick Church so called that he believes what he hath said cannot be answered and he saith his confidence doth not misbecome him and that it is improbable to be answered and that he hath not yet done his All neither in his first nor second Edition but hath somewhat more yet of great moment to speak as to prove the Church of Rome this only and infallible guide Unto whom I say it had been good not to have boasted when he put on his armor but when he puts it off and methinks having been so unstable and unsetled as he hath been formerly he should not have been so confident in opposition to Wisdom as to give such a challenge and make such a vapour of as that it is improbable to be answered and it is more then any of you or all of you can answer as his own words are page the 89. these words are not becoming a man indeed who saith he hath learned meekness and humility of heart and hath such great bowels of Charity as he professeth he hath page the 86. The substance of what he hath said or written which he reckons so profound and unanswerable and to be more then any or all the Nonconformists can answer they have been answered over and over again before R. E. was born by many Learned sufficient and good Men whose Reasons and weighty Arguments about the Premisses have not been made void unto this day but hath prevailed with many not only to the convincing but also to the turning of many from that usurped Authority of the Roman Church and hath discovered the errors false Doctrine and evil practices notwithstanding their pretended infallibility which R. E. will not be able to answer if particulars should be descended unto and though R. E. may reckon the reasons that he hath laid down which he hath the most what taken at the gainest and reckon them as impregnable yet I hope they will not appear so to an understanding eye which is enlightened by the spirit of the Lord nor to them who are of a sound Judgment what others have done to answer his bold Challenge I know not because I am shut up in a corner for the Testimony of Jesus and for the word of God but methinks them that are concerned should not let such boasts go unreproved neither such false Doctrine nor false suggestions as R. E. hath made to villifie and debase and set at nought all things and every thing that seems contrary unto the judgment of this pretended Catholick Church and seeing that he shuts out all Nonconformists as to be Members of the Church of God and to be without all Rule all Order all Government and to come under the great penalty of damnation by not submitting unto whatsoever this pretended Catholick Church doth impose how repugnant soever it be unto the Doctrine of Christ and how contrary soever it be unto the Spirit of God yet all must be received without question though it be that which the Spirit of God sometimes called the Doctrine of Devils but now it must become holy and of divine authority and sufficiently propounded and so received because as R. E. saith this Church cannot err I say unto him and unto all men and to the witness of God in every man either the Church in the Apostles days did err and teach false Doctrine or this pretended Catholick Church because they teach contrary one to the other and do walk by a contrary rule and as R. E. saith infallibility cannot contradict it self and he hath granted that the Apostles and Primitive Christians had an infallible spirit and did not err then let R. E. and all take a view of the Roman Doctrine and compare it with theirs and they shall find it as far wide one from the other as the Heavens is from Earth or light from darkness so that for the truths sake and for the Doctrine and faith sake that was once delivered among the Saints and for the Nonconformists sake who cannot bow their knee to Baal neither snbmit to the injunctions of changable men instead of the Doctrines of Christ. I could not do less then give Answer unto the substance of R. E. his Epistle which he boasted of to be more then any could answer and to reprove his false Doctrine and error which he would perswade all unto and not to question because the Church of Rome hath propounded it as infallible most of all those Doctrines are denyed and I cannot but give my Testimony against them as to be false and that which leads people into error and let R. E. when he brings forth his all prove to us that Infallibility as intailed to the Pope by succession and Prayer for the Dead worshipping of Angels worshipping Relicts worshipping Images Transubstantiation Purgatory sprinkling of Infants prove to us from the Scripture in thy next that these were Apostolical and Infallible Doctrines delivered and taught by the Church of Christ in the Apostles time or in the first hundred years after Christ and thou will not only gain me but many more to receive and imbrace the Catholick Church of Rome for an absolute rule and guide unto which all on earth ought to be subject unto which if thou do not we will take it for granted thou dare not least thou ingage thy self in such a Controversie as thou never ingaged in yet by which thy and your folly will more and more appear unto all I shall not trouble neither my self nor the Reader any further in traducing R. E. in his multiplicity of words although the main and weighty Arguments and reasons as R. E. looks upon them is answered which I commend unto thee and to the witness of God in every Man's Conscience to try and search out where the difference and weight lies and the truth and as the measure of Gods Spirit in every Man's Conscience doth close with or against if it can what I have said about R. E. his Epistle for unto that I dare stand to the judgment of and in it as every one believes and walks I bid my Reader Farewell F. H. Westmerland this 18. of the Fifth Moneth 1665. THE END Faults that have escaped the Press through the negligence of the Printer the Friendly Reader is desired to pass by or correct Some of which are these PAge first line 28 29. for Nonformists read Nonconformists p. 2. l. 3. for and read as l. 7. the point or stop should be after over p 3. l. 16. the point should be after the word Director and not after unto l. 37. for fanedness read fainedness p. 6. l. 34. for Christian read Christians p. 19. l. 24 for minds read mind p. 31 l. 35. for legable read legible p. 44. l. 35. for habitants read habitations p. 57. l. 28. for 9th read nine