it and so was Paul also a Preacher of this Gospel who received it by the revelation of Christ Jesus and declared what he had so received so that though it were of Christ yet was it by man still deny this if thou canst. But tell me hath that man any one spark of grace or truth in him that cannot see you are truthlesse or hath he the least faith in Jesus that is so faithlesse to his cause as to beleeve in and be besotted with your false delusions and erroneous heresies and is not he blinde with errour that sees not your wayes are erroneous and may not any whose eyes are not wholly darkened see Antichrist in your Doctrine and that man of sinne in your practises Prove what you say by Gospel or else be silent An Answer unto 14. Queries subscribed JAMES NAYLER By me JOHN DEACON Quere 1. NOw seeing you so much oppose the light within and spirit and sets up the letter for the light I say seeing it is plaine all the Saints had a light in spirit to guide them in wayes accepted in all Ages before the Letter was if you be spiritual men give it in writing what that light was where is was and how they came by it when they had no letter or was it sufficient before the letter is it the same now or when or how was it changed and the letter set in its stead An Answer to the first Query Mr. James Naylor what that Fabrick will be whose Foundation is a lye may easily be discerned by an impartial eye and what the Exodiam will be of that Epistle whose exordium is an untruth the fruition of this discourse will demonstrate and a thing beyond the limits of my faith to beleeve it is that when I see Satan as the Porter stand in the porch that in that Palace should be inhabiting one spark much lesse the whole of the spirit of God for a most incomparable lye it is to whisper in a corner much more to sound on the point of your pen to the world that horrid falshood that I oppose the spirit or light of Christ far be it from me to oppose it in the meanest of his Saints and farther be it or at least as far from me to own that for the light spirit of Christ which indeed is onely and alone the spirit of Antichrist which as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God That the Saints in all Ages had a light within them and now have the same by faith in Jesus Christ in you Colossians the hope of glory This I own and will rather cease to be eternally then deny but would be as loath to own every thing for Christ which shall take on it the name of Christ But since the latter part of this Query consists of an examination of the original being and authority of the Scriptures the unity and difference of the Law heretofore written in mans heart and now in the letter I shall be the more large in my answer because it is one of the most principallest controversies betwixt us Christians and you Quakers When Adam stood in his created state of innocency there was then an exact Law engraven not then in Tables of stone as afterwards but in the fleshly Tables of his heart this I suppose you grant But then when he fell from that state of blisse unto wretchednesse he also fell from the Image of God unto the effigy of Satan and so became so far from accomplishing that command which called for exactness in moral righteousness that he was wholy alienated from Sanctity and nativitated in or to sin so that by continual increase of transgression the ingression of sinne wrought the exgression of sanctity insomuch that this Law became abbreviated if not extinguished for so much did sinne exuperate notwithstanding the Reliques of this Law or book of natural conscience that God repâ—nted that ever he had made man yea and so far repented as to destroy them utterly except a few And the Lord seeing how fraile man struck saile unto the pride of Satan in the turbulent Ocean of this transitory world and sinne by its subtilty aspired that soveraignty as to subdue and extinguish for the most part that Law once written in mans heart and God having determined by an eternal purpose to redeem wretched man from that lost state wherein he stood chose in his due season Abraham fro m amongst all the men on the earth that he might raise from his Posterity a Messias and a deliverer unto his Israel and it so happened in the dayes of Jacob the great Sonne of Abraham the Sonne of Isaac the child of promise that by reason of the Famine that was in Canaan Israel was driven into Egypt where they sojourned till God in his good pleasure hearkning unto the groanes of their oppressions willing to deliver his Israel from their unsufferable bondage sent his servant Moses one of their brethren by a strong hand to conduct them into the Land of Promise and in their journey to their rest at Mount Sinai God made unto them a repetition of that Law once written in mans heart which Steven calls the lively Oracles of God then not a dead letter This is the time and manner how it was changed and that which once was written in mans heart and was sufficient is now become unsufficient for else if it either then was or now is sufficient of it selfe then hath God wrought a work in vaine which to assert is to suspect if not to accuse God of folly But then if that Law written in mans heart were not sufficient to its proper end as to direct and guide in matters of moral righteousnesse but that it was necessary that the Law should enter on mount Sinai as an exact rule that so offences which were not manifest might abound in the eyes of sinners how much lesse could or can that Law which brings the knowledge of sinne and a curse and yet is but the same that once was written in mans heart and therefore that which you so much stand for both justifie and glorifie wherefore it was a gaine not onely necessary but of necessity that the Gospel or Law from Mount Sion the Law of Faith should also enter which leads us in a neerer way by a Mediator who came to doe what the Law from Mount Sinai or in mans heart could not do and hence it is that both your Society and naturally all men runs unto Mount Sinai for righteousnesse and life in and by personal obedience because it is that Law which is or at leastwise once was written in mans heart which cannot but own what it could not so fully dictate and you with the rest of your factious Fraterty put your Proselytes upon and man so easily closeth with contrary unto the Gospel which is not first made known this I dare boldly assert by seeing within but hearing tydings
the first wholly unanswered not on thing being properly cleared Qu. 7. Whether the Bible be the written word of God yea or no if not what means the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. 36. 37 38. Gal. 1. 10 11. 1 Thess. 2. 13. Answ. That is the word which the Bible declares of which is invisible and eternal which they that received it of God and had it in their hearts did speak or write it down which writing they called a declaration Luke 1. 1. 1 John 1. 3. But doth no where say the Bible is the word but God and Christ is the word John 1. 1. 1 Pet. 1. 25. And of this word the Apostle means which was of God and not of man nor by man and the word of God is the name of Christ and not the name of the Bible Rev. 19. 13. Reply 7. I must needs confesse though I am loth to use it thine own language best beseems the exordium of this Reply Thou blind Sot canst thou so much boast of the spirit of light and yet be so far blinded in darknes as not to discern between the co-essential and co-eternal word with God the temporal expressive word of God And if they received this word of God as you acknowledge they did how then can it be but it must be the word of God from whence it did proceed and the Scriptures quoted by thee are nothing to the purpose For John 1. 1. The word was with God and the word was God And so this temporal word is but the expressive word of that co essential word and so it is a lye to say that this is that word that the Apostle means when he saith For this cause thank we God alwayes that when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the word of God This is clear and the Apostle saith that it was not of man nor by man but by the revelation of Jesus Christ and so not the word Christ but the word of Christ who is God And for the other it is so clear speaking plainly of writings that it needs not be discoursed And a learned Author renders that place Rev. 19. 13. as being spoken of Christ as to his co-essential name and I the rather believe it in respect that the same St. John records and testifies of what he writ as from the mouth of an Angel These are the true sayings of God and makes a distinct difference between the word of God and the testimony of Jesus and such like titles are usually attributed to the holy volume of the Scriptures as the word of God * the word of the Lord the commandements of the Lord and the like But that the Scriptures should say that the Bible is the word of God is absurd to imagine because it is a word not there to be found it being a word of Art used to expresse the whole volume of the Scriptures in general but yet that which is therein contained is so called and is so indeed Qu. 8. If the Ministry now established be Antichristian where then and who be Orthodoxal Ans. Those Ministers who have their Authority from Chr. are such as abide in the doctrine of Christ and these are they who are hated of the world ever was for crying out against the deceits and filthinesse of the world Priests and people And whereas thou askest where they are I say in Gaoles and Prisons in this Nation many of these are for the same now by means of those who live out of the doctrine of Christ and in the steps of the false Prophets Scribes and Pharisees seeking for their gaine bearing rule by their meanes being call'd of men Masters c. all which are forbidden by Christ and for bearing witnesse against such much innocent blood hath been shed though they ever call themselves Orthodoxal and the Ministry of Christ establisht by men Reply 8. That these Ministers who are of Christ abide in the doctrine of Christ we know and witnesse and need not you to teach us and hereby are assured you are not of him but of some other And the persecuters in all Ages like you sought to set up â— doctrine and way of worship of themselves and yet were sensual having not the spirit though separated as peculiarly sacred such as are you and your Founder the Pope Yet still was it their practice like as you doe now to cry down and as the Eagle to her prey pick forth first the right eye of Christianity to wit the Ministry that they might no more speak uprightly of that name in which onely is Redemption that so the Shepherds being destroyed and the flock dispersed they might with the more ease and the lesse difficulty be devoured by such wolfes as thy selfe and so be made a prey for the deceiver But since you say the true Ministers are in Gaoles and Prisons in this Nation who doe you meane the Romish Priests from whence you sprung and such like if these be they speak out or are they some of those branches which are sprung from that grove of heresie to wit your vagabond fraternity taken up as strayed from their habitations and from their Religion too But that these are for the same now that the true Saints in former times were martyr'd for is a most notorious lye and prove it if thou canst that ever any dyed for this cause wherein you now persevere except Jesuits and you seem to accuse us as being out of the doctrine of Christ as also saith Rome because we are not one with you and them And you seem to alledge that they seek for their gaine from their quarter speaking of our Ministry of which in my Answer to your Queries and bearing rule by their meance speaking of Scribes and Pharisees which is another lye for it is by Gods Authority they rule over us and watch for our soules and you againe further adde it being called Masters of men which is cleared by that most Reverend Mr. Baxter and answer him if thou canst And then thou sealest all this with thine own Signet a most damnable lye that it is forbidden of Christ and that for bearing witnesse against such much innocent blood hath been spilt but whether you meane the Gunpowder Traytors or Garnet that Jesuit with the rest of those Romish Priests whose beginning was at Tyber and whose end not undeserved at Tyburne but prove that ever any unlesse such dyed for that cause you now stand for if you can name them Qu. 9. Since that you say that Presbiterians Independents and the like differing Forms are of Babylon and under the distruction thereof I quere who are out of it and where is the true Church Qu. 10. And if you say a small number of Quakers I query againe where then hath the Church of Christ been since his passion for this 1600. years and more
to the faithlesse except ye be Reprobates and again Know you not that no unrighteous person inâ—eriteth the Kingdom of God where it is cleare that it does not possesse men as inheriting them for this implyes a contradiction but it is to be possessed of men and they to inherit it and from this inheritance the unrighteous are excepted and exempted too therefore it is certainly a most notorious lye to say Christ preached the Kingdome of God in unbeleevers though among them for he himselfe and all his excellencies that attended him in his Incarnation were among them but not in them and an error in the Translation makes not an error in Christs Doctrine Thus for the first I come now to clear the Apostle from your falshoods for you speaking of unbeleevers say he saith that all which may be known of God or of his glory is manifest in them This you pretend to be a proofe that there is a light in every man to reveale all that may be known of God or of his glory which I say can be nothing lesse then the Spirit of God when if you read the verse following for the first hath a dependency on the latter you shall see the extention of the former expression The invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seene being understood by the things that are made Now this cannot be the Spirit of God or Christ which teacheth all things needfull for salvation except you can prove him to be made at the Creation and so a creature and not a Creator and therefore it must be something in the creature which can be nothing else but the eye of the rational soule which is reason by which may be seen the invisible being of God and that he is so Cicero Aristotle Plato but meer Heathens have attain'd unto therefore this is humane not divine I shal not stand to state arguments to prove it experimentally because I intend brevity I Come unto the other Scripture which you adde that the Apostle saith that they speaking of unbeleevers still came to the knowledge of God and his glory by the light that shone in them A most notorious lye wresting the meaning of the Apostle unto your owne wills and I leave it to you to examine with feare and trembling whether it be not also unto your own destruction too for the words are these For God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the grace of God in the face of Jesus Christ Where is observable First what it was that shined God that commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined Secondly the persons to and in whom he shined in our hearts Now the word our maketh a separation between Paul and the Corinthians to whom he writ who were Beleevers and Reprobates who beleeved not therefore you must needs acknowledge you have belyed him in saying he spoke of unbeleevers when he spoke to and of Saints in our hearts unlesse you can prove that that Paul and the Corinthians were such as you speak of even unbeleevers Thirdly the intent and purpose for which he shone to give it was not free to all as you say but particularly given to some the light of the knowledge of the glory of God And then Fourthly the manner how in the face of Jesus Christ I intend not to write an Exposition on the words but onely rightly to divide them and so to cleare them from the scandal laid on them by you which is clear So that your Query being thus handled I suppose there can be no more required in answer to it and farre be it from me to hold a judgement willingly any further then is concomitant to and with Scripture proofes and practice Learne to speak truth and cease to endeavour the building of so lying a Babel which is not in that one language of God but that of Satan For every lye is of Satan the Father of lyes Query 4. Whether that New Birth spoken of in the Scriptures be Christ within or some other thing and if not he then what is it and how people may know it by the Letter without the Light when they have Christ and when they have a spirit of delusion and whether the light of the Spirit alone be sufficient without the letter to reveale the Sonne of God the Father and all truth and judge of all spirits whatsoever without any addition to it An Answer to the Fourth Query The New Birth or Regeneration is a repairing of the Image of God once in the first Adam through the effectual working of the Spirit and grace of God by faith in the second Adam which they that looke unto the first Adam and in their own strength endeavour to renew cannot comprehend for it is spiritually discerned though the policy of the Serpent may so far prevaile as to cast them into a kinde of pleasing slumber of Security and so pretending to lead them back unto that earthly Eden by personal obedience which they lost by disobedience like lambs led to the slaughter they may passe a Celestial Paradise by and perhaps arrive at a perilous disconsolate place of eternal sorrow or if you will it is a remission of sinne and a renewment of sanctity called Sanctification on the whole Doctrine whereof to insist at large would require a greater volume then either I intend to trouble you to peruse or my selfe to compose but for the satisfaction of them among you or elsewhere whose intentions are to be informed out of sincerity not curiosity I shall speak a little unto some particulars of it In brief man hath no hand at all in this work but the spirit of God for even as in the compositure or making of any thing there must two things concurre First the Agent or Workman which giveth the forme shape or being to the Work Secondly the matter whereof the work must be made or formed the which cannot be said to work it selfe but onely to suffer the operation of the Worker This is the summe of Regeneration First the the spirit of God is the workman in this work he is the begetter of this new man the framer of this new creature and the re-builder of this sacred Fabrick Secondly the minde and will of man is the matter whereof this new creature or image of God in man is made not working together with the Spirit of God but onely suffering the operation of the holy Ghost this is the Epitomy of this whole work for Regeneration is nothing else but a sanctified minde and will so the begetter of this new man is God even the Holy Ghost For that which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit So that this New Birth is the work of the Spirit and although by the Ministry of man as the matter yet not