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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47191	Truths defence, or, The pretended examination by John Alexander of Leith of the principles of those (called Quakers) falsly termed by him Jesuitico-Quakerism, re-examined and confuted : together with some animadversions on the dedication of his book to Sir Robert Clayton, then Mayor of London / by G.K.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1682 (1682)	Wing K225; ESTC R22871	109,893	242

Testament is found the killing Letter there is also in the New Testament the Letter which killeth him who doth not spiritually attend unto the things which are spoken And why was the Law called a killing Letter only because it did curse and condemn guilty sinners Nay that is not the only or main reason but rather that its Ministration could not give life whereas the Ministration of the Gospel being accompanied with the Spirit doth quicken and give life and in that respect Paul said The Law was weak and could no make perfect and therefore calls it The Law of a carnal Commandment Now if any go from the Spirit that only makes the true Gospel Administration and set up the Letter or Writings of the Apostles in the room of the same These Writings of the Apostles do eventually become a killing Letter no less than that of the Law and can no more give life or make perfect than the outward Law could And here upon this Head I do readily take notice what I. A. acknowledgeth concerning the Scriptures in page 16. of his Book towards the middle part viz That the Scriptures as to the external Form and Mode which they have from the Writers Pen they are not the Word of God but that as to their ennutiate doctrine and sentence they are the Word of God And why then doth I. A. make all this loud clamour and noise against the Quakers seeing upon the matter he confesseth what they say viz. That the letter or external form of the Writing is not properly the Word of God And I suppose I may add with I. A his allowance that the external Form and Mode of the Preachers mouth when he formeth a sound in speaking Scripture Words is not properly the Word of God any more than the bare writing ●seeing there is no more in the one than in the other simply as such Let not I. A. therefore blame us for that hereafter which he confesseth himself and we do as readily acknowledge as he either doth or can do That the ennutiate and expressed Doctrine and sense of the Spirit is indeed truly and properly the Word of God But then is there no difference betwixt him and us I Answer as to the naming the Scriptures the Word it seemeth there is none But yet another great Controversie ariseth which I doubt will not be so soon ended betwixt us viz. Whether any man can reach unto that Ennuti●te Doctrine and sense of the Scriptures without the Spiritual Illumination and Assistance of that Spirit that gave them forth we say Not and if he say Yea we still differ but not as it seemeth to me by his Confession in naming the Scriptures The Word of God But there is yet another great Charge wherewith he loadeth us in this his Survey of the Third Query Some Quakers saith he are upon this Head so grosly Atheistical as to say That the Scriptures are but the Saints Words and Testimony from their own particular experiences And again he alledgeth That according to the Quakers they are but the meer bare Word of a Creature Hence he inferreth That the Pen-men of the Scripturs of all men in the World must have been the greatest Cheats and archest Impostors c. But seeing he produceth no express Testimonies out of the Writings of that People for such Assertions he is not to be believed Nor doth it follow that because the Scriptures are the Saints Words that therefore they are not also the Words of God even unto all who hear or read them at least mediately and remotely although none but such as believe do receive them as such which yet is only and alone the ●ault of those unbelieving persons because they reject the Spirit of God that doth certifie or assure unto us That the Scriptures are proceeded from God by Divine Inspiration And what if some have said That the Scriptures are Testimonies of the Saints from their experience May not this receive a fair and charitable construction and not presently be judged to be gross Atheism for although the Scriptures give a narration of divers Histories as also of Precepts Prohibitions and mysteries of Faith As Christ His coming in the Flesh His being born of a Virgin His being Crucified and Buried His Resurrection and Ascension the which Histories and things aforementioned albeit they cannot properly be called the Saints Experiences yet the Divine Inspiration and Revelation which the Prophets and Apostles had immediately of those things was truly their Experience and let us see if I. A. will deny it or if he do may it not be more justly retorted upon him That he and not the Quakers deny that the Scriptures are from Divine Inspiration or can he say that although the Prophets and Apostles had Divine Inspiration and Immediate Revelation yet they had no Experience of the same And that we call the Scriptures sometimes the Saints Words yet not denying them in a true sense to be the Words of God I. A. can no more justly blame us than Paul and Iohn who called their own Preaching and Writing and that of their Brethren the Witness and Teaching of men so that Paul and the Apostles Words were both the words of men and yet also the Words of God to wit mediately declared unto them by the Apostles Now they whose Faith stood in the Power of God received them as the Words of God but who came not to that power to believe in it they were but unto such as the words of men which as is al●eady said was only and alone the fault of such unbelieving Persons There yet remains two parts or branches of the third Query to which I. A. for all his pretended Survey hath given no more satisfaction than to any of the former The first is Whether all that is written in the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation be a Rule of Faith and Manners To this he only answereth in general That we are bound to believe all S●ripture Enunciation from the beginning to the e●d which we do readily grant and that therefore it may well be called an Historical Rule of Faith and that the Moral Law with whatsoever is of common equity or whatever enjoyning any peice of Religious Worship under the New Testament doth belong to Christians of our Calling and Condition but that the obligation of the Ceremonial and Iudicial Law is totally abrogated And saith he the Quakers must be content with these generals To which I Answer When the Nature of the Question requireth a particular Answer to Answer in general neither can nor ought to satisfie for notwithstanding of all he hath said the great Question yet remains unanswered What parts of the Scripture belong to the Moral Law and what ●o the Ceremonial and Judicial so called Also seeing there are divers things that were commanded and practised by the Apostles and Primitive Christians under the New Testament whether all these do oblige us now yea or nay as for example the Washing one

of Salvation not only to many thousands among those called the Heathens but to many intire Nations of them make it appear that they are utterly and finally excluded from all sufficient means of Salvation Have they been in Gods secret Counsel to know this or who hath revealed it to them And if the outward Testimony of the Scriptures be not as yet come to divers Nations of the Earth this doth not hinder but that the Gospel doth belong unto them as well as unto others to whom they are already come Seeing God hath commanded that the mistery which was kept secret since the World began should now be declared or made known unto all Nations for the obedience of Faith and that by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to Rom. 16. 25 26. And seeing Christ hath commanded That the Gospel should be Preached to all Nations Dare I. A. or any of his party give us the Instance of any one Nation now under Heaven to whom the Gospel ought not or may not be Preached suppose they altogether at present want the outward Testimony of Scripure and knowledge of the History of the coming of Christ in the flesh But if the Gospel may be Preached to any Nation now under Heaven then certainly it belongeth unto them I mean the Gospel Dispensation for because it belongeth unto them and is the free Gift of God unto them And because Christ Jesus hath procured or obtained that priviledge unto the Gentiles by vertue of his death and blood-shed for them Having broken down the middle wall of partition betwixt the Jews and Gentiles therefore i● is to be Preached unto them Even as because the King hath given some great favour unto his Subjects it is to be published or declared unto them and it is therefore published unto them because it is given them and is not given them because it is published and therefore the Gentiles have some title or claim to the Gospel even before it be published and consequently before the outward publication of it unto them they are not utterly excluded from the Dispensation of Gods Grace towards men And if any shall say The Gospel is to be Preached to all Nations indeed seeing Christ hath commanded it and not one Nation is excepted because that God hath some scattered up and down all the Nations who are to be saved as belonging to Gods Election To this I Answer that according to I. A. his way of reasoning God hath none belonging to his Election in many Nations of the World because they are excluded from all possibility of Salvation for want of the Scriptures PROP. 2. Whereas I. A. objects against the universal sufficient Light and Grace of God because it is said 1 Cor. 2. 14. The Natural man does not discern neither can he know the things of the Spirit of God I Answer By the Natural man is to be understood the Soul or Mind of man as it ●●boureth to understand Divine things meerly by its Natural faculties of Natural wisdom and understanding without any Divine illumination But when it pleaseth God to shine upon man in his Natural state by his Divine illuminaon then he may know something belonging to his Souls Salvation so far as his weakness can permit by vertue of the said illumination For how are men converted from Natural to Spiritual God dealeth not with men in Conversion as with Stocks and Stones but as with Reasonable Creatures having some capacity of understanding PROP. 3. That some in Scripture are said to have neither Ears to hear nor Eyes to see nor Hearts to understand And that because God hath not given it unto them which is another objection of J. A. This doth not prove that at no time God hath given to those people any measure of sufficient Grace for this great and extraordinary darkness and blindness may be upon them either because the day of their Visitation is expired altogether or because of some intermission that is only to continue for some time after which they are again to have a new Visitation so that they may both see and hear and also understand if they will not wilfully shut their Eyes PROP. 4. These who are said in Scripture as 2 Thess. 2. 11 12. To be given up to strong Delusions to believe Lies Are such who when the Truth was made known unto them received it not in love that they might be saved as is clear from v. 10. And therefore it doth not follow as I. A. would have it That these who are so fearfully blinded by Antichrists delusions never had a day of Visitation before they were so blinded But on the contrary it is manifest they had because their blindness is a Judgement inflicted upon them for their wilful opposing the Light that God gave them sometime formerly PROP. 5. Whereas I. A. saith That the Father draweth not all men to Christ I Answer As this is no where said in Scripture so it is contrary to Christ his Doctrine who said After I am lifted up I will draw all men unto me And certainly all whom Christ draweth the Father also draweth for said Christ My Father hitherto worketh and I work Nor do the words of Christ cited by I. A. prove the contrary Ioh. 6. 45. Every man that hath heard and learned of the Father comes to him For Christ doth not simply say every one that hath heard of the Father comes to him but every one that hath learned as well as heard now we do not say that every one hath Learned of the Father although they have heard in some sort also there is a right and wrong hearing some hear willingly and this is only the right hearing but although all hear one time or another while their day of Grace last yet few hear willingly so as to obey and therefore they come not unto Christ. PROP. 6. Whereas I. A. Argueth again That wicked men have not the powers principles or habits of Grace and therefore they have not sufficient Grace and he laboureth to prove They have not the powers and habits or principles of Grace because otherwise they would be Converts and Gracious men To this I Answer Although wicked men have not these powers and habits as some call them actually yet they have them hiddenly to wit in a Seed or principle of Grace which virtually containeth all these powers and faculties even as the Seed of a Tree doth virtually contain the Fruit and tree it self But it doth not follow that because a wicked man hath a good Seed in him that therefore he is a good man no more than because good Seed is sown in barren ground that therefore it is fruitful PROP. 7. Whereas I. A. doth further all●dge That the Gentiles did the things of the Law mentioned Rom. 2. 14. By the meer nature of man without the Grace of God and this because it is not said They did the things contained in the Law by Grace but by Nature To this I Answer nor

is it said they did the things contained in the Law by the corrupt Nature of man as it is corrupted in the Fall and no wise healed or restored And certainly corrupted Nature could not do the things contained in the Law for the Law of God in the Hearts of the Gentiles did require not only the outward action but the inward purity of the heart and if this was wanting they did not the things contained in the Law But that there was an uprightness of heart in some of the Gentiles is clear from divers examples of Scripture as from Rom. 2. 14. They show the work of the Law Writ in their Hearts and in the Case of Cornelius and also of Abimelech Gen. 20. 6. so that God said unto him I know that thou didst this in the Integrity of thy heart And therefore that Nature mentioned by Paul Rom. 2. 14. is either Nature healed and restored in some measure by the Grace of God as Augustine did partly expound it or the innate word mentioned by Iames to wit The Word of Life immediatly grafted or planted in the Souls of men which is a Divine Nature for the Greek word used by Iames in that place doth most properly signifie that which is immediately planted in mens Nature as distinguished from that which they receive by Education or Industry as when we say innate wisdom or understanding and innate goodness we mean that which a man hath immediately received from God from his Birth or Creation to distinguish it from what he hath acquired by his own pains or labour in which sense I find both the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be used by Greek Authors Now that the Gentiles had a measure of Gods Grace bestowed upon them which for most part they did not improve is clear as from many other passages of Scripture so in particular from the Parable of the Prodigal who received of his Fathers Goods and Substance as well as the Elder Brother but he spent it in Riotous living so that he was left destitute Now I ask what was that which the Prodigal spent which his Fathers gave him and was a Portion of his Fathers Goods and Substance surely this was not mans own corrupted Nature nor any faculty or power thereof for that remained still with him And therefore it behoved to be the Grace of God PROP. 8. Whereas I. A. expoundeth All men to whom the Grace of God hath appeared Tit. 2. 11. To be all Ranks Stations and Qualities of men c. This his Exposition contradicteth his own Doctrine who so fiercely doth oppose the appearing of Gods Grace not only unto all particulars but also to many or most of the Nations of the Earth who belong to some of the Ranks Stations and Qualities of men such as these numerous and great Nations in the East and West-Indies and other remote places to whom the Doctrine of the Gospel was not in Paul's time nor perhaps since outwardly Preached at least to most of them Nor can I. A. shew where all men signifie any definit number and that the smallest part also of mankind And when Paul spoke of his warning and teaching every man his sense is clear that he excepted none but still as he had occasion he Preached the Gospel freely unto all telling them That they should repent and believe that they might receive the remission of their sins through Iesus Christ who had died for them and was risen again But I. A. saith There are many Nations as well as persons for whom Christ died not and these for whom Christ died not are not exhorted to believe that Christ died for them except they shall first make choice of and embrace him for their Lord and Saviour as the Gospel offers him But this is a strange inconsistency and contradiction How can they or ought they to embrace him as their Lord and Saviour if they are not to believe that he has died for them even when the account of Christ his dying for mankind is Preached unto them It God require men to believe in Christ it is certainly upon reasonable and equal terms some foundation or ground for such a belief is to be made known unto them As that God is Merciful and ready to pardon their by past sins which yet cannot be if Christ hath not died for them PROP. 9. Lastly whereas I. A. doth argue That the Doctrine of Vniversal Grace destroyes the Efficacy of Grace and makes the Effectualness thereof depend upon mans will to chuse or refuse as he pleaseth and so the Grace of God shall be subordinate to mans will which is absurd To this it is easily Answered that the Grace of God is still effectual in its Nature even when it doth not actually work the Salvation of all for as much as it is sufficiently able to work it where it is not resisted even as the Fire is effectual to Melt the hardest Mettal if the Mettal be duely applyed to it but if the Mettal be removed from the Fire that the said Mettal is not Melted is not because of the Fire it s not having efficacy enough but because the Mettal is removed from it so the Fire still retaineth its efficacy as it had before Again the efficacy of Gods Grace dependeth not on mans will seeing the will of man doth not influence or excite the Grace of God to make it operate but on the contrary it is the Grace of God that doth influence or excite the heart and will of man without which it cannot do any thing towards mans Salvation and therefore the Grace of God is never subordinate to the will of man as I. A. doth falsly inferr And whereas I. A. upon this head Calls the Grace of God that can be resisted so as the Souls Conversion may be hindred by mans resisting it ill natured and false Grace and moreover addeth that he will have nothing to do with such Grace that can be resisted he speaketh here too rashly and presumptuously for do we not read of some in Scripture that resisted the Truth and also the Holy Ghost As Stephen charged the Iews that they did always resist the Holy Ghost as did their Fathers and yet according to I. A. his Principle he might as well say He would have nothing to do with the Holy Chest that can be resisted and charge it as ill natured and false which were Blasphemous to affirm Notwithstanding the same I. A. forgetting himself a few Lines after saith We may indeed resist both the means and motions of Grace and not improve Grace as we should and might too But saith he God makes it still eff●ctual to the growth by him designed This is a contradiction not only to his former Assertion but to it self as implying that men may improve Grace further than God designed they should Another very absurd Assertion I find alledged by him as if Grace did not incline men to perfection and so there