of faith we preach Rom. 10. I told you that was a contradiction and a confused senselesse thing which you say stands as a witnesse against me and bid me prove my accusation Answ 1. I queryed you whether any of you did know and believe what is written in the Scriptures without the outward declaration unto which you answere not at all 2. I query what you mean by the word of faith in the mouth and in the heart which the Apostle preached Rom. 10.6 7 8. whether it be the same with the Doctrine of faith declared in the Scriptures writ to the Churches or different from it As I concluded before in my replie so I shall make it good still notwithstanding all that you have writ that the word of faith which the Apostles preached and writ to the severall Churches is the same with that which you call the outward declaration What are the writings of the Prophets and Apostles but the word of faith I told you that this of the Apostle doth allude to that in Deuteronom 30. and there we find the same of the word as it was written in the law as heer of the word of faith preached The Doctrine of faith was so familiarly preached and beat into mens heads hearts and mouthes that ignorance could not excuse any and the Apostle explains what this word of faith is verse 9. thus That if thou shalt confesse with the mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved You may see it's clear enough what the Apostle understands by word in the mouth and in the heart if you be not too perverse and in the 10 verse there is a reason urged to make all your cavils fall For with the heart man believes unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation and proves it by the Scripture Whosoever beleeveth on him shall not be ashamed Isa 28.16 What can be concluded hence but what the writings of the Scriptures contain and declare and yet you say not any can know the Scriptures by the outward declaration but by the word of faith which word of faith in your quotation is discovered by the Scriptures what it is so that you say and unsay not by the outward declaration but by it a meer contradiction which you will never free your selves of But why cannot any know Scripture by its own writing Can you know what is contained in the holy Scriptures without the outward declaration if not then you must know it by the outward declaration or not at all How do you know what is in your books but by the outward declaration But instead of answering to clear your selves you are froward and very impertinent and obscure and desperately confused as followeth in their next wherein they should shew us the difference between the declaration of Scripture and the word of faith preached And first they witnesse the Scriptures by the same light and Spirit that gave them forth Rom. 10. and in Christ Jesus the Lord of faith which the Apostles preached and declared of they believe Rom. 10.6 7. as the Apostles did who knew the Letter which kil'd and the word of faith which is quick and powerfull which word say they is God that made all things and the letter testifies of him whose name is called the word of God Revel 19.11 12. Joh. 1.1 Heb. 4.12 And then they say they have come off clear of what I have accused them of in their answer Answ Here is nothing but pride and coniusion in these lines unlesse we can credit every thing they have the boldnesse to say as infallible How are the Scriptures beholding to them for their witnesse who have the same light and Spirit which gave them forth the Lord of Hosts gave them forth all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God 1. Tim. 3. and they have the same light and the same spirit equall with God if one may believe what they say of themselves But what think you are not the Scriptures as inspired and given of God a perfect rule of faith and obedience unlesse you witnesse them to be so and what letter was that which the Apostles knew killed you take it for granted that it is the whole declaration of holy Scriptures but it is because you have no light nor Spirit of God in you The word of faith Rom. 10.6 7. is quick and powerfull c. which word is God that made all things Most senselesse Is the profession of Christ in the mouth and believing in him with the heart God that made all things is every gift and work of God in man God that made all things this is like their other notion Christ lighteth all and therefore that light is Christ as if every work and operation of Christ is Christ just like those that make God to be every thing that from him lives and moves c. So again Christ is the word his name shall be called the word of God and they have Christ the word of God within them and what need of that which is written they have it in the life and fountain and they will come under no other writings nor rule although never so much commanded by God in the expressions of the holy Spirit in the Scriptures Touching Heb. 4.12 in the second verse he shewes us what word he meant where he saith That the Gospel was preached to them as unto us but the word that they heard profited not them because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it What word was this which was heard but the outward declaration in voice or writing or both And this word is quick and powerfull c. and the savour of life to some and of death to others according to the pleasure of him with whom we have to doe he blessing or blasting his own word and ordinance to the different ends intended by himself and for his glory whether in the diligent use thereof men be saved or in the contempt and neglect of the word men be damned The 2 Cor. 3.6 where it is said the Letter killeth is to be understood of the ministrie of Moses in comparison of the Gospell ministry administred by the Apostles that of Moses not so spirituall glorious effectuall as the new Testament was and yet it had its glory too but no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth vers 10. The Ceremonials their Gospel were but shadowes of good things to come the substance was Christ who was but darkly seen by the people but the Precepts and Threats of the Law were cleer which brought them under guilt and the remedie obscure and the fruit but little in comparison of the Apostles Ministry c. And hence the letter killed as administred by Moses but grace and truth comes by Jesus Christ It 's true the ministrie of the Apostles without the powerfull operation of the Spirit concurring was not
sufficient For Paul may plant and Apollo water but it is God that gives the increase and yet the word of God as made known in the holy Scriptures must be our rule to act and live by in order to Gods blessing of Spirit and grace to our regeneration and compleating the same unto eternall life Besides we have no promises of Gods giving his spirit unto sinners that have it not to quicken those that are dead in trespasses and sins but what is made in the letter of Scripture and no promises of any thing but what is writ there Rom. 5.15 all good newes from heaven to lost sinners is writ there they are written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope And yet will you say that all the letter killeth Now Reader lay things together and then judge by all that they have said how true it is that they say they have come off clear in what I have charged them with what difference have they made between the outward declaration and the word of faith which the Apostles preached and writ to the severall Churches if all be but the same as I have cleered from theirs the contradiction and their confused nonsense still remains notwithstanding their bitter censures and shuffles And how notoriously false is that of theirs That not any doth know the Scriptures by the outward declaration when the outward declaration 2. Tim. 3.16 as consisting of words committed to writing is the Scriptures that we plead Rev. 1.17 for a perfect rule the declaration and the matter and sense contained therein but the same all which is the inspiration of God and that which the Spirit saith to the Churches for what the Scriptures saith the Spirit saith because all Scripture is by inspiration of God 2. Pet. 1.20.21 c. And not only John but all the pen-men thereof writ as they were moved by the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost And hence when you Quakers set up the Spirit to be a perfect Rule of faith and life distinct from the Scriptures it will run you upon these Rocks which you will never evade 1. You must either set up another Spirit distinct from the Spirit of God that gave the Scriptures or 2. Maintain that the same Spirit gives a different rule to that which is written by his own inspiration and so make God not only mutable but contrary to himself which to think is to be abhorred as blasphemous 3. Or that the same Spirit hath given additionall lawes to be the rule above what is written by the Prophets and Apostles on which the Church is built which is hardly so I shall judge untill 1. I see the same divine approbation and confirmation of those Lawes as hath been given of all holy Scriptures 2. And yet those Lawes are as consonant and as agreeable to all the Scriptures as written by the Prophets and Apostles as the Apostles writings are consonant and agreeable to the Prophets 3. And untill they can prove that the Scriptures prophecie of such a change in the Church as to set up superadded Lawes 4. And that themselves are the men that the Scriptures have foretold of to superadde spirituall Lawes in the Church to bind the consciences of all as we affirme that the Scripture doth But to prevent mistakes I grant as they 1. That the Spirit is the rule but then you must understand it as the mind of God is revealed by the Spirit in the Scriptures 2. I grant that we have all need of the illuminating quickning operations and influences of the same Spirit that revealed the rule to enable us to know it and believe it and to apply it to our selves and to applie our selves unto it so as to live unto God in all Christian obedience according to this Rule 3. I grant that the Rule without the blessing of Grace concurring doth not simply of it self enlighten and quicken any nor are any truely and savingly enlightned quickned and renewed but by the revealed word of God as the only means appointed and designed of God to that very end to the intelligent Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom. 10. And of his own good will hath he begot us again by his word Jam. 2.1 And now I shall give a word to my dear friends of Farndon and to all that are abused and drawn aside by these deceivers and the deceits and cheats of their own hearts in hope of a blessing to my poor endeavours who am touched with a deep sense of the sad delusions which at the present you are intangled most desperately in My dear friends Who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth which you have once received with a great deal of joy and comfort to your souls when with constancie and patience you have made a good proâ—ession of the wayes of Godlinesse revealed by the word practised by men and women fearing God in all the ages of the Church of Christ you know the times and places when and where your Spirits have been made joyfull in the house of Prayer and praising of the ever blessed God Your hearts have been heated and warmed by the power of his word and Sacraments the strict observing of Sabbathâ— a constant course of the worshipping God in your families by a serious calling upon the name of the Lord instruction of those under you in the principles of Gods truth and fear and have walked before them in all Godlinesse and honesty according to this word of the Lord which now is in contempt and reproach by those that seduce you as is too obvious to the impartiall as is above cleared and their slanders shifts and shuffles discovered You may see how they have reproached the Institutions and ordinances of our Lord as heathenish by compareing them to that great Image of that heathen King Dan. 3.3 You may see how they deny the Scriptures to be a perfect Rule of knowing God believing in him and living unto him And yet they reproach me to be a lying slanderer in charging them with that which is an apparent truth as I have witnessed by their own lying Papers and thus they have reproached me most falsely and the lyes are returned upon their own heads whilst they witnesse themselves perfect and without sin and have entred the new Jerusalem in which none shall enter that makes a lie My friends some of you have heard William Duesbury say of himself In Duesbury new Births he thus witnesseth of himself that he was as perfect as that Christ which dyed at Jerusalem this is witnessed by one of credit and fidelity amongst your selves I forbeare his name Oh proud polluted Worme that dare exalt himself to a perfection equall with God the everlasting father whose name is called Wonderfull Counseller the Prince of peace the mightie God Isa 9. who fulfilled all righteousnesse from his birth to the consummating of all
of the Spirit unto salvation may have some footing from that promise and so to the Gentiles But this reacheth not the thing in hand and is no more proper to them than to the weakest Christian that is renewed by the Spirit of Grace In the most proper sense that promise was fulfilled as Peter witnesseth Act. 2.16 above 1600. years ago but these say they witnesse it fulfilling now but they want not for boldnesse to say any thing they have a mind unto Next they bid me shew that Scripture that speaks of a written word or that calls it the savour of life quick and powerfull or that attributes any such things unto it as thou saist but if you cannot stop thy mouth Answ Most absurd is their first What is the Scriptures but words from the Lord committed unto writing and every sentence of Scripture is a written word What is Scripture but the writings of the prophets and Apostles and what did they write but words and what were those words but the Inspirations of God all Scriptures are given by Inspiration of God as hath been quoted again and again And what will they make of that promise themselves quote Joel 2. is not that a written word and all their other quotations The Apostles were the savour of death to some 2 Cor. and life to others 2 Cor. 2.16 But how was this but as they were Ministers of the Word for they were not as many which corrupt the word c. and the word is quick and powerfull Heb. 4.12 It 's called the immortall seed the power of God to salvation Rom. 1.16 David tells us Thy word hath quickned me and was light to his feet the rejoycing of his heart his heritage for ever and giveth light and understanding to the simple Psal 119.130 He witnesseth that Gods word is pure therefore he loved it ver 140. It is endlesse to recount the Epithites and honour and glorious esteeme the servants of God have alwayes had of the word as it is written and they that despise this word shall be destroyed Prov. 13.13 And let these wormes that are all along diminishing and detracting from the power and majesty of the Scriptures beware lest being given over to despise the word they be polluted in their own gifts and follow the imaginations of their own deluded hearts to their utter ruine if God by his grace prevent it not Whereas in their first Answer to the Question in hand they talk of yeelding faithfull obedience to the righteous and perfect Law of God in the heart in my reply I told them that they build all upon the light within and the Law of God writ in the heart and the Inspirations of Christ and so make the holy Scriptures superfluous and of no use whereas the writing of Gods Law in the heart is a blessing of the Covenant promised to the use of those wayes and means God hath given to the Church in order to that end his word and ordinances the Instrumentall cause of this blessing of grace to whom he will the writing of his Law in the heart being but the same with a new heart regenerate and quickned by a Divine power of speciall grace which softens the hard uncircumcised heart of man and makes it pliable to receive the Words impression as standing willing and ready to believe and do what Jesus Christ in the Rule of his word would have him to do being made willing in the day of his power upon the heart to yeeld faithfull obedience to all the Lawes and Ordinances of Christ revealed in his holy word And to jumble things together as they by making the light and Inspirations of Christ and Law in the heart all one are most confused notions of things that differ as much as the efficient and the effect the giver and the gift the will of God in commanding and the blessing of God overruling the subject to a willing obedience but let them tell us where the Scriptures speak of a righteous perfect Law of God in the heart either in all men or in some and who they are that have such a Law written within which of the Prophets or Apostles gives the discovery of a perfect Law in the heart unto which all our obedience is to terminate as the only Rule if they cannot produce Scripture Authority for it let them confesse it a Law of their own fancie as to the end they intend it for But they say in their last Answer to this in hand Vpon the Prophets and Apostles we build and Christ Jesus who hath enlightned every one that comes into the world is the chief corner stone though he be set at nought by thee and the builders who would set the Scriptures in his place making them the enlightener and calls his light but an effect of them which light was before Scripture was and will lead them that walk in it out of darknesse to the knowledge of God and eternall life Joh. 8.12 But this light is not received into the mind and head from the Scripture neither can it be blotted out as thou hast said but it comes from Christ who is the glory of his people Israel and the light of the Gentiles such as thou call'st pagans who shall be excused when thou and all that oppose the light of Christ shall be condemned though you can talk of Christ as Bedeemer and Mediator of his Spirit and regenerating Grace all which you are strangers to c. Answ Let the indifferent Reader judge how true it is that they build upon the Prophets and Apostles while they have and are denying the holy Scriptures to be a perfect Rule of faith and obedience and affirme that the light of Christ is not received by the Scriptures and yet they say upon the Prophets and Apostles they build and is not the writings of the Prophets and Apostles that Scripture that they exclude from receiving the light of Christ in their minds and heads What Prophets and Apostles is the Church built upon if not upon those that have declared the mind of God and Jesus Christ in the holy Scriptures And shall any think that the Scriptures oppose the light of Christ because they are written to make the clear discovery of Christ as Redeemer and without which not any can know him to any such end But it 's charged upon me to be a fault in making the Scripture an enlightener and calls Christs light but an effect of them Answer whether I used those terms I am not sure this I said and cleared my self in that the Scriptures simply considered of themselves did not enlighten nor convert as an efficient cause thereof but were appointed and designed of God to be the only Instrument and Vessel of his Spirit to conveigh the knowledge of Christ as Redeemer to lost man and without them Christ is not known at all to any saving ends or to this purpose I spake I have proved that the Word doth give light to
the text and judge me for pleading the holy perfect just Lawes and Institutions of God and Christ that Scriptures teach the only Rule of the Saints obedience as if these were to vanish as making nothing perfect as is very probable that 's their sense Therefore no great matter that I come under their censure when the holy Lawes of God revealed in the holy Scriptures cannot escape their slanders Thus you may see of what Spirit they are of both by their forwardnesse to censure and falshood in their Answer But then in the next paragraph they have another Answer to the same thing where they yeeld 1. That the perfect Law in the heart is the same with that in Scripture but under another Covenant 2. They say this perfect Law of God in the heart is in all that are in the new Covenant 3. Then they say That this Law is perpetually one and the same in all that have it and it admits of no addition alteration nor repeal 4. Where Regeneration is witnessed and the heart quickned by the grace of God his Law is writ in that heart These four things were occasioned upon some queries put to them which for want of my Copy I cannot directly transcribe amongst which Queries one was Whether this perfect Law in the heart gives any Evangelicall discoveries of the person natures offices of Christ which they say is an unlearned Question condemned by the light which gave forth the Scriptures c. Reader mark here they make the Law in the heart the Rule which is perpetuall without repeal as before which directeth them in answering and yet this Law is but a blessing of the new Covenant Another while they say the Spirit is the sole judge and only Rule as you have heard Another while the light of Christ that enlighteneth every one that comes into the world another while the eternall word that was from the beginning which made all things and in their close of all they say written from the Spirit of truth who is the same in all the children of light Thus you see they make the Law written in the heart and the Spirit of truth and the eternal word all one the Law which is promised and given by that one God that made all things is the same that made all things Again one while they plead the work of the Law writ in the hearts of all in the world another while restrain it only to those that are in the new Covenant and regenerate quickned by the grace of God one while man by nature hath no light remaining in him at all but is darknesse another while all in the world are enlightened by Christ They plead a perfect Law within and the same with the Lawes of God in Scriptures and yet condemn me for pleading the Lawes and Ordinances of God in Scripture for a Rule That of the Scripture made nothing perfect say they and yet confesse it the same with that in the heart Surely either these are learned Paradoxes or else absurd contradictions they may do well to clear themselves better and speak plain and directly to the things in hand 1. The Question is still where we read of a perfect Law of God in the heart and where it is made the Rule and ground of the Saints obedience 2. And the Question is whether the Law in the heart be under another Covenant distinct from the perfect law of God as declared in the Scripture 3. And still the Question is what we are to understand by the Law of God in the heart which is the same with Scriptures whether the ten Commandements writ in Tables of Stone only or all those positive precepts of Gospel worship and obedience conjoyned with them also 4. And still the Question is whether the Law in the heart without the use of Scriptures make any evangelicall discoveries of the person natures and offices of Christ as he is Redeemer of lost man 5. And whether all shall be saved that have the Law of God writ in their hearts by vertue of the new Covenant or any be saved that live to years of discretion that know not Christ as the Scriptures testifie of him in order to his coming in the world to save sinners Although these queries have been put to them they will not answer plainly and directly but darkly and with deceit of purpose to evade the strength of truth that is against them should they speak out They quote Psal 19.7 to prove the Law of God to be perfect in the heart but David intended another Law namely that of the Prophets The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the Commandements of the Lord are pure enlightening the eyes c. I have given my thoughts how the Law is writ in the hearts of Gods sanctified people and do grant the thing in all that are Godly by vertue of the new Covenant which they accuse me to deny though falsely but this I deny That the perfection of the whole Law of God is writ in any mans heart so as to know it and do it as it is written in the Prophets and Apostles For as Paul saith We know in part and prophesie in part and see but darkly 1 Cor. 13.9.12 So in James in many things we offend all Besides the Scripture doth not say as they do of yeelding faithfull obedience to the righteous and perfect Law of God in the heart and when they speak not according to Scripture it is to be rejected and disowned themselves have granted in their Answer to the second Question And what that other Covenant is the Law in the heart is under themselves have often expressed to be the new Covenant Jer. 31. Heb. 8. And will they deny the Lawes Statutes Ordinances of God in force writ in Scriptures to be a blessing of priviledge as they are means appointed for man to use in order to that end of Gods writing them in the heart by his Spirit Both the outward writing and the inward impression wrought by the power of Divine grace is from the same Covenant witnesse Deut. 4.7 8 9. For what Nation is so great that hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for And what Nation so great that hath Statutes and Judgements so righteous as all this Law which Moses set before them and therefore he warns them to keep their souls diligently lest they forget the Lawes which their eyes have seen and lest they depart from their hearts but teach them thy Sons and thy Sons Sons and so on These words of the Law of God they were commanded to get them in their hearts and teach them diligently to their children when they sate in their houses and walked abroad lying down and rising up chap. 6.6 7. Thus we may see that those that have the
Lawes of God are nigh unto God and great above all other Nations by way of priviledge And to what end were the Lawes of God given unto them and us but that we should know them and do them for our good chap. 10.12 13. See chap. 11.18 19. The use of the outward is a means of the inward where God gives the blessing And for those that have not the benefit of the outward writings of the Prophets and Apostles or have them and yet regard them not as it is written is too palpable a sign that they are strangers from the Law of God in the heart as it is a blessing of the new Covenant We know the written Law was given to the people by the hands of a Mediator and not against the promise but subservient to the receiving of the benefits and blessings thereof And therefore let them shew us what other Covenant that is to which pertains the perfect Law in the heart distinct from the outward writing and how the outward declaration is under one Covenant and the Lawes of God in the heart under another they being both the same as is confessed but whether they understand all the same in the heart as is in force in the holy Scriptures I suspect for they wave the answer of that whereas the whole of what the Scripture plainly teacheth is in the hearts of the Lords people to believe love and do with an equall respect as the Scripture is plain in By evangelicall discoveries they carp at and judge as unlearned and to be condemned which I do much admire knowing that themselves are no strangers to the phrase and sense nor unacquainted with those Scriptures that give such discoveries of the person natures offices of a redeeming Christ that never any have attained unto and discovered either by word or writing which never had nor heard of the help of the Gospel as contained in the Scriptures And for them to condemne me for putting the Question unlesse I can prove by Scripture those things of Christ argues their denyall of them which to do seems to me no lesse then to deny the true Christ anointed of God and fitted to performe the work of mans redemption in his own body once offered by the eternall Spirit that he might bring sinners to God Had he not a body given him which was sacrificed unto death was buryed rose again and ascended into Heaven as Scriptures witnesse And was he not a person Pilate's wife acknowledged him a just person Matth. 27.24 And Paul forgave in the person of Christ 2 Cor. 2.10 and to his humane nature is united his Divine which the Saints are said to partake of in its speciall and peculiar workings upon their hearts the word made flesh in that he took not the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham born of a Virgin c. truely God and truely man in one person and his offices of Prophet Priest and King as evident according to Scripture that not any but Infidels and malicious Apostates will deny But I hasten And I doubt not but that all that have the Law writ in their hearts by vertue of the new Covenant shall be saved that being the same with a new heart regenerate and quickned by the grace of God and not any other although they have the use of Scriptures much lesse those that are denyed the ordinary use and benefit thereof as they reveal Christ the Redeemer to the world without knowing and believing in shall perish But Christians I pray you mark what a Christ these men fancy to themselves as Redeemer that have condemned me with the light that gave forth the Scripture for querying whether the light that is in all in the world gives the discovery of the person natures and offices of Christ unlesse the Scriptures doe prove them why do not they know that the Scriptures do give this Gospell discovery if they will own it as I am sure they cannot be ignorant of it Why do they put me to the proof condemning the Query as unlearned because I ask whether those that have not the use of Scripture have a sufficient Gospel light to give this discovery If they deny it as I believe they do then judge what a Christ they frame in their imaginations that is without person natures and offices whether he be that very same Christ that was equal with God and took upon him the forme of a Servant made in the likenesse of men and being found in the fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Phil. 2.7 8. That suffered in the flesh the just for the unjust to bring us unto God 1 Pet. 3.18 I tell you did not these deceivers fear the Authority of man that hath put forth an Act against Blasphemy more then the Authority of God in Scriptures they would speak out in plain terms and deny the person natures and offices of Christ and so deny Christ himself who is not at all a Mediator and Redeemer on the behalf of lost man but by his person natures and offices c. And therefore it is wel that fear of man will stop the mouth of blasphemy But mark they cannot condemn the Question as unlearned by the Authority and light of Scripture which are undoubtedly the Inspirations of God but their insolence carries them higher then the light of Scripture Inspirations namely to a light in themselves by which they condemn the mysteries of Christ in the work of Redemption which the Scriptures so plainly teach But what light is this that condems the query They answer the light that gave forth the Scriptures Reply God is light and the Scriptures are the Inspirations of God doth it follow that the light in man is that God that gave the Scriptures when can you prove that the light in man gave forth the Scriptures if you cannot prove it by what Authority do you assert it The Fourth Question propounded WHether that light of Conscience which is more or lesse in all since the fall be the Remainder or Reliques left in man of the first Adam in reference to the Covenant of works or whether common to all from the Redemption of the second Adam as flowing from the Covenant of Grace or how else I desire your clear Answer The Quakers Answer Man in his fallen estate hath not any light remains in him to guide him to do any thing pleasing to God as he stands in the state of corrupt nature for all his righteousnesse is as filthy rags The light that convinceth men of the evill of their hearts and discovers the filthinesse of their own Righteousnesse is the light that comes from Christ the true light that lighteneth every one that cometh into the world Joh. 1.9 And this light is not common to men by nature it is the great gift of God his grace that hath appeared unto all men c. Tit. 2.11 My Reply The Answer to my
mans self and to be urged upon others as the authority of the Scripture The Quakers Answer The Revelations of Jesus Christ are according to Scripture which bind up the testimonie and seal the law in the hearts among my disciples And what Revelations and Dictates in the heart are contrary to the law and testimonie are to be disowned and rejected according to Isai 8.20 My Reply The Answer is both cloudie and deceitfull yet seems to be in the Negative when they say what Dictates and Revelations is in the Conscience and heart of man contrary to the Law and Testimony is not to be regarded but disowned But then the Question is what they mean by Law and Testimonie whether the old and new Testaments or Law and Testimonie in the heart If of the first their Answer is true but if of the last their Answer is false and unsound and it will follow that the Revelations and Dictates of the heart not to be found in Scriptures are as binding to my own and other mens Consciences as the Scriptures contrary to their own quotation Isai 8.20 c. The truth is they will have the inward Dictates of the heart binding to Conscience and the rule when they have denyed the holy Scriptures to be a rule of faith and obedience as we have seen in their Answer to the first Question they will take no notice of Scripture Authority as if they were altogether out of Date Whereas every true Christian doth believe that God hath ordained the holy Scriptures alone to be the object of faith and ground of all our obedience and serving of God and to do any Religious service to God out of any other Principle is but will-worship and to follow the imaginations of our own hearts serving the Devil and not God Their Answer saith My accusation is false and the cloud and deceit is in my self who cannot endure sound Doctrine but call it unsound and question whether the Law and Testimonie in the heart which is the Law of the new Covenant Jer. 31.33 be the Rule to judge error by and here with the light of Christ the spirituall man who judgeth all things thy blindnesse and deceit is seen and judged and we witnesse the Scriptures to be writ for our learning and a testimony against thee and all such lyars who have got them to talk on and would set them above the Revelations of the Spirit and light of Christ which we witness is absolutely binding and the sole judge of error for to him is all Judgement given Joh. 5.22 And in his power thou art bound and thy error judged Answ Reader thou mayst see what impudent foreheads they have by saying my accusation is false when themselves have discovered to purpose the deceit of their Answer which saith The Revelations of Christ are according to the Scriptures and what Dictates are in the heart of man contrary to the Law and Testimony is not to be regarded but disowned according to Isai 8.20 In which Text we are to go to the Law and the Testimony and if any speak not according to that word it is 〈◊〉 cause there is no light in them which word is to be understood of Moses and the Prophets without all controversie So that take their answer as expressed and a plain minded Christian cannot but judge it sober and true but you may see they speak one thing and mean another thing for in their last answer to mine they tell us what they mean by Law and Testimony namely the Dictates Revelations and Law and Testimony in the heart And is not that a deceitfull answer to make a shew of one thing and intend another for if their answer had been to their intent it should have been this The Revelations of Christ within are of greater force then the Scriptures and what Dictates or Revelations in the heart of man are contrary to the Law and Testimonie in the heart are to be disowned and they should have left out their quotation had they not been purposely minded to deceive and yet they tell us often that as they write so they mean and speak the truth in plainnesse most horrible hypocrisie and deceit which nothing but impudent lying and a knavish head dare go about to excuse much lesse impute falsehood upon the innocent for discovering it Did you ever read of Law and Testimonie in the heart and did you ever read that the Law and Testimonie in the heart is the Law of the new Covenant and did you ever read that the Law in the heart is the Law of the new Covenant where is the new Covenant called a Law and the only rule to judge error by We know the whole Book of God written by Moses and the Prophets is called the Book of the Covenant Exod. 24.7 And that which you call the Law of the New Covenant is the blessing promised in the new Covenant put into performance where and to whom God is pleased in the use of the word and ordinances of the Covenant to regenerate renew quicken and change the hearts of any to yeeld willing and heartie obedience to the holy Lawes of God commanded in his word Do these strangers to the nature of the new Covenant think that all have the Law of God writ in their hearts by vertue of he new Covenant Who can deny this writing of Gods Law and giving his Spirit c. Jer. 31.33 Heb. 8. to be a saving blessing of the Covenant farre different to Rom. 2.14 which is a Law in the heart common to all upon another account If that which they plead be writ in all then all have true saving Grace and shall be saved for that Covenant is everlasting and unchangeable and then if all have not that Law of the new Covenant to what end is that quoted but to deceive making the most to believe a lye where their damnable Tenents take and so upon the matter they destroy all Christian Lawes and obedience and presse men that are Christians to turne Heathens in minding the Law of Nature only And should I speak my heart touching the nature of the new Covenant I should expresse my self thus That the Covenant of Grace that brings salvation to faln man is founded upon and confirmed by the death of Christ in which Covenant the promises of a new heart and of giving Gods Spirit and writing his Lawes are the main all other promises precepts threats and ordinances in the whole Book of God have their tendencie in order to the Lords putting into execution of those spirituall blessings promised and this Covenant is to be restrained to the visible professing Church and their seed as a speciall blessing beyond all the rest of the world that are left to wander in their own wayes And in the Church this Covenant is not to all universally and absolute but indefinitely and conditional so that not any can be excluded from it in particular nor all included in it conjunctively taken for in
the visible Church of Christ that are under the Doctrine and ordinances of the grace of the Covenant many are called but few are chosen And these Impostors and Perverters of the new Covenant that teach that all have the Lawes of the new Covenant writ in their hearts may as truly say that all have the promises thereof writ in their hearts then which nothing is more absurd therefore I conclude that as the promises of the Covenant are upon Divine record that we may have hope for our selves and children so likewise is the rule that we are to conforme unto in order to the receiving of the spirituall blessings promised In the next place to excuse their rash insolent censures they assume to themselves To be the spiritual man that judgeth all things and thereupon by their light they say that my blindnesse and deceit is seen and judged who accuseth them of waving the Scripture-authority as if they were out of date Answ And let the World judge what use they make of the Authority of holy Scriptures that have in plain terms denyed them to be the perfect rule of faith and obedience as you have seen before and not many lines off again where they judge me they say The Spirit and light of Christ in them which they witnesse is absolutely binding and the sole judge of error for to him is all judgement given Joh. 5.22 Thus you see they set up another Rule to be sole judge of error and yet they judge me for accusing them falsely But this is but the same in other words which they have urged and I have answered already in the first Question There they say the Spirit is the rule here the light of Christ in them the sole judge of error for they make the light within the law in the heart the Spirit and Christ the exercise of the conscience to be all one and they quote Scriptures meerly to delude the simple and to colour over their real delusions and deceits for if the Spirit and the immediate Revelations of Christ in the heart be the only rule and sole judge of error to what end do they prove it by Scriptures for that which is the sole Judge of error is infallible of it self and needs not any demonstration but faith to believe it that it is so and their going to the Scriptures to prove the Spirit to be the rule in that very thing they make the Scriptures the absolute rule and therein contradict all they say If Christ in them be the sole judge of truth and error why do they make such a noyse of Scripture expressions can they not speak in the Authority of that Christ within them unlesse they fill up their Revelations with those borrowed expressions of the Scriptures which they call a dead Letter that killeth Certainly in the secret of their Consciences they are convinced that the holy Scriptures are the sole Judge of error they being given by the Inspiration of God and the word that we shall be judged by at the last day Joh. 12.48 although they reject it from being the Judge of error now because it crosses their idle proud fancies and itching humors to set up something of their own brain in their Apostate condition and therefore like condition like rule rather then they will repent and return to the right Rule they will set up a Rule of their own making that shall please them better but what will they do in the end thereof Because they had not executed my judgements but despised my statutes and polluted my Sabbaths c. wherefore I gave them statutes also that were not good and judgements whereby they should not live and the Lord polluted them in their own Gifts c. Ezek. 20.24 25. The Lord give them hearts to consider the judgement of God upon such that despise the judgements statutes and Sabbaths the Lord hath commanded in his word Was this judgement of the Lord inflicted for the despising the judgements and Statutes and Sabbaths that were written in their own hearts think you no but for the despising and breaking the statutes lawes and ordinances commanded to be writ and taught the people by Moses and the Prophets as innumerable Texts do evince But while they quote Scripture although they deny it for a rule let us not be beaten with our own weapon and therefore give me leave to examine their quotations to prove the spirituall man and the light of Christ within to be the sole judge of error distinct from the Scriptures The 1 Cor. 2.14 15. them that are spirituall are put in opposition to the naturall man the one knows approves and judges of spiritual things the other receives not the things of the Spirit nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned the spirituall man hath his senses exercised to discerne and judge of things that differ but it is no where said he doth this without the rule of the word that gives that discovery The spirituall man as well as all others may not judge his brother nor another mans servant for we must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ our Lord and Master and all judgement is committed to the Son that men may honour the Son as they honour the Father Joh. 5. as they quote hence they inferre that Christ is the sole judge of error Indeed Christ as he is the Son of man God and Man in one person who hath ascended farre above all heavens sitting at the right hand of God from thence shall he come in the clouds of Heaven with his mighty Angels in flames of fire to render vengeance on the disobedient to the Gospell Because God hath appointed him a day in which he shall judge the World in righteousnesse even by that man whom he hath ordained whereof God hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Act. 17.31 We believe that Jesus Christ shall come in his day with that very same body that suffered death upon the Crosse and was raised from the dead the third day and he shall judge the whole world of mankind that ever were even all those that are in the Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth the righteous to the resurrection of everlasting life and the wicked to the resurrection of condemnation Joh. 5.28 29. And let these seduced people take notice of Joh 12.28 29 He that receiveth not my words saith Christ hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him at the last day And this word of Christ they reject from being the rule of faith and obedience but whether they will or no they must stand to the judgement of this word of Christ which he hath spoken at the last day William Dusbury tells us that the mighty day of the Lord is appeared in the North of England and is arising towards the South and shall overspread this Nation and all Nations of the world What
were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope but the particular application of the whole or a part is by consequence because they were not firstly writ to us at all Therefore the conclusion is unavoydable against them and yet while themselves are denying the Scriptures to be the rule of faith and obedience and for which they are under the plagues written therein as was urged against them their insensible stupid spirits shift it from themselves and make my self the man that dare adde to the Scriptures my own conclusions and so am under all the plagues written therein Rev. 22.18 19. But let them prove wherein I have in the least diminished and added to the Scriptures who am defending their Divine authority unto all against them who out of Apostasie and strong delusion have denyed the Authority of Scripture to be the Rule of faith and life I spake of consequences and conclusions that naturally flow from expresse Texts of Scripture not forced far-fetched out of Texts perverted and misunderstood as themselves by concluding my self the man that are under all the plagues even while I am defending their Authority and themselves free even while they are denying Scripture Authority In their next judging me the cast-away 1 Cor. 9.27 And found in the old Covenant when the Law and Testimonie is without and shut out of the new Covenant where the Law is written in the heart Because I queried how the Law and Testimonie may be said to be in the heart seeing that the Scripture placed them in the Ark which is called the Ark of the Testimonie where the two Tables were placed that were written with the finger of God Exod. 25.16.20 21. and 31.18 and to this is those Texts Isai 8.16 and verse 20. to be referred which they interpret to be the Law and Testimonie of the heart and would have the Law and Testimonie in the Ark writ with the finger of God but a figure of the other as if the Lawes writ in the two Tables were not reall Lawes which all are bound to obey but a figure of some other Lawes writ in the heart of corrupt man that would make every idle fancie and suggestion of Satan a Law to be ruled by as is too evident by themselves who will allow of no Lawes of God nor Scriptures but the Revelations and Edicts of their own bewitched fancies for they have rejected the word of the Lord Jam. 8.9 and what wisdome is there in them But Christians what think you were not the Children of Israel to whom God gave these Lawes in writing the seed of Abraham and in that everlasting Covenant made to Abraham Gen. 17.7 8. where the Lord promiseth to be a God to him and his seed in their Generations for ever and was not this the Covenant of Grace which included all the saving blessings thereof unto salvation and the Law of Grace in the heart and yet the Lord in his wisdome and mercie to his Covenant people gave them his Lawes in an outward writing and they were bound to the keeping and observing of these Lawes upon promises of the greatest blessings and threats of the greatest penalties annexed Were not Moses Joshua Caleb and all the godly that had the fear of God and the Spirit of God in their souls bound to the observance of this Law which was in the Ark of the Testimonie and were they in the old Covenant so as to be shut out of the new as they say of me for defending the same truth which those servants of the Lord practised and all others that feared God after them What think you Christians is the book of the Law inconsistent with the new Covenant when the truth is the great blessing of the new Covenant is so to renew our hearts and incline them to the Law of God that with love and delight we may walk in Gods Lawes and ordinances prescribed to his Glory But behold their censures they judge me none of Abraham's seed and rased out from his faith and shut out of the new Covenant and judged to be under all the plagues written in the Book of God and now are come to deny my prayers and the God whom I serve Who doth thee guide say they to belie the truth and slander the innocent I say the Lord rebuke thee Satan thou enemie to mankind who by thy wiles beguilest weak man who all his life time is subject to temptation and error and although thou hast prevailed upon these frail men to run upon mistakes putting light for darknesse and taking darknesse for light and thereby hath drawn them to deny the true and living God whose being and blessednesse is in himself infinite yet God forbid that I shoul cease praying for them and that unto my God in the name of Jesus Christ to heal their back slidings and to reduce them from wandring from thy truth and Church in all the mysterious errors they are bewilder'd and scattered in in the cloudy and dark day not for want of light who have been in a valley of vision but for want of love thereof and wholesome Discipline to prevent such extravagances And now my dear Friends of Farndon and all others that are entangled in these dangerous snares and unheard of errors that men of perverse minds and proud presumptuous spirits have the boldnesse to vent and publish in our loose dayes What think you now you have been ready to defend these deceivers and tell us that they keep to the Scriptures and teach nothing but what they have ground of Scripture for and they are as full of Scripture quotations as any whatever But what think you now have not they in plain words denyed the Scriptures to be the only rule of faith and obedience and set up another rule to be the sole Judge of error and ground of all obedience namely the light of Christ in them which sometimes they call the eternall Word by which they judge of errors and persons bind and sentence at pleasure as if all judgement in heaven and earth was given to them only and the same honour due to them which is due to the Father as you have seen it cleared unto you before I beseech you to be serious in your thoughts of what hath been writ in discovering their deceits and blasphemies and the very foundation of all heresie their denying the Rule that all things are to be tryed by and make themselves the absolute rule and we may not question what themselves say be it never so insolent and to be abhorred of all sober Christians But they presently passe sentence and judgement on us as if all judgement was given to them indeed and as if themselves were the only Masters that all must stand or fall unto Had they but power to execute as they have pride and insolencie to judge and censure what flesh were able to stand before them that should but crosse their proud fancies
by him because his appointing means and blessing them to that end was that which did the work as severall Texts doth witness in the writings of the Apostles Act. 11.15.17 18. who concluding Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life and this was wrought by the ministry of the word by Peter Act. 13.46.47 It was necessary that the word of God should first be preached to the Jewes but they rejecting it lo we turn to the Gentiles for so hath the Lord ordained us saying I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the earth Paul and Barnabas attributing that to Christ which was to be done by their ministry by his Authority and command Act. 15.14 15 16 17 19. Peter hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name as it is written in the Prophets that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called saith the Lord. Wherefore my sentence is saith James that we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God and how were they turned to God Not by a light immediate as the Quakers would but by the ministry of the word as further appears Act. 26.17 18. as is witnessed by the Apostle Paul which received it from Christ himself Christ promised to appear unto him delivering him from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom I now send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgivenesse of sins and in he itance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me working in them the same faith by the word on which forgiveness and eternal life only depend that is faith in Christ To open the blind eyes of the Gentile world that were darknesse it self and turn them to the true light is the only work of Jesus Christ as he is God and yet Paul as he was made a Minister of the Gentiles he was sent to do it by the preaching of the Gospell and the Lord wrought wonderfully by his ministry to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed Rom. 15.18 19. How many Churches of the Gentiles were gathered by the Preaching of the Gospel came under Baptisme and all other known duties of Christian obedience Was not Christ a light to all these beleeving Gentiles in granting them repentance unto life as I quoted before As for the other Gentiles which never heard of Christ or hearing of him rejected him they remained Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel without Christ and Covenant of promise and hope and God in the world having their understandings darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindnesse of their hearts Ephes 2.12 4.18 But on the other hand how doth the Apostle admire and wonder at those unsearchable riches of Grace to the Gentiles that beleeved in Christ Jesus Ye who were sometimes far off are made high by the bloud of Jesus therefore now ye are no more strangers and foreiners but fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone in whom all the building fitly framed together Jewes and Gentiles groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. Hence see what that building is of whom Christ is said to be the chief Corner-stone not the profane building of the pagan unbelieving world that are built upon the Devill and the vain imaginations of their dark minds as you haveâ—â—t â—â—ard these Quakers blasphemingly apply this text but Believers be they Jewes or Gentiles that are built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles to them only is Christ the chief Corner-stone chap. 2.19 20 21. If they have ears to hear let them hear what the Spirit hath said unto the Churches and in particular how Christ Jesus hath enlightened and grafted the believing Gentiles into his visible professing Church and made them a peculiar chosen people to himself distinct and separate from the heathen Idolatrous world But it seems they are angry because in my reply I told them it will pose them to prove that that righteous and perfect Law of God in their hearts they so much pretended to to be of God and not from their idle brains And good cause there was that they should be put to the proof thereof they answering so deceitfully and subtilly about the Authority of Scriptures as I have sufficiently discovered Besides I bid them tell me plainly whether the perfect Law of the heart to which all their obedience is bounded be the same perfect Law of God which the holy Scriptures teach consisting of precepts morall and positive Institutions of holy Worship in force in the Apostolicall Churches c. Or whether is the Law in the heart different from it If say I that in the heart be but the very same with the whole of Scriptures then it will follow that the perfect Law and Rule of Scriptures is superfluous and writ in vain Then on the other hand if that in their heart be different from the Scriptures it concerns them to prove it to be of God and not from their idle brains To that purpose I writ Their Answer is We speak in plainnesse as the Law of God written in our hearts directeth us which Law we know is perfect and a blessing of the everlasting Covenant which thou talkest of but knowest not being disobedient and abominable c. Answ 1. What may we judge of that Law that accuseth another to be disobedient and abominable for proposing rational queries and demanding proof of what they assert 2. Is their saying they know they have the perfect Law of God in their hearts a satisfying proof Judge ye But 3. If this Law be but a blessing of the Covenant then it is not the eternall word that made the world as before they Answer upon the like occasion upon the first Question unlesse they will confound God that gives the blessing and the blessing given into one Well they take it for granted in stead of proof That the perfect Law of God is written in their hearts by which they judge my error who am pleading for that Law to be the ground of the Saints obedience that made nothing perfect say they This is notable Did I ever plead for that Law of Priesthood that were exercised in the sacrificing beasts sprinklings of blood which were but types of Christ the bringer in of a better hope Heb. 7. I say did I ever plead this Law of Ceremonies which were but a shadow of good things to come the ground of the Saints obedience Let them produce it or else cease thus to abuse me with lying words But if they will wickedly pervert
Gods Spirit a new heart and of putting his fear and writing his lawes and circumcising the hearts of the Fathers and children to love the Lord with all their hearts and sending his Son to blesse his people in turning them from their iniquities and to give them repentance and remission of fins is performed to all in the world I pray you consider and do not wilfully forsake your own mercies in the resisting of that truth which by this time you cannot but confesse in the secret of your souls and stand convinced in your selves that your foundation is meerly the mud and sand of a deluded fancie See what absurdities you plunge your selves into besides the denying of the Scriptures for a perfect Rule of faith and obedience and all other means of working Grace that God hath appointed to that end And in your denying the Authority of Scriptures for a Rule you have weakned the seeming strength of this Text for if it be not a Rule of faith at all then not in this particular thing and then what remains to colour over your main principle save only your private fancies under the pretence of the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures as if the same Spirit would crosse and contradict it self so notoriously as you have seen and thus by laying another foundation besides what the Apostles preached and practised in the Christian Churches of Christ hath runned you out of all truth which the Scriptures teach and which the Saints in all ages since have professed and witnessed with their dearest blood I confesse the Church of God hath been troubled with men of perverse minds that have forsaken the truth and fomented many of the same erroneous opinions that you center in as universall Redemption universall grace freewill justification by works falling finally from grace yet the Authors of these errors use to be more sober and rationall in their inferences and practises concluded hence then you of this Generation they still urged the use of all out ward helps and advantages as to Christian practice both to God and man according to the rule of the word they professed the word for the rule though upon mistake they were forced to pervert it the opinions being so point-blank against the evident light of Scriptures as hath been made to appear by able pens in all times and places against them But the improvement of the same things as touching your selves is most desperate and Diabolicall talk of a sufficient light and grace in all to be saved and then discourage from the use of Scriptures ministry ordinances of Religious Worship c. bid people mind the light while they do what they can to put it out even that which they have received by the blessing of the Lord in the use of Christian education according to Scriptures as if all that any man receives from the Lord in the use of those means himself hath undoubtedly appointed and commanded were inconsistent to the light within when all impressions of the light of Conscience as it is Divine is attained by the blessing of the Lord in the use of the Scriptures and Scripture ministry as hath been spoke to Then to make this light in all Christ the eternall word the Law of the new Covenant the Spirit of God which was promised to be sent to convince the world of sin c. Who ever fancyed such prodigious blasphemies before now which your papers stink of You have questioned the light of Scriptures the light of Christs person and ministry and Authority you have questioned whether there were a written word of God a person natures and offices of Christ and have upon the matter made that little spark of the light of reason corrupted which is in meer heathens the light of Christ who according to promise is called the light of the Gentiles as if that light which is in all that know not God nor ever heard of Jesus Christ what he is and what he did was the fulfilling of those promises and prophosies What use is there of such promises and prophesies that all in the world have had the performance of from the beginning of the world but the holy Apostles understood those promises fufilled only to those Gentiles that were enlightned by Christs word to believe in his name and to submit to his Lawes revealed such Gentiles only were built upon the Prophets and Apostles Christ the chief corner-stone all others were without Christ Aliens from the Commonwealth of Gods Israel strangers from the Covenant of promise and without hope and without God in the world These things are so plain and have been so cleered against you that you will be left without all excuse if you resist such evident light and be ashamed ever to talk of Scripture more if your Consciences be past feeling that you can oppose the light and Authority of Scripture without fear The truth is you are so intoxicated with this notion of Christ lightning all immediately and so bewitched in your minds touching the manner of working it that you preferre the light common to all in the world and the discoveries thereof to eternall happinesse before all the light of Christ which by his Spirit he hath discovered unto any by the writings of the Prophets and Apostles But without any doubt all this is because you have no light in you I have gone beyond my intended bounds though I have not done my intended work which was to go through all your Answers to my ten Questions but for want of my Papers which you detein from me against your promise and that civility I presumed upon in you when I sent them without keeping a Copy by me as I told you And indeed fearing that I shall be too tedious to the Reader and to my own occasions I have thought good to publish these as judging them necessary not only to forewarn you to flie from the wrath which is to come but also to admonish my friends more timely and to informe those of weaker judgements to prevent their running into these damnable herefies while your selves some of you are compassing the earth to make Proselytes and to seduce them into these snares of Hell below And because I know delusion is very strong when it is inflicted in judgement for former coldnesse out of which I fear your obstinacy in that Gulph of Apostasie that you are involved in will rather prompt you to defend and excuse or deny what I have charged you with and endeavoured to convict you of Therefore though out of the same Spirit you writ to me before you be moved to the same envy malice lying censures railings judgings in your return as I see you want not for impudence to face out any thing to asperse and make odious those that are farre better then my self yet I know that my record is on high that out of the integrity of my heart and measure of light received I have writ what I have published and am resolved to be