ministred by the hearing of faith preached as wel as sometimes immediatly both which administrations I own as true But I come now to his other main Tenent which chiefly tendeth to the disparagement of the Scriptures and which chiefly ingageth men to oppose him in it as a work of Sathan And why should not I whiles I am in the world what in me lieth indeavour to destroy the works of the devil see 1 Joh 3.8 He saith further in his Book against Baxter speaking of the Apostles that they did never say the letter was the Word And in his 7th Querie in the end of his Book he enquireth whether the word of God can be changed or can it admit of several meanings as to one particular thing A I Answer that James Naylor may wrest the Scriptures to his own destruction and he is not so infallible but he may misunderstand the genuine meaning 2 Pet. 3.16 2. He enquireth whether it be visible or invisible A I answer the Word was made flesh and dwelt on earth and is now visible in Heaven and yet is here invisibly in spirit in the hearts of his people but how the word was made flesh James Naylor understandeth not 3. He enquireth is there any word but one or whether was that word before the letter and shal be when the letter is turned to dust A. To which I answer that Christ the essential word is but one we own but one Christ who shal remain when the Quakers have burnt their Bibles if they wil burn them as some of them have said it were all one to them if the Bibles were all burnt Foster by name hath so exprest himself and they say they are all of one mind then such esteem they have all of the sacred scriptures which we account of as not only the word of men but the word of God as so I shal make to appear that it is not blasphemy as they most wickedly assert but our bounden duty to own and call it the word of God and that it is blasphemy in them to deny it and cal it carnal and a dead letter And the Lord assisting I shal prove 1. That there is not only one but many words yea words of God so taken in scripture 2. That what God hath spoken is his word 3. That whatever Christ hath spoken who is the essentia word is also the word of God 4. That all scriptures given by inspiration of God and all expressions of men unto which they are moved by the Holy Ghost are the words of God and that it is not they that speak but the spirit of their Father that speaketh in them 5. That every word of God is pure and also true by whomsoever spoken but nor such lies as these of the Quakers but they are the words of another spirit then the spirit of God as I trust in God to make it manifest as so I ought And before I begin for fuller satisfaction how they account of the scriptures take notice that I find it in a little Book called The holy Scriptures clearing it self from scandals or an Answer to a Book written by Richard Farnworth who is commonly called a Quaker written by Thomas Polard who had opposed them by argum nt in a publick way Which Thomas Polard saith that they cal the scripture carnal and a dead letter and say it wil never bring a man to the knowledg of God but that all that is gotten from the scripture is but brain knowledg And I find in a Book of Naylors against one Thomas Moore how he answereth this to wit being asked by Moore whether the writing of the Prophets and Apostles be a dead letter He answereth that without the spirit it is nor can any without that spirit that gave them forth understand them or know the voices of Prophets or Apostles aledging Luk 24.45 Act 13.27 A 1. But where doth the scripture or the spirit of God cal the scripture a dead letter or carnal and that it wil never bring a man to the knowledg of God but that all that is gotten from it is but brain knowledg A 2. Where is it said in scripture that the spirit of God and the scripture are seperated The words that Christ hath spoken they are spirit and they are life and Moses said unto the people set your hearts unto all the words that I testifie unto you this day which ye shal command your Children to observe to do all the words of this Law for it is not a vain thing for you for it is your life and through this thing yee shall prolong your daies Deut 32.46 47. And again the law is spiritual faith saith the Apostle I am carnal Rom 7. and Prov 2. My sonn if thou wilt receive my words and hide my Commandements with thee so that thou incline thine ear to wisdom and apply thine heart unto understanding if thou seekest for her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledg of God see v 1 2 3 4 5. See also Pro 3.1 2. My sonn forget not my Law but let thine heart keep my Commandements For length of daies and long life and peace shal they add to thee see also ch 4.1 2 3 4. Let thine heart retain my words keep my Commandements and live And ver 13. Take fast hold of instruction let her not go keep her for she is thy life Consider I say whether the wisdome of God so pathetically expressing her self to us if possible to perswade us to attend and hearken to the words of his mouth and to keep his Commandements and instructions and treasure them in our hearts as words of life to our souls and marrow to our bones as in another place and that for this end we should teach them to our Children as I might be large upon any of these Texts But whether I say doth the wisdome of God account the scripture as a dead letter let all wise men judg and whether they have not in them more spirit of life and power then the words and writings of James Naylor and whether they ought not rather to be observed and beleeved and trusted in for eternal life Now it is evident that the directions of James Naylor as a way to be infallibly guided and to attaine unto life and peace and rest for our souls is one thing and these directions are another his directions are to attend and hearken to that spirit and light within though it be a question whether it be the spirit of God or a lying spirit and a question whether there be at all any light within but grosse darkness and he that is in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth til he be enlightned by the Word and Spirit But he that hateth his Brother is in darkness until this present time it were wisdom therefore for James Naylor himself to try his spirii and light by the Law and
word of God 3 Assertion To wit What ever Christ hath spoken who is the essential word is also the word of God Reason First because he is the Sonne and Heire yea and even God himself and not only man For in him dwelleth the sulnesse of the Godhead bodily He whom God hath sent speaketh the word of God John 3.34 Therefore what words he spake were the words of God and therefore it was truly said of him by the people to wit Never man spake like this man Coloss 3.16 And therefore it behoveth us not to let the words of Christ slip but to let it dwell richly in us in all wisdom John 3.34 For his words are the words of the word of God He whom God hath sent speaketh Gods words The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life The fourth and fifth Assertion proved Rom. 7.14 For we know that the Law is spirituall but I am carnall Deut. 4.2 You shal not add unto the word that I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it that yee may keep the commandements of the Lord your God which I command you Observe that he enjoyns them that they shall take heed unto the word which he commands them speaking in the singular number as if it were but one word But when he shewes them the end of this his Take heed he expresseth it in the plurall number and maketh that plurality the same in the conclusion to wit That you may keep the Commandements of the Lord your God which I command you Clearly shewing that that word which he commanded them in the singular number was the Commandements of the Lord their God in the plural number So that it is evident that all the words and commandements of God in the whole Scripture being the words of God by whomsoever held forth may properly and truly and justly be called the word of God in the singular number Reason For as God spake those ten Commandements and writ then upon two Tables see verse 13. so all the rest of the scripture is not onely spoken but written and every part of it written or spoken by Holy men of God as they were moved by the spirit of God that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope And there is none that is ordained to eternall life but if hee read the Scriptures or heareth them read or spoken but if he understand them he doth believe them And there is no man justified through faith in Christ but he loveth the Scriptures and will own them as words of Spirit and Life and not account them as a dead Letter but as the word of God and as words of eternal life in which there is spirit and spiritual life communicative unto them yea even every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is as spiritual food and nourishment whereby they grow up unto greater degrees of spirituall life where it is begun and whereby they presse forward unto perfection Those precious promises therein contained are the savour of life unto life unto them and they cannot but relish them as sweeter to them then the hony and the hony comb They cannot but with David love Gods Law and it is their meditation continually they doe esteem of the words of his mouth more then their appointed food they doe account them as a Lanthorn unto their feet and a light unto all their paths they grow thereby to be wiser then their Teachers because they keep them and to have more understanding then the ancients because they keep his precepts His words are sweet unto their taste yea sweeter then hony unto their mouth They vow and doe resolve that they will keep his righteous judgements Read much of this Psalm 119. All that are men and women after Gods own heart have the same spirit of love to and delight in and beliefe of and benefit and comfort by and from the sacred Word Law Precepts Judgments Statutes and Promises contained in the Scriptures and therefore cannot but hate every false way or contradictious way or way and works or words whatsoever that tend to the disparagement or contradiction thereof And therefore it was that our dear Saviour honored them so much as that he kept all Gods Law and fulfilled it perfectly and witnessed also that Men therefore erred because they knew not the Scripptures nor the power of God And he opened the understanding of his Disciples that they might understand the scriptures And he opened the heart of Lidia that she attended to the things that Paul spake And it is enjoyned unto Kings that they shall write them a Copie of the Law in a book which shall be with them that they may read therein all the dayes of their life that they may learn to seare the Lord their God and keep all the words of the Law and of the Statutes to doe them that their hearts be not lifted up above their brethren and that they turn not aside from the Commandement to the right hand or to the left to the end that they may prolong their dayes in their Kingdome See Deut. 17.18 19 20. Timothy was commanded to give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine 1 Tim. 4.13 These and many such like which I might produce are farre unsuitable to the Spirit and Doctrine of James Naylor which directeth onely to a light within which in many is clouded with sottish ignorance till they hear the Word which is ordained of God to save them that believe and is the meanes which they ought to use for getting that light and spirituall understanding which the Fountain of wisdome holdeth forth therein and doth thereby communicate to his poore dull ignorant creatures his Spirit being with it and as the Porter of their understandings that they may understand them and comprehend in measure those internall hidden and secret mysteries therein contained The Apostle Paul had served God with pure conscience from his fore-fathers and yet his light within informed not his conscience but that he thought it his duty to doe many things against the name of Jesus insomuch as through pure zeale persecuted the Church and wasted it exceedingly til he was called to from heaven See 2 Tim 1.3 And that notwithstanding all his learnednesse in the Scriptures and blamelesnesse of life concerning the Law For the reason was not because he knew not the Scriptures or did not search them but because he did not understand them aright but according to the false glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees which had clouded them so to him so that he did not know them in their genuine sense and proper meaning but under a false glosse For else he should not have erred for saith Christ ye therefore erre because ye know net the Scriptures nor the power of God And biddeth Search the Scriptures for they are they that testifie of me And the Scriptures are alle to make us wise unto salvation yea to make
and that in publick which was the old Testament But James Naylor saith he may read all his life the Letter of the Scriptures and therewith come amongst the Parish Ministers and never discern the voyce of Christ See page 45. in his book against Moore To the which I answer It is true that such who are none of the sheep of Christ may indeed read the Scriptures and heare them read and preached all their lives and yet never know the voyce of Christ in them so as to follow him but they will rather follow strangers instance James Naylor But such who are his sheep they know his voyce and will follow him and not the stranger yea by what means soever he speaketh unto them mediatly or immediatly and they account the Scripture as the word of God himselfe as if he should speak unto them by an audible voyce and they know them to be written for their learning that they through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope And it is no disparagement to the Scripture the Letter as he calls it that some despise it and regard it not but undervalue it and let it slip Nor to the words of Christ himselfe and his Apostles nor to his Ministers now because many people did not profit by them nor do not know them in regard they are not mixed with faith in such as heare them For it is they that are of God they hear Gods word and they that are Christs sheep know his voyce and obey and follow him But some therefore heare them not because they are not of God and some obey not his voyce because they are none of his sheep John 10 and Chap. 8.47 But Naylor often produceth the non-proficiencie of the people as a ground of disparagement to the Ministers of the word yea and to the word it self the Letter I mean the which I shall prove to be the word of God And first that there is not onely one but many words of God and so called in Scripture it is plain to any rational Christian that knoweth the Scriptures 1. Psalm 12.6 The words of the Lord are pure words like silver tried in a Furnace of earth purified seven times 1 Arg. Now the words of the Lord are words of God 2 Arg. And words in the plural number must needs include more then one Conclus Therefore there is as certainly as that the Scripture is true more words of God then one spoken of in Scripture 2. Prov. v 30.5 Every word of God is pure he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him Now this word Every includeth more then either one or two words and that of God 3. 1 Thess 2.13 where the Apostle saith Because when yee received the word of God which ye heard of us yee received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God From whence it is clear that the word which they heard of the Apostles was in truth the word of God Even that audible word which they heard of the Apostles yea heard them speak 4. 1 Tim. 5.17 Especially them that labour in the Word and Doctrine 5. 2 Tim. 2.9 But the word of God is not bound 6. Heb. 6.5 And have tasted of the good word of God 7. Jam. 1.18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth 8. And verse 21. And receive with meeknesse the ingrafted word which is able to save your souls And verse 22. And be yee doers of the word and not hearers onely deceiving your own souls Quest Can any of these be meant of Christ How improper had it been to have said Be ye Doers of Christ in stead of Be ye doers of the word 9. See Deut. 8.3 But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Obser Observe how improper it had been to have said Every Christ that proceedeth out of the mouth of God 10. Psa 68.11 The Lord gave the word great was the company of those that published it Observe It it is not said him but It. 11. Isai 2.3 For out of Zyon shall go forth the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem 12. Jer. 6.10 The word of the Lord is unto them a reproach they have no delight in it 13. Amos 8.11 12. A famine of hearing the words of the Lord. 14. Matth. 13.23 He that receiveth seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it And Luke 8.11 12. 15. The seed is the word of God Those by the way side are they that heard then cometh the Devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved Could the Devil take Christ out of their hearts after once received how absurd were it 16. John 5.24 He that heareth my word and beleeveth on him that sent me hath everlasting life 17. Acts 4.31 And they spake the word of God boldly 18. Acts 6.2 It is not meet that we should leave the word of God and serve the tables And verse 7. And the word of God increased and the number of the Disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly Quest. Had it been proper to have said That Christ increased 19. Acts 8.14 15 16. Samaria had received the word of God and yet the holy Ghost was not come down upon any of them Conseq So they had received the Word but not the Spirit and so not Christ by James Naylors account if there be no more but Christ 20. Act 12.24 But the word of God grew and multiplied Did Christ grow and multiply See also chap. 13.44 and verse 46 48 49. And chap. 15.35 36. And chap. 19.20 2 Cor. 4.2 Ephes 6.17 All which are clearly meant of the teaching and preaching of the word of God and of the growth thereof Assertion 2. to wit That what ever God hath spoken is his word or words The which I prove thus it is written Exod 20.1 And God spake all these words saying Conseq Therefore when God speaketh his expressions are called words or a word See Psalm 68.11 The Lord gave the word great was the Company of those that published it Arg. But if what God speaketh is his word or words Conseq Then it must necessarily follow that all Scripture is the word of God and the particular words of it are words of God and altogether they are his word See Heb. 1.2 God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto our Fathers in times past by the Prophets hath in these last times spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the worâ—ds See also Chap. 12.25 See that yee refuse not him that speaketh Also Luke 1.69 As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began Observe he spake it by the mouth of his holy Prophets and of his Apostles and af his Son Therefore all such speakings and expressions are the words and
that in every place the Spirit witnessed that bonds and afflictions aboad for him And Agabus signifyed the same to him And in those dayes it is said of some that they were full of the holy Ghost and wisdome Steven being so full that his face shone and Philip was caught away from the Eunuch that he saw him no more yet hee was found at Azotus preaching the Gospel And the holy Ghost said Seperate Paul and Barnabas for the worke whereto I have called them But I was yet short in these things having not yet attained so much acquaintance and familiaritie with God And I hardly know how so to walke in the Spirit that I shall not fullfill the workes of the flesh lesse or more I have not yet attained to such a degree of faith as to aske what I will and it shall be given mee though I have a promise for it of him that cannot lye but many times my faith failes and I begin to sinke and come short of attainement of what I earnestly desire to wit the best of things and the best gifts and things needfull and lawfull to aske and desire after I have not yet learned so full as I ought to cast all my care on him whom I know careth for mee but am many times too much troubled with cares of this world I have not yet learned to keepe my heart with such diligence but the Issues thereof are sometimes evill I am too much troubled with carnall thoughts and vaine Imaginations which sometimes produce Idle and vaine words and actions of which I know I must give an account at the day of Judgement I am too much addicted to love the world and the things in the world though I well know that if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him And though I allow not my selfe in any of these things but desire and pray to him that hath power to helpe and deliver mee in these Respects that I may get victory and full conquest yet I have not attained it unto this day And whether the wisdome of God hath so determined it that it shall yet be thus because his power is made perfect through weaknesse as hee said to the Apostle or it be because of the weaknesse of faith or coldnesse of my desires after this conquest I cannot well determine yet I am resolved by the grace of God to presse on forwards and to fight the good fight of faith whiles I shall remaine in this tabernacle but I will get victory through Jesus Christ my Lord and life and onely Saviour who alone is able to make mee Conquerour in these respects for power belongeth unto God And I know him in part in whom I have beleeved and that hee is able to give mee victory I shall not deny but he is fully able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him and to guide them infallibly and leade them into all truth But I will not neglect either to reade the Scriptures or exercise my selfe in prayer unto God nor the teachings of men but shall be glad to learne of the meanest Christian that can teach mee further then I have attained I will not scorne to learne at James Naylor if he can teach me any truth of God of which I am ignorant though he would much disdaine to be taught by mee or by men whomsoever as so I cannot but judge in regard hee blameth and despiseth such who run after men and heape up teachers as being resolved for his part that he is infallible and without sinne or imperfection having the Spirit of God which is infallible and of power sufficient to inable him fully to doe the will of God yea to doe it on earth as it is done in heaven As so no man that knoweth God but will acknowledge his power and wisdome is all-sufficient if he so pleaseth And therefore the question doth not lye whether the Spirit of God be an infallible guide yea or no But whether James Naylor and others be infallibly guided by that infallible Spirit yea or no in all things that they doe Now though I shall confesse that what hee speaketh or writeth being mooved thereto by the Spirit of God is infallibly true and it may truly be called the word of God if the Spirit of God hath spoke it by him Yet when he speaketh or writeth that which is not true but quite contradictions to the Law and testimonie and that I know it so to be I shall never confesse that hee was mooved thereunto by the Spirit of God but that he hath done it presumptuously out of the vision of his owne heart or by Satans instigation And therefore when he dareth be so presumptuous as to disparage the Scriptures reproaching them that call them the word of God And when hee directeth men rather to the light within which in some for the present is clouded with darknesse rather then to the Scriptures for their guide to direct them to eternall life I dare not confesse he was mooved thereunto by the Spirit of God And so when hee directeth men still to eye their light within and to own it as sufficient without any word at all of the teachings of men And when he blameth Ministers of the word of God for taking of a Text and preaching from it as sometimes Christ and his Apostles did I shall not confesse hee was mooved thereunto by the Spirit of God And when hee blameth men for praising and singing of Psalmes in the Spirit unto God as the Apostles did I shall never beleeve he was mooved thereto by the Spirit of God nor that he was ever so merry I meane in the Lord as to rejoyce and delight so to expresse himselfe by singing of Psalmes as the Saints of God are many times and as for that end they were given forth and ordained of God and held forth by David and others And when he blameth men so much for having a Law without and morrall as well as the same Law written in their hearts and for having light and a word without as well as that within And a Church without and a Christ without and in heaven as well as within in their hearts As so he doth in his Epistle to all the faithlesse generation of the world and all that desire to know in what saith and hope they live and what faith and hope they deny I can never beleeve that hee writt this profession of faith being mooved thereunto by the Spirit of God Nor can I beleeve that their refusing to give honour to whom honour is due and feare to whom feare and shewing love to whom love is due is from the Spirit of God Nor can I ever beleeve that their uncivill uncourteous and brutish carriage and their harsh opprobrious disgracefull language and darke and dismall countenances so farre off from the least shew of love and amiablenesse is from the Spirit of God Nor can I ever beleeve that their
thy barnes be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst with new wine Prov. 3.9 And that in Ezekiel 44.28 29 30. to wit And it shall be unto them for an inheritance I am their inheritance and yee shall give them no possession in Israell I am their possession They shall eate the meate-offering and the sinne-offering and every dedicate thing in Israell shall be theirs And the first of all the first-fruits of all things and every oblation of all and every sort of your oblations shall be the Priests yee shall also give unto the Priest the first of all your dough that hee may cause the blessing to rest in thine house Object But it will be objected that these are all but Judaicall Ceremonies to which Christ put an end and that these meate-offerings and sinne-offerings and trespasse-offerings and dedicate things and all these oblations of every sort are nothing now that concerne either us or the Ministers of the Gospell And therefore it is improper to make these things exemplary for our direction Answer I shall easily grant that all these Ceremonies and externall sacrifices and oblations are ceased and not to be observed nor practised by us in the Jewish forme But I cannot grant but that they are something to us in the times of the Gospell Else the Apostle was deceived when he brought that Instance 1 Cor 9.13 to wit Doe yee not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the Temple and they which waite at the Altar are partakers with the Altar From which hee concludes that Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospell should live of the Gospell And therefore these Scriptures doe concerne us and there is morall Instruction and direction in them though not so much as some would gather Reas For first wee must not onely serve the Lord with all our hearts but with the first fruits of all our increase That is to say wee must be readie to distribute and to communicate as we have occasion and are called of God as need requires and that in all good things Wee should thinke nothing too good or too deare or too much to communicate to our teachers or give to the poore For the Lord accounteth it is given to himselfe or lent to himselfe as so hee did but then assigning over as it were his owne portion which hee expecteth from us by way of gratitude for his blessing of us and as hee hath increased us to be given to the Ministers as then to the Priests For hee that giveth but to them so much as a cup of cold water because they are Christs Ministers or Christs Disciples or because they belong to Christ shall in no wise loose his reward And some shall be condemned at the last day as not giving it to Christ because they did not give it to the least of those little ones that beleeve in him 2 Rea And secondly they must doe it and doe it liberally if they will expect to reape liberally to the Ministers of the Gospell as then to the Priests and for the same reasons namely That they may cause the blessing to rest in their houses And that they may reape liberally that their barnes may be filled with plentie and their presses burst with new wine yea that hee may powre them forth a blessing that there shall not be roome to receive it And that the very loynes of the poore may blesse them For wee are but deceived if wee sow sparingly and yet expect to reape liberally from the hand of God For God is not mocked but hee that soweth sparingly shall reape sparingly And if we take not his word but put it to the tryall wee shall finde our selves mocked and deceived in it And how absurd a thing is it that God hath given us his word and wee dare not take it nor doe accordingly but thinke all woone and as it were treasured up that is spared this way And so that others doe it wee thinke it will serve as if wee did it our selves But it will be found when our accounts are cast up that wee utterly loose and that manifolds what wee spare this way Quest But it will be demanded to wit If it be so that God requireth of us That are taught in the word to make them that teach pertakers with us in all good things Then what part of that with which the Lord increaseth us must wee Communicate Answ I answer that if I should sett a stint under Gospell-dispensations I should make bolder than the Apostle did or had a minde to doe But I shall gather some resolves that are clearely deducible from Scripture-grounds yea from the Law of God which is the Law of Love and so passe it over 1. And first the Apostle saith Let every man administer according to the measure of his faith And as every man wisheth in his heart so let him give From which I conclude That if men have not faith so as they can trust in God that hee will not faile them in case they give liberally that they shall certainly receive a reward suitable according to his promise but are in feare to want themselves Then yet hee hereby requireth that they doe communicate and that they doe distribute yea though they doe it but sparingly 2. And secondly As there is no bounds for liberalitie in any case so it be freely and in faith so I dare not set bounds in this respect concerning the Ministrie But whether a tenth part or a ninth or the eight or the halfe or all of that wherewith God hath increased us Rea For God is able to make all grace to abound so that wee shall certainly reape as liberally from the hand of God if wee part with all wee have be it what it can more or lesse according to his promise The widows mite was all her living and shee was commended for it And they are likewise Commended in the primitive Church in that such as had lands sould them and laid them downe at the Apostles seete and they were distributed as every one had need Resolve But this I resolve that to give lesse then a tenth of that wherewith God hath increased us in any lawfull way in case when need requireth for supplying of the Ministrie and of the poore the Churches poore especially and that occasion calls us to part with it for any such ends as may properly be called giving unto God or lending to the Lord or Communicating c. I say lesse then a tenth is too sparing 1 Rea For it is lesse than Abraham gave to Melchisedecke before the Law was given And lesse than Jacob vowed And lesse than God required and called for as his due for the donation of the land of Canaan to the Israelites 2 Rea And for us in times of the Gospell to be more sparing under such large and bountifull and free dispensations Is a most shamefull unfaithfull and ungratefull part And will
supplying of the necessities of the Saints and faithfull and more especially of the Ministers if it may but any way tend to the furtherance and glory of the Gospell of Christ And therefore give mee leave to argue for the furtherance of the Gospell upon this occasion Ar 1. If all that wee have yea our lives and all be due unto God when he calleth for them upon these accounts before named 2. And that hee hath not stinted us to any lesser part than all as sufficiently due and liberall when need requireth 3. And if the primitive examples in giving all they had to the common stocke whiles they did continue to be of one heart and of one minde was spoken of as a commendable thing and that which was but suitable to the professors of the Gospell 4. Nay if it was no more but what the love of God and the love of the brethren did naturally ingage and induce them too least there should be amongst them any that lacked either of the Apostles or brethren 5. Nay if God requireth and expecteth fruit suitable to his tillage And therefore the more free and splendorous and glorious dispensations that God holdeth forth in the dispensation of the Gospell of Christ Even speaking to us by his Sonne whom hee hath made heire of all things and by whom also hee made the worlds see Heb 1 2 3 4. and to the end of the Chapter wherein appeareth that he is our Land-Lord 6. And if wee should give the more earnest heede to the things which wee have heard least at any time wee should let them slip 1 Rea Because if the word spoken by Angells was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward Then wee cannot possibly escape if wee neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witnesse both with signes and wonders and gifts of the holy Ghost according to his owne will see Chap 2.1 2 3 4. 2 Rea Because it is dangerous to refuse him that speaketh from heaven to wit Christ And more dangerous than refusing him that spake on earth to wit Moses see Heb 12.21 3 Rea Because wee ought to consider and to honour and obey the Lord Jesus Christ as the Apostle and high Priest of our profession yea more and rather and that by many degrees above Moses by how much the more hee that buildeth a house hath more honour then the house and as hee that is the Sonne hath more honour then the servant see Chap 3.1.3.6 Nay as hee that hath built all things hath more honour then hee that hath built but some thing see vers 4. 7. And if Christ himselfe hath commanded this manner and measure of love to be found visibly amongst his Disciples That all men might know that wee are his Disciples 8. And if this boundlesse love cannot nor ought not nor never was limited to pay a tenth part nor any under a tenth but that it naturally produceth all if need so require 9. And if wee ought to prove and exemplifie the naturallnesse of our love Conclusion Then without all controversie or peradventure when need so requireth to give a tenth part of that wherewith the Lord hath increased us is but a sparing due in comparison of that which Christ hath commanded when hee commanded it as due First in the Law To love God above all and our neighbour as our selves And secondly when hee commanded such manner of love and such a measure also as hee himselfe had really exemplified and shewed to us And that wee should shew it forth not in word onely but in deed and in truth Not in having of bowells of compassion and shutting them up but in giving of those things that are needfull and convenient and that may expresse our bountifullnesse and not sparing spirits to be really in us Else wee doe not realize the love of God to be dwelling in us see John 3.17 And againe saith hee plainely This is my commandement that yee love one another as I have loved you And greater love then this hath 〈◊〉 then that a man lay downe his life for his friends see John 15.12 13. And againe These things I command you that yee love one another vers 17. And againe as answering an objection which hee foresaw in their minds to wit That if they loved one another and shewed such peculiar love one to another then the world would hate them the more The which he cutteth off clearely as altogether invalid saying If the world doe hate you yee know that it hated mee before it hated you see vers 18. and to the end And give mee leave a little to ingrate upon the spirits of men yea that whoever readeth or heareth these Resolves might consider with mee and so freely acknowledge as sure none can deny but that these very words are the words of Christ and the commands of Christ And therefore as wee doe know them and faithfully beleeve that they are his words Let us take heed yea diligent heed and the more heed also least wee let them slip Even because they are his words whom wee ought to love honour and obey in all things And that not as man onely but as God himselfe And therefore let no excuses serve our turnes like them that heard the Law at first because they could not abide that which was commanded see Heb For wee must abide and obey also what Christ hath commanded wee cannot be excused as the Israelites were For he likewise exemplified what he hath commanded in his owne person and in our nature And therefore whoever he be that will not hearken to the word of God which Christ hath spoken in his name God will require it of him see Deut 18.18 19. And therefore let no man deceive us with vaine words For God is not mocked but wee shall finde that his words are true when all men living on the face of the earth shall be found lyars And these are his words concerning such measure and manner of love as hee requireth of us let us take heed therefore least wee let them slip or least wee finde excuses as if wee will give eare to excuses wee shall finde too many and all but such as will not serve our turne nor cleare our consciences in the sight of God 1. And first beware of giving eare to the Quakers For they tell us if wee can beleeve them that our Ministers are carnall and hirelings and looke onely for gaine from their quarters and much to that purpose as hath been shewed And likewise that all professors are carnall that frequent the Ordinances and have need of the teachings of men or of the Scripture it selfe and that all Ordinances are vaine and uselesse and shall come to nought But doe not beleeve them I hope there hath sufficient proofe been held forth in this little Treatise to prove them