Geneva because that Church hath and is counted one of the best reformed Churches from Popery and therefore I hope you will not say they were Popish writers and I am certain they were no Quakers for they observed Christ his ordinance of Baptisme which you deny teaching that it is of no use now in the Church in which you disobey Christ his command and walk contrary to his practice and walk contrary to the practice of the Apostles and all the Ministers of the Gospel in the best reformed Churches and therefore are not perfect But you say that if it be lawful now to Baptize yet is it not lawful to Baptize Children and therefore our Ministers do that which Christ never commanded which is the thing you all fly unto when you are put upon the tryal of the lawfulnesse of Baptisme and that is one of E. B. his objections against our Ministers in his book called A just and lawful tryal of the Teachers and professed Ministers of this age and generation by a prefect proceeding against them and justly weighed measured and condemned Which book was given me by a Quaker in London as being unanswerable I have answered already all the chief grounds and reasons alledged in the said book against our Ministers but this being one ground that our Ministers Baptize or sprinkle Infants and tells them they are Christians before they preach to them contrary to the practice of Christ and his Apostles Now although it was not in the least any part of my intention when I began to write to medle with that controversie of Baptizing Childen because I was to write against Antibaptists not Anabaptists yet finding since that Quakers who are Antibaptists in that they deny all Water-baptisme do make that one of their chief grounds against the lawfulnesse of our Ministers both in their writings and disputings I was moved to bestow a little more time and labour in answering you in that particular although I might have saved that labour in regard Mr. Richard Baxter hath so plainly proved the lawfulnesse of Infant-baptisme in his answer to Mr. Tombes but because I know you Quakers do not usually read any books but such as are of your own stamp or such as are written in opposition to your opinions I shall write such grounds and reasons as I conceive are sufficient to prove the lawfulnesse of Infant-baptisme Wherefore I shall first lay down this assertion That the Covenant of Grace which God made from the beginning with Adam and renewed unto Abraham is the same for substance which we have now in the dayes of the Gospel and as he did give Circumcision a Sign and Seal of that Covenant before Christ his coming in the flesh whereby they and their children were distinguished from the Heathen Gentiles so hath the Lord Christ appointed Baptisme a Signe and Seal of the same Covenant in the dayes of the Gospel whereby all those that believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ they and their children are also distinguished from Heathen Infidels that believe not the Gospel Now the Covenant of Grace was made to the children of all those that are within the Covenant I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee Now all those that are of the Faith of Abraham are the seed of Abraham and if ye be Christs then are ye Abrahams seed and Heirs according to the promise and the Father to them that are not of Circumcision but also walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham Now the children after Christ his coming in the flesh were counted within the Covenant so as to be accounted visible Members of the Church and so capable of the outward external Sign and Seal of the Covenant I shall prove first by the words and example of 〈◊〉 â—imself when they brought Infants unto him 〈…〉 saw it and they rebuked them but 〈…〉 and said suffer little Children to 〈…〉 not for of such is the kingdome of God Now if children belong to the Kingdome of God then surely the Seals of the Kingdome do belong unto them Also when Christ gave Commission to his Disciples he said Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Now are not children part of the Nations and if you say they must be taught first I answer that Mr. Baxter hath proved that by Teaching is in the Original Disciple them where he also proveth that children are Disciples as well as others Also the Apostle Peter said unto those converts in the Acts Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Now if the Promise did belong unto their children surely the Seal of the Promise doth belong unto them and it cannot be Circumcision for that was abolished wherefore it must needs be Baptisme which is the Badge or Seal whereby Christions are distinguished from others Also the Apostle writing to the Corinthians some men having unbelieving Wives and the Women unbelieving Husbands were in doubt whether they might live together the Apostle therefore doth resolve their scruples telling them that there was no cause of separation for saith he The unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the believing Husband and the unbelieving Husband by the believing Wife else were your Children unclean but now they are holy Where the Apostle cannot be understood of any inherent holinesse but rather a relative holinesse which makes the person capable of being a member of the visible Church by the Ordinance of Baptisme I know the Anabaptists say the meaning is else were your children Illegitimate that is base born but that cannot be the Apostles meaning for the Apostle saith that the unbeliever is sanctified by the believer Now I never read in Scripture that being lawfully Married made children holy or unholy for I believe Jews and Turks are lawfully Married but that doth not make their children holy but if that interpretation were granted it will serve to prove the point in controversie for no Bastard was to be admitted into the Church and Congregation of the Jews and were therefore not to partake of holy things but all children that were born being not Bastards were admitted visible members of the Church and were capable of that federate relative holinesse and if the Apostles meaning be of their being not base born but legitimate then I say he doth thereby intimate that then their children were capable of being made visible members of the Church by Baptisme as well as the children of the Jews by Circumcision or else the Jewes and their children had a greater priviledge in the time of the Law
absurdities that do follow upon your interpretation and for a full clearing of the text in the Corinths consider the words before The Apostle saith ye may all prophesie one by one that all may learn For God is not the Author of confusion Now lest the women from the word all should think themselves permitted to prophesie as well as the men the Apostle to prevent their mistake whom he knew loved to speak too much saith Let your women keep silence in the Churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak where take notice that the Apostle speaketh in the plural number women and not permitted unto them to speak The Apostle always when he speaketh of the flesh speaketh in the singular number flesh also the Apostle speaketh in the plural number Husbands and not in the singular Husband by which you may see what most barbarous conclusions will follow upon your interpretation For if by the women be meant the flesh and by asking their Husbands be meant Christ then is Christ the Husband of the flesh and that there are more Christs then one seeing the Apostle saith ask their Husbands at home by which word home it will follow that Christ and the flesh dwell together and that Christ is the fleshes home so that you may see by maintaining an error you run into many grosse errors But you will say the Apostle to Timothy saith woman in the singular number To which place I answer that there will several errors follow if by the woman be meant the flesh in that place Let the woman learn in silence if by the woman be meant the flesh then is the flesh to learn But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence If by the woman be meant the flesh then the flesh can teach and can usurp authority over the Spirit for Adam was first formed then Eve if by the woman be meant the flesh then is the flesh Eve and was of Gods forming Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in Faith and Charity and Holynesse with Sobriety if by the woman be meant the flesh then may the flesh be saved in child-bearing and may have Faith Charity and Holynesse with Sobriety Now let your selves and others judge whether you have an infallible Spirit the same Spirit that the Apostles had that writ the Scripture and that you know the true meaning of the Scripture And whether such are fit to be Teachers of others Whether men or women that give such interpretations of Scripture and maintain such grosse errors Also the example of all the Churches of Christ is a ground why women ought not to speak in the Church But if any man seem to be contentious we have no such custome neither the churches of God But you object that several women did prophesie as Deborah and that one man had four Daughters and Virgins and they did prophesie And your Sons and Daughters shall prophesie Answer that those women and virgins who prophesied were extraordinarily called by an extraordinary gift which is now ceased and they did not take upon them to be Teachers in the Church but did prophesie of such things as were extraordinarily revealed or done in the Church for the prophesie in the Prophet Joel the same was accomplished in the Acts for saith the Apostle Peter These are not drunken as ye suppose But this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel I will poure out of my spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie I would have any of you shew any one example where a woman took upon her to be a Teacher in the publick Church if any did take upon them so to do the Apostle teacheth that they did transgresse for it is to usurp authority over the man which is a sin and for a woman to take upon her to be a Teacher unto men is to exercise the authority of a man for we read of no women Teachers in the Church But you say that none are to exercise authority over others But are all in the Church equal and alike which bringeth me to a fifth particular wherein your practise is contrary to the command example and practise of Christ and his Apostles and therefore are not perfect The fifth is your not giving any reverence honor nor civil respect unto your Superiors and those that are in authority but are in your carriage tou Superiors more like Heathens then Christians Now it remaineth on my part to prove that Christ and his Apostles did both command and walk contrary to your practice herein Christ said Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods Now the name Caesar was a word of Honour given unto all the Roman Emperours what ever their names were as we used to call our Supream Magistrate King Now Christ though a King himself did not say Give unto William or John the things that are his but give to Caesar He gave him the same title of Honour that the Romans gave him though a heathen Emperour Also Christ teaching his Disciples humilitie When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding sit not down in the highest room left a more honorable man then thee be bidden of him and he come and say Give this man place he being a more honourable person but when thou art bidden goe and sit down in the lowest room that when he that bad thee cometh he may say unto thee Friend goe up higher then thou shall have worship or honour in the presence of them that sit at meat by which Christ doth teach that some persons are more honourable then others and such are to be honoured of others But which of you having a servant plowing or feeding cattel will say unto him by and by go and sit down to meat and will not rather say unto him Make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thy self and serve me till I have eaten and drunk and afterward thou shalt eat and drink now though this be to teach us that we are all Gods servants and that when we have done all we are commanded to say we are unprofitable servants We have done that which was our dutie yet Christ useth this similitude because of the equitableness and justness of the same And as it is contrary to what Christ taught so is it contrary to the practice and doctrine of the Apostles for when Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles was brought before Agrippa to speak for himself Paul said I think my self happy King Agrippa because I shall answer for my self this day before thee mind The Apostle doth not onely say Agrippa but King Agrippa though he were a Heathen King And when he spake for himself Festus said with a loud voice Paul Thou art beside thy self much learning hath made thee mad Paul said I am not mad mind most
be the Lord they are all for ought I know or can hear cast forth as corrupt and unprofitable members and the Lord complaining by the Prophet Zephany maketh complaint against the Princes and Judges as well as the Prophets and Priests saying Her Princes are roaring Lyons her Judges are ravening Wolves and yet the Lord calleth them Princes and Judges for the wickednesse of the person doth not disanul his office being lawfully called thereunto neither in Magistrates nor Ministers untill they be degraded from that office You farther object in your paper That the Apostles did take only that which was freely given them I answer That our Ministers do take nothing but what was and is freely given either by their ancestors or otherwayes and who ever payeth the Ministers Tâ—thes payeth nothing of his own but that which was freely given for no man in buying any Land or leasing any Land doth buy the Tithes because by Law they cannot be sold You farther object That the Apostles did work with their hands to maintain themselves because they would not be chargeable to others I answer That the Apostle Paul and Barnabas did work but the rest did not as appeareth by the Apostles words Or I only and Barnabas have not we power to forbear working by which the Apostle plainly sheweth that the rest did forbear working and they had power to forbear working but that the Apostle did because of the poverty of the Church of Corinth and because he would give no offence to any He became as a Jew to the Jew to them that are without Law as without Law he became made all things to all men that he might by all means save some to that end he caused Timothy to be Circumcised that he might gain the Jews Now why do not you Quakers follow the Apostle in that as well as in your Teachers working which I think is very seldome Besides as I said before the Apostles had extraordinary Gifts as well as an extraordinary Call and were able to Preach without Study but the Apostle writing to Timothy commandeth him to meditate upon those things Give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all and do you Quakers think that you are more able to preach without Study than Timothy was and that you can work on your ordinary Callings and preach too when Paul commandeth Timothy the contrary And now I answer your sixth Ground against the lawfulnesse of our Ministers and that is you say because they teach that none can be perfectly freed from sin while they live here For answer to which I say that you Quakers neither know nor understand what our Ministers preach wherefore that you may know and be better instructed I shall by the assistance of Almighty God shew you what our Ministers do preach and hold concerning this great point in controversie of being perfectly freed from sin and that according to what I do believe concerning the same according to that measure of light within me according to the Scriptures And I pray God to open your eyes that you may be able both to see and believe the same without which there is no salvation Wherefore know you that our Ministers do both Preach and Write that all and every one that doth by a true and lively Faith believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for Life and Salvation are perfectly freed from all sin here by Justification and that alone by the blood of Christ and are made perfectly righteous by the righteousnesse of Christ imputed and that all those who are so justified by the blood and righteousnesse of Christ are truly sanctified by the spirit of Christ Which Sanctification is perfecting all our life here and perfected at the end of our lives according to that of the Apostle Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us clense our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the fear of God not perfected but is alwaies a doing Now that I may prove these two points and explain them I shall first shew you by the Scriptures that we are made perfectly free from sin and made perfectly righteous by the blood and righteousnesse of Christ for as Adam in the estate of innocency was not only without sin but made in an estate of righteousnesse being made in the Image of God which as the Apostle saith consisteth in knowledge and righteousnesse and holinesse so all that are saved are by Christ the second Adam made perfectly free from all sin by his death resurrection and intercession and made perperfectly righteous by his righteousnesse Wherefore I shall plainly prove both these to be by Justification in and by Christ alone according to that of the Apostle being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ And be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgivenesse of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted unto him for righteousnesse Even as David also describeth the blessednesse of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without works saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himselfe by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation To wit That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him and by one offering he hath made perfect or hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified You see the Apostle doth make our perfection to be by that which Christ alone hath suffered and done for us and not by what we work or do But I know this is a strange new doctrine unto you and hard for you to believe because you dote so much upon a Light within you and Righteousnesse within you wherefore I shall endevour to make this doctrine appear plain unto you if you will not shut your eyes against the Light or that the God of this world hath not blinded your mindes lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto you Werefore minde what I shall write from the Scriptures First I shall shew how this perfection by Christ was typed out in the time of the Law as in the scape-Goat the Lord commanded saying Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live Goat and confesse over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins putting them upon the head of the
Goat and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wildernesse And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited and he shall let go the Goat in the Wildernesse Now minde how this type was to set forth Christs taking away all our sins that believe on him as may appear by the Prophets prophecying of the same as the Evangelical Prophet Esay Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrowes yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted But he was wounded for our iniquities the chastisements of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way Minde And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all Also the Prophet Daniel plainly shewed this Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy City to finish the transgression and to make an end of Sins and to make reconciliation for Iniquity and to bring in everlasting Righteousness And after threescore and two weeks shall Messias be cut off but not for himself Minde who it is that maketh an end of sin and bringeth everlasting righteousnesse namely Christ the Messias this the Prophet Zachariah prophecyeth of saying I will bring forth my servant the Branch for hehold the stone that I have laid before Joshuah upon one stone shall be seven eyes Behold I will engrave the graving thereof saith the Lord of Hosts and I will remove the iniquity of the Land in one day What day surely that day when Christ suffered when he said It is finished according to that of the Apostle to the Colossians And you being dead in your sins hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all trespasses Blotting out the hand writing of Ordinances that were against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Crosse And the Apostle saith to the Colossians Though you were sometime alienated and enemies in your mindes by wicked workes yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight whom we preach that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus not in your selves or by any thing you work suffer or do but by what Christ suffered and did in the body of his flesh even by that one offering saith the Author to the Hebrews hath he perfected for ever hereunto agreeth that of the Apostle to the Ephesians That Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and clense it with the washing of water by the word thaâ—â—e might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing By these Scriptures I hope you may see how our perfection is in and by Christ By what he did our sins are perfectly abolished not out of us as the Papists and you Quakers hold but fully satisfied for by Christ God having received an attonement for them by Christ This also was typed by the brazen Serpent that Moses by the Lords appointment caused to be put upon a pole and any man that was bitten with a Serpent when he beheld or looked upon the Serpent was healed and this was prophecyed by the Prophet Malachi saying The Son of righteousnesse shall arise with healing in his wings alluding to the wings of the Cherubims that covered the Mercy-seat upon the Ark which Ark was also a lively type of Christ This the Lord also promised by his Prophet I saiah saying I have seen his waies and I will heal him I create the fruit of the lips peace peace to him that is far off and to him that is near saith the Lord and I will heal him This the Lord also promised by the Prophet Jermiah In those dayes and at that time saith the Lord the Iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none ad the sins of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them This also is set forth by several other metaphorical prophesies and promises as that the Lord will not remember their sins that he will cast them into the depth of the Sea to cast them behinde his back to wipe it away like a cloud and this John Baptist pointed at Christ saying Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wildernesse even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternall life for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternall life by whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgivenesse of sins And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin This is the perfection from sin by Justification which our Ministers teach and not a perfection inherent in us as your Quakers Papists Catharists and Familists teach and as they teach a perfection from sin by Christ alone so do they teach and so do I believe that Christ hath wrought perfect righteousnesse for all the elect according to the Scriptures For it is not sufficient to bring us to Heaven to be freed from sin for a Horse hath no sin but there must be perfect righteousnesse without which no man can enter into Heaven for as I said before Adam was not only made without sin but was made righteous and we must be restored to an estate of righteousnesse by Christ the second Adam and this was typed by the two Tables being put into the Ark and there to be kept to shew that Christ the true Ark kept and fulfilled the Law and this the Prophet David prophesieth of Christ Then said I lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is within my heart I have preached righteousnesse in the great Congregation I have not hid thy righteousnesse within my heart This also is plainly set forth in the prophesie of Zachariah saying Take away the filthy garments from him and unto him he said Behold I have caused thine iniquity to passe from thee and I will cloath thee with change of rayment for behold I will bring forth my servant the Branch Minde that his iniquity was not only to passe but be cloathed with change of rayment which is the righteousnesse of Christ called the Branch and surely shall one say In the Lord have I rigteousnesse in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified This is that the Church rejoyceth in saying I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soul shall be joyfull in my God for he hath cloathed me with the garments of
opinions And face doth not more answer face in a Glasse then you do answer each other as I can shew you in several of their opinions and practises compared with yours as their hearkning to a light within them and revelations which they followed contrary to the Scripture some of them running about the streets naked as many of you have done some of them burning their clothes as some of you have done although at their first springing up they seemed to be such meek humble Saints that they would suffer any thing yet after they had gotten a sufficient number and strength then they shewed themselves in their Colours for then it was revealed that John of Leyden may be a King and that all the wicked must be destroyed and King John and his Disciples must govern all and have all the goods of the wicked because they had no right to them to which end they fortified Munster against the Emperor perswading the people that God would feed them by a miracle it being so revealed to them by which the poor people were many of them starved and at last King John and his company taken himself and two more of his chief companions hanged and put in three Iron Cages and set on the top of the three high Towers or Steeples the rest banished two ships laden with them the Author saith came into Great Brittain where they first sowed those seeds of Heresie from which have spang up all those errors of Anabaptism Familism Antinomianism Adamites Seekers and Quarkers I hope you will be convinced by all that I have written that your Practise in denying the ordinance of Baptism is contrary to the example of Christ and his Apostles and therefore in that you are not perfect And now I come to a second particular in which I shall prove that you walk contrary to Christ command and example and the example of the Apostles and that is in that you deny the partaking of the Lords Supper and teach that it is abolished and not to be used in the Church of Christ as Jona Dell in his Book called A Voyce from the Temple writeth and several others Wherefore I shall briefly prove that it was Christs command and Example and the practise of the Apostles and all the reformed Churches ever since the Apostle days Now Christ before his Death did institute and appoint this ordinance as you may read in Matthew Mark and Luke And he took bread and gave thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying this is my body which is given for you this do remembrance of me Likewise also the Cup after Supper saying This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you Where we are to take notice that Christ saith this do in Remembrance of me which is a command for them to do as he had done and that it was Christs meaning to have them do the same after his Ascension is plain because the Apostles did practise the same afterwards which they would not have done had it not been Christs command and the Apostle Paul doth plainly prove it to be Christ command For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you and what was that but the Supper of the Lord as the words following shew but you will say how long was the practise of that to continue The Apostle doth tell you For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come But you say Christ is come by his Spirit to every believer and that is the meaning of it till he come To which I answer that I wonder you Quakers are not ashamed to give such a sense of the words and had I not heard it from several of your Mouths and read it in several of your Books I should not have believed it Wherefore to convince you of your error pray tell me Whether Christ was not come to his Apostles by his Spirit and to all others that believed the Gospel of Christ If Christ was not come to the Apostles by his Spirit how did they write the Scriptures Besides the Scripture saith That the Apostles were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues and yet the Apostles practise was to break bread after that and therefore the meaning of the Apostle to eat this bread and to drink this cup for so often as you eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he comes must needs be meant of Christs second coming namely his coming at the end of the world when he cometh to Judgement when the Saints bodies shall be raised out of their Graves and those that are then alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever abide with the Lord where then we shall have no need nor use of Sacraments because faith then shall cease being swallowed up in vision But till then we have need of these outward ordinances to help strengthen our faith the Supper of the Lord being appointed by Christ himself to that end where we may see a representation of Christ crucified before our eyes to help strengthen our faith for the Apostles themselves had need of these ordinances the Apostle Paul saith VVe know in part For now we see through a glasse darkly But then face to face mind Now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known Now is it not a horrible pride in you to say you are more fuller of the Spirit than the Apostles that you have more knowledge and stronger faith than the Apostles for you see the Apostles made use of this ordinance to strengthen their saith and if you say you have no need of this partaking of ordinances do not you declare your selves to be more perfect than the Apostles But Jona Dell in his Voyce from the Temple doth affirm that you Quakers have such an infallible knowledge that you cannot erre but we can smell from whence you sucked in this poyson even from your Father the Pope the great Antichrist who only claimeth this infallible Spirit But this by the way Also Jona Dell in the said Book saith that this outward ordinance of the Lords Supper hath been much abused and therefore not to be used in the Church any longer as that Ceremony of the brasen Serpent after it was abused by the Israelites to Idolatry it was broken in pieces and not to be used any more and so he calleth it a Ceremony and shadow and all other ordinances which having been abused ought to be abolished For Answer to which I shall only mind you of the Example and practise of the Apostle Paul concerning the same in his Epistle to the Corinthians who had so abused the Supper of the Lord as I have not heard of greater nor the like for saith
not build up themselves on their faith nor pray as is your practice and for Prayer some of your company are not ashamed to say and write that Ministers praying before and after Sermon is a will-worship and that you know not one example left for it either by Christ or any of his Apostles and that praying is for the honor and magnificence of our Idol and that is preaching they are Tomlinsons own words But let all sober minded persons judge whether your silent meetings or praying and preaching is will-worship and an Idol If you have no example of Christ and his Apostles of such silent meetings then it is an Idoll and a will-worship of your own devising which I challenge all you Quakers to bring any one example of Christ or his Apostles of any such meetings or any example of any Church since the Apostles dayes whether Separate or any other and do you think that the Apostles and all the Churches were ignorant of any part of the Service of God while now of late dayes you Quakers have found it or rather invented it had not they the light of Christ within them to direct them seeing you say all men have the light of Christ within them Wherefore I conclude that this your light is darkness and this your practice is a meer invention of your own brains and therefore are not perfect A ninth particular practice used amongst you is your Quaking fits with which many among you are strangely taken falling on the ground their arms and leggs shaking their mouths foaming their bellies swelling and some of them purging to which I may add your strange kind of disfiguring your faces and countenances hanging down your heads or holding them awry looking like a company of forlorn dejected condemned persons that were afraid to look up to Heaven Now for those quaking fits from whence you have the name of Quakers many are of opinion that they are Diabolical by a kind of witchcraft and to that end I have heard strange relations of inchanted ribins of giving of drink after which the persons have been taken with quaking fits and some say possessed with the divel And when I have read John Gilpins Book called The Quakers shaken and John Toldarns Book called The foot out of the snare in which they relate such strange kind of actings and workings of their bodies besides the relations of several others and compare them with those whom we read of in the Evangelist Luke I confess there is a likeness and a resemblance between them And lo a spirit taketh him and he suddenly crieth out and it teareth him that he foameth again and bruiseth him All which actions the Quakers have had in their quaking fits as you may read in the two forenamed books and many have been eye witnesses of the same effects in others in which fits some of the chief Quakers have said that now the good spirit was driving out of the bad But however if it be not a bodily witchcraft sure it is a spiritual witchcraft whereby the minds of the people are bewitched to believe that those shakings and quakings of the body are from the Spirit of God I have read in the Scripture that the Mystery of iniquity in the spirit of Antichrist even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power signes and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie I believe these are some of those signs and lying wonders with which the followers of Antichrist shall be deceived The Papists who have deceived you Quakers as that divine Lawyer M. Will. Prin doth at large prove in his book called The Quakers unmasked Also I have read in the Scripture that God hath caused such shaking and trembling to fall upon wicked men as a punishment for their sins as Belshazzar that his countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joynts of his loyns were loosed and his knees smote one against another And in the Philistians Camp or Loft there was trembling and among all the people the Garrison and they all trembled so it was a very great trembling and among those curses pronounced in Deuteronomy against wicked men this is one The Lordshal give thee a trembling heart And it is threatned as a curse upon the wicked Let their eyes be darkned that they see not and make their loyns to shake I wish it be not your condition that your eyes be not darkned in that you take shaking for a blessing when it is a curse the Devils are said to tremble But you object that we read in the Scripture of shaking quaking and trembling rejoyce with trembling Psalm 2. 11. and work out your salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. and Paul is said to tremble Acts 9 6. and the keeper of the prison came trembling before Paul and Silas Acts 16. 29. By trembling I understand no other then the fear and trembling of the heart generally spoken of in Scripture and not a quaking and trembling of the body as is usual amongst you Quakers and that fear and trembling is twofold First that which is at the first Act of conversion as that of Paul and the Jaylor whose trembling I understand of the soul and if it were of the body it was extraordinary and not to be brought to a rule and that fear or trembling of the soul at the first act of conversion is general to all that are truly converted called the spirit of bondage Ye 〈◊〉 not received the spirit of bondage again to fear and those that were converted at Peters Sermon being about three thousand souls they were pricked in their hearts We read not of any trembling or quaking of their bodies but that they gladly received his word and this fear or trembling of the soul at the first conversion is not in all alike but in some more and in some less though in all some We read that the Lord opened the heart of Lydia hearing the Apostles that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul and she was baptized and her houshold We read not of any fear or trembling much less quaking and yet no doubt but she had a conviction of her own unworthiness the Apostle John saith that perfect love casteth out fear that is all slavish hellish fear Secondly there is a son-like fear after conversion which is a fear whereby the soul is fearful of doing any thing that is contrary to the will and mind of such a good loving and kind God and Father and this fear or trembling is no wayes agreeable to the quaking and trembling of the body practised amongst you nor to the disfiguring your faces with holding down the head
you went out from us And the Apostle Paul saith Antichrist sitteth in the Temple of God Now the thing that I am to prove is that you do deny the end of Christs coming in the flesh and to that end I shall first shew what was the end of Christs coming in the flesh The Apostle Paul to the Romans saith Through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Whom God hath set forth or sent to be a propitiation through faith in his Blood To declare their righteousness for the remission of sins To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the Justifier of them which beleive in Jesus Where the Apostle sheweth that the end of God his sending Jesus Christ was that he might be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare Christ his righteousnesse for the remission of sins that he might be just and the Justifier of all them that beleive in Jesus Now you deny this for E. B. saith that our Ministers tell people a Lie and why they tell him that Christ is his righteousnesse to justifie him which he denyeth for you teach that Christ did come to send a light into every man and by hearkning and obeying that light he shall be saved which is the old Popish Antichristian Doctrine Also the Apostle to the Hebrews saith to Christ Loe I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy will O God By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Having therefore bretheren boldnesse to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus By a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is his flesh By which words it is plain that the end of Christs coming in the flesh was to do the will of God by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all And by that one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified But you deny that we are sanctified and perfected for ever by Christ his doing the will of God and through the offering of his body once for all and that we have boldnesse to enter into the holyest by the blood of Jesus a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through his flesh But you teach that you are sanctified and perfected by hearkning to a light within you and obeying the same by which you deny the end of Christs coming in the flesh and are of the Spirit of Antichrist Also you do some of you deny that Christ rose from the dead with his Body but his Spirit rose and deny that he ascended into Heaven with a Body and there remaineth with a Body by which you deny the Scripture and deny Christ 〈◊〉 Mediatorship For the Apostle saith There is one God and one Mediator between God and men mind The Man Christ Jesus Now if Christ have no Body how is he a Man Do not you make Christ a monster if he be a Man without a body what a Mediator do ye make And great is the Mystery of godliness God was manifest in the flesh received up into glory according to that Scripture in the Acts Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven this same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into Heaven and that he shall so come Christ himself hath declared and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of heaven with power and great glory Now those that deny these Articles of our Faith are not they of the spirit of Antichrist for they do invent a fantastical Christ in their brains But you say you have a Christ within you and by that Christ within you you shall be saved Christ in you the hope of Glory To which I answer that I deny that you or any man have a Christ within you you cannot have the body of Christ within you because the Heaven must contain it untill his second coming unless you be of the Papists opinion that say they receive Christs body into their mouths and then must Christ have many bodies or his body must be torn into many pieces Wherefore that I may if it may please God shew you your ignorance even in this particular I shall shew you how I do believe Christ is in every true Christian and that is by his Spirit These things have spoken unto you being yet present with you But the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name But now I go my way to him that sent me and it is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you By which Christ sheweth that he must depart and go to the Father and that he must there abide But his Father should send that Comforter his Spirit which should abide in them But how doth Christ by his Spirit abide in a Christian Answ Not essentially as the Familists hold and aver to many Quakers but operatively by the operation and working of the same Because ye are Sons God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts whereby you cry Abba Father In whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our Inheritance to be strengthned by his Spirit in the Inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith By which Scriptures and many more we may see how Christ is in us by his Spirit of Adoption by his Spirit sealing the promises of the Gospel by strengthning us in the inner man and Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith and as Christ is said to be in us by his Spirit and by faith so we are said to be in Christ and to dwell in Christ which is by faith If any man be in Christ for ye are all one in Christ but of him ye are in Christ Jesus That we may present every one perfect in Christ Jesus And that Prayer of Christ That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they all may be one in us I in them and thou in me that they may he made perfect in one And as Christ is said to be in us by his Spirit and by faith and we are said to be in him by faith and by the Spirit because the same Spirit that dwells in Christ doth act and work in us So also we are said to be in Christ by Love and Christ to be in us by Love as Christ teacheth that the Love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them
abroad if the reading of other books beside the Scriptures be not necessary unless you believe what some of your fellow Quakers have said that James Naylors books are of as Divine authority as the Scriptures because he is inspired by the same Spirit the Prophets and Apostles were when they writ the Scripture in which you are like your Fathers the Familists for such like Titles and Stiles I have read in their books written by H. N. and have heard some Familists call them his Gospels and that they 〈◊〉 of equal authority with the Gospels of Jesus 〈…〉 such blasphemous Familists and Quakers errors good Lord deliver us And the Lord open your eyes that you may see your errors that you have patched up your new Religion with the old errors of the Papists Arminians Anabaptists Antinomians and Familists and the Lord give you hearts to repent and do your first works A POST-SCRIPT Courteous Reader SInce the writing the foregoing answer to the Quakers I had some conference with a woman Quaker one of my ancient friends whose name I forbear to mention about the said answer after which the said friend did write me a letter the Contents whereof were as followeth That my written paper is higher then Vanitie because as she saith I confessed that I was not led by the infallible Spirit therefore it must needs be flesh for the Spirit of God is infallible and cannot erre which she desireth I would consider by the light of Christ that convinceth me of sin and that lest I be found fighting against God wherefore she saith in love to thy soul I warn thee Wherefore lest the said woman or any other Quakers should say that I have not answered all their Objections I resolved to answer the said letter though the things objected in the said letter are in part answered before yet for a more full answer I desire the said friend and all other Quakers whether friends or enemies to mind and consider what I have written in answer to the said letter Having received thy letter I was moved to write an answer to shew thee thy error in misunderstanding and misreporting my words for I neither writ nor said that I was not led by the infallible Spirit but said that I doe not pretend to an infallible spirit so as that I cannot erre For I say that all the faithfull are led by the Spirit of Christ which Spirit is infallible but I say they are not so led by that Spirit that they cannot erre which is the thing you maintain but I deny And yet I say that all the Prophets and Apostles were led by the Spirit infallibly guiding them in writing the Scriptures so as that they could not erre and that all the faithful are led by the Spirit so as that they erre not in the foundation or fundamentals of Religion but in other things I say they are subject to erre and the best men that ever lived that that we read of in Scripture have erred Christ Jesus who was God and Man excepted and this I shall plainly prove by Scripture the Prophet David a man after Gods own heart and a Penman of holy Scripture said Lord who knoweth the errors of his life clense me from my secret sins Psal 19. 12. and he having a mind to build the Temple and spake his mind to the Prophet Nathan the Prophet said to the King Go do all that is in thine heart for the Lord is with thee they being both Prophets were both mistaken they were not infallible for that night the Word of the Lord came to Nathan to the contrary that David should not build the Lords House but his Son Solomon but you Quakers will say this was before Christ his coming in the flesh and before the fulness of the Spirit was sent wherefore mind what is written in Scripture after that time There arose a dissention and a disputation among the brethren about Circumcision and Paul and Barnabas with others were sent to Jerusalem to the Apostles and Elders to have their advice and there were great disputations between them about it no one pretending by an infallible Spirit to determine the same were not Paul and Barnabas led by an infallible Spirit what need they then to have gone to Jerusalem to the rest of the Apostles and Elders surely if they had been infallible they made a needless journey and the rest of the Apostles and Elders made a needless disputation Also there arose a doubt amongst the Corinthians about believing husbands having unbelieving wives and believing wives having unbelieving husbands and other things concerning which they wrote unto the Apostle Paul to determine the matter Was there never a man among them that had an infallible spirit so as that he could not erre surely then they were no Quakers for then they needed not to have sent to the Apostle to have the matter determined and the Apostle in his answer concerning some thing saith I speak this by permission and not by command and concerning Virgins I have no commandment from the Lord yet I give my judgement I suppose saith the Apostle but had he been a Quaker and of your opinion would he not have said why or what need you write unto me to know the lawfulness of these things are you not all led by an infallible spirit that cannot erre But the Apostle was so humble and modest that he said I suppose he would not say I am sure or I know certainly I having an infallible spirit I cannot erre No the Apostle confesseth of himself and others we know but in part But you Quakers say you have such an infallible spirit that you cannot erre But God resisteth the proud and hath promised to teach the humble also the Apostle saith If any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble where the Apostle plainly proveth that Christians do sometimes build upon the foundation wood hay and stubble that is some things of their carnal spirits for there is some carnality in those that are in Christ for saith the Apostle I speak unto you as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ now there being flesh as well as spirit and sence and reason as well as faith in every christian is it any wonder that they sometimes erre And therefore honest Luther saith That there being flesh as well as spirit and sence as well as faith in the best men that therefore sometimes that will fall from their tongues and their pens that savours of the flesh as well as of the spirit and of sence as well as of faith and therefore saith he All Christians should be like the clean beasts that chew the Cud and devide the Hoofe that is they should meditate and examine what they hear and read by the Scriptures and devide the truth from the error as those men of Barea did they searched the Scriptures to see whether those things which they heard were according to
the Scriptures They did not hearken to a light within them to see whether they were true But if you Quakers had such an infallible spirit that you cannot erre as you say you have then all that you speak and write musts need be truth and then we need not examine them by the Scriptures to see whether you write and speak the truth But I am not of that implicit faith to beleive what you write without examining the same by the Scriptures and by them I find you have a falable lying spirit that leadeth you into error but seeing you say you are so infallible that you cannot erre give me leave to examine some of your Books in Print Besides what I have already examined and proved many gross errors in them therefore not written by an infallible spirit so as that you cannot erre I shall examine some particulars in your new Primer made by George Fox the younger and some others in which there is as many errors as Pages I shall mention some few particulars by which we may discern what the rest are of the said Primer Children such are Deceivers who tell you that the way to come to know the truth is by the Scriptures Now if this be a true Doctrine then was Christ and his Apostles Deceivers for they taught the same Christ exhorteth to Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they that testifie of me Now if the Scriptures testifie of Christ then the reading of the Scriptures is a means to know the truth unless you deny that Christ is the truth if you do he affirmeth it saying I am the truth It was a true saying of a good man that The whole Scriptures are the swadling band that foulds the Child Jesus Also Christ saith to the Saduces ye erre not knowing the Scriptures Then by consequence the way to avoyd error and to know the truth is by the knowledge of the Scriptures and therefore Christ would have all to search the Scriptures And the Apostle Paul said that Timothy had known the Scriptures from a Child which are able to make thee wise unto salvation and that is by knowing the truth And the Apostle Peter saith We have a more sure word of prophesie whereunto you do well that ye take heed But you are enemies to the reading the Scriptures or expounding them Pag 15 Of the said Primer Children such are no Ministers of Gods word who tell you the Scriptures are the word of God Now if this be an infallible truth then I say the Prophets and Apostles were fallible and were no Ministers of Gods word for the Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel and most of the small Prophets said that The word of the Lord came unto them and they spake the word of the Lord. I beleive you may find what the Prophets preached called the word of the Lord or God above a hundred times and in the 20. of Exodus God spake all these words and what God spake is Gods word and what Christ spake and preached is the word of God unlesse you deny Christ to be God Also the Apostle James exhorteth Be ye doers of the Word and if any be hearers of the word and not doers c. And do you think the Apostle meaneth the word of man or the word of God Also the Apostle Peter saith We have a more sure word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed And if the Apostles call the Scripture the word surely they are Gods word and by the word of Prophesie can be meant no other word I marvel that you Quakers who pretend to an infallible Spirit to know all things do not know that as Christ is called the eternal word of God so are the Scriptures written called the revealed will or word of God or his word revealed As when we write our mind or cause another to write our will or mind to another we are properly said to send word or what is so written to be our word Pag. 33. Of the said Primer That by the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing you from all sin is meant the life of Christ Now I would know where you ever read in Scripture that we are cleansed from all sin by the life of Christ or whether the blood of Christ were ever taken for the life of Christ in Scripture I would fain know your meaning of this dark mystical expression Whether you do believe that the blood which Christ shed upon the Crosse when he suffered without the Gates of Jerusalem be that blood that cleanseth from all sin I know partly your meaning by what I have heard from several of your company and read in several of your Books wherefore that I may shew you what I beleive concerning the same according to the Scriptures mind the Apostle saith Without shadding of blood is no remission And he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight And having made peace by the blood of his crosse But I fear you are strangers to this blood of Christ and it is a mystery hid from your eyes who pretend to know all mysteries but they are mysteries of iniquity while you count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing And as you are strangers to this blood of Christ that cleanseth from all sin so I fear you are Ignorant of the life of Christ For I would know whether by the life of Christ you mean the life that Christ lived in the dayes of his converse on earth from the time of his Birth to the time of his suffering death on the crosse or the life he now liveth in heaven or whether by the life of Christ you do not understand the life of a leigned Christ in you or a life imitating Christ his Life I know by what I have heard from the mouths of several and read in several of your books that you are strangers to the true life of Christ mentioned in Scripture and is a mystery hid from your eyes But mind what the Scriptures saith For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them By which texts of Scripture you may see that we are justified or saved by Christ his life living now in heaven to make intercession for us But I never did read in the Scripture that our sins are washed away and that we are saved by what Christ wrought in us nor by imitating the life of Christ and yet I say that all those who are saved by the blood and the life of Christ have faith wrought in their hearts by the Spirit of Christ
Congregation and if any through ignorance doe sing that which is not sutable to their condition may not or must not others in the same congregation sing those things that are sutable to their condition That the Psalmes to be read by such is no sin unless you count reading the Scripture to be sinne and why may they not as well sing them as read them seeing the one is a duty as well as the other they may sing them doctrinal as well as read them doctrinal as the truths contained in the Psalms and such may be convinced by singing them as wel as reading them as in the particulars objected O Lord I am not puft in mind may not a proud person be convinc'd that he ought not to be proud and when a wicked man singeth My heart is bent to keep thy Law may not he thereby be convinced and taught by that Doctrine that his heart ought to be bent to keep the Law That it is ignorance of a mans own condition and of the matter contained in the Psalmes to think or say that the Psalmes are not sutable to our conditions for every Psalm setteth forth either the Attributes and workes of God and his Christ or else describeth the estate and wayes of the Church and People of God or describeth the estate and wayes of the wicked or else it doth lively express mine own affections and afflictions temptations and comfort But whatsoever the matter of the Psalm concerneth either of God or his Christ the godly or the wicked my self or others the good or evil estate of one or other it ever ministreth fit matter and occasion to me of singing forth the prayses of the Lord since the name of God is to be blessed in and by all whether it goe well or ill with our selves or others and I believe that there is no condition the Church is or can be in in general nor no condition which any Member is or hath been in but there are Psalms sutable to the same and several Clerks are able to chuse such Psalms as are fit and sutable for all times and for all states and conditions of the Church and sutable for all Ordinances and sutable to all Doctrines And lastly the general practice of the Churches of Christ is to me a thing much to be considered and that it was the practice of the Churches of Christ after the Apostles dayes several Histories do testifie as Mr. Cotton doth largely prove in his book written in defence of this Ordinance of singing of Psalmes against the Antipsalmist But you follow the Papists your Fathers who are as great enemies to singing of Davids Psalmes as your selves and I could wish that some Protestants were not too much tainted with that Opinion The Papist in contempt of singing of Psalmes call them Genevah Jigs as you Quakers and other Sectaries the brood of Antichrist scoff at our Ministers and people for singing of Psalmes calling them Hopkins Jigs But I hope I have sufficiently proved that we follow the example of Christ and his Apostles and all reformed Churches and that you do sin in not following the command and example of Christ and his Apostles and therefore are not perfect and so I pass from this particular in which I have been the longer in regard I have been so often opposed by you for practising this duty And now I come to a fourth particular in which you walk contrary to the rule of the Scripture and that is your practice in suffering and maintaining women to teach in your meetings which you call your Church Now this practice I have not only heard of but am an eye and ear witness of having heard two several women speak and teach in your meetings where I heard them speak such nonsensical erronious stuff that it is a shame to write it And this practice is justified and maintained in Print by one of their chief teachers Richard Fanworth for so he saith is his name in the flesh who hath written a Pamphlet called A woman forbidden to speak in the Church the Grounds examined the Mystery opened the Truth cleared and the Ignorance both of Priests and People discovered where by the way take notice that where ever the letter of the Text doth speak directly against your errors then you say there is a Mystery in it and that none can open but your selves But where the Letter of the Scripture seemeth to speak for your errours then you say away with your mystical meanings the Scripture is to be understood as they speak according to the Letter which I have often heard from your own mouths and read in your books Wherefore I shall indeavour to prove Mr. Fanworths Mystery opened to be the mystery of iniquity proceeding from the spirit of Antichrist being directly against the Doctrine of Christ contained in the Scripture For saith the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians Let your women keep silence in the Churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the Law And if they will learn any thing let them aske their husbands at home for it is a shame for women to speak in the Church also the Apostle to Timothy Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence Object But you Quakers say that there is a mystical meaning which none know but your selves And that is that by the woman is meant the flesh and by the speaking is meant the Spirit which is in the Saints and that may speak in the Church whether in man or woman male or female this Farnworth writeth in opening the Mystery Also Sarah Blackbury when I alledged the Apostles words to her in William Bonds House after she had been three or four hours there a teaching or prating on the Lords day she made me this Answer thou art the woman for thou art Flesh that is weak and therefore thou art to keep silence and I may speak because I have the Spirit by which the Scripture was written but thou hast not the Spirit and therefore hold thy babling for thou knowest not the meaning of the Scripture To which I replied but what is meant by the Husbands that the women are to learn of and to ask them at home To which Susan Bond answered Christ was the Husband and of him they were to be taught and Sarah Blackbery seemed to like the Answer well for she made no exceptions against it neither can she nor any one else if their doctrine be true that they all have an infallible Spirit and cannot erre else they cannot be perfect for error is sin and I shall prove this to be an error when I have taken away the false Vizzard which you have put upon the these Texts of Scripture Wherefore to shew you your error I shall shew you the great