Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	faith_n	word_n	write_a	3,171	5	10.6412	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89836	A discovery of the man of sin, acting in a mystery of iniquitie, pleading for his kingdom, against the coming of Christ to take away sin. Or, an answer to a book set forth by Tho. Weld of Gateshead, Richard Prideaux, Sam. Hamond, Will. Cole, and Will. Durant of Newcastle. By way of reply to an answer of James Nayler's to their former book, called The perfect Pharisee: who call themselves ministers of Christ, but are found ministring for the kingdom of Antichrist. Published for clearing the innocency of the truth from their malicious slanders, and discovering their deceits. By one whom the world calls James Nayler.	Naylor, James, 1617?-1660.	1654 (1654)	Wing N274; Thomason E738_16; ESTC R202155	50,411	56

Position That the Scriptures are not the word of God but a Declaration of the condition of them that spoke them forth And in your Reply you alledge many Scriptures but not one that speaks of a written word or that the letter is the word but that it is a Declaration is plain as Luk. 1. 1. 1. Joh. 1. 3. and divers other places where they that had the word in them declared it in writings to others Gal. 1. 16. And whereas you say The seed is the word it 's true but that seed is not the letter nor can any sow that seed but where Christ is revealed in them And you argue carnally and say Can the devil take Christ out of their hearts I answer Where the devil is received in there Christ departs and in that sense may be said to be taken away but if you minde the words that follow Lest they should believe and be saved it will appear to be the seed of Christ for in what else could they be believe to salvation but in Christ and this seed is not the letter as you would prove it to be and for that place 1 Thess 2. 13. where it is said That which the Saints heard of the Apostles was not the words of man I answer It 's true and that word was Christ the word of faith as is plain Rom. 10. 6 7 8. neither can you prove that ever the Apostles preached any other word but Christ Gal. 1. And whereas you say there are two words of God an essential and a declarative word which is your own language but the Scripture speaks no such words And whereas you accuse us to destroy the Scriptures Divinity and Authority but is this to destroy their Authority when we say They were spoken forth by the Holy Ghost which was in them that spoke them forth and ye would make people believe the letter to be the foundation of the Saints and hath the Authority over the Soul and here you deny Christ to establish the letter in his stead who is the foundation of Saints and hath the Authority of Souls for they who preached Christ the foundation denied themselves to preach the letter but your ministration is of the letter who knows no other word but what you read in books And this is your foundation you stand on and here it 's tried and by which you get your living in the world and here you deny Christ for the letter is not Christ And whereas you talk of the commands of God but his commands you know not who have them to seek in the letter for his commands is in Spirit and ever was and yet this doth not destroy the Scriptures but witness the same Spirit that gave them forth and that which the Saints spoke was the word of the Lord and not the letter according to their several measures and conditions And whereas you accuse me to say that the words which the Prophets spoke was Christ wherein your deceit appears to all that read my words for I do not say their words were Christ but that Spirit by which they spoke was the Spirit of Christ And this is that which I spoke of which came to the Prophets which you deny to be Christ and therewith the life of Christ and the Apostles you are all judged out of truth and here your deceit and blindeness and slanders are laid open for every spiritual eye to see The fourteenth Position That the Spirits are not to be tried by Scriptures And here because I say that the infallible Spirit which is the original of all Scriptures is the trial of all Spirits from thence you argue that I set the minde and will of the Spirit in opposition to the Spirit which is false for I set the Spirit of God in whom it is in opposition to all deceitful Spirits for so the Apostle bids them who had the Spirit of God try the deceitful Spirits and this was not spoken to them who were guided by the Spirit of the world for such cannot try the Spirits neither with the letter nor without it as I have formerly proved neither did Christ send them to try his Spirit when he bad them Search the Scriptures nor did the Bereans try the Spirit of Christ but searched the words which Paul spoke from those Scriptures that declared of Christ And here by the visible eye they tried visible words but the Spirit of God is invisible and cannot be tried by any but those who have it and are guided by it And you that would make people believe that all that can read the letter can try the Spirit of God would set up carnal judges over the Spirit of God when the Scripture saith The natural man understands not the things of God and you confess the eternal Spirit to be the trier of Spirits though formerly you seemed to deny it but say your question is what the Saints had to try the Spirits by I answer By the same Spirit by which they are sanctified and prove in Scripture where the Saints are commanded to try the Spirits by any other things and here see your confusion for the letter is dead and speaks nothing for the Apostles said They served God in the newness of life and not in the oldness of the letter and if any man read this letter and not by the same Spirit that gave it forth he is not able to judge of it but wrests it as you do for your several ends if any man read it by the same Spirit that gave it forth it is the Spirit that judgeth of the letter and not the letter of the Spirit And whereas you talk of trying the doctrines of men by the Scriptures it is true they that have had the Spirit of God in all ages have made use of the letter against the deceitful doctrines as we do at this day and yet this letter is not the judge of the Spirit of God in them for this were to set the letter above the Spirit And whereas you accuse us to exclude the Scriptures because we say the holy Ghost is the original of them which slander is false for hereby we confess and own the Scripture to be given forth by the holy Ghost And whereas you say the light which a spiritual man hath is a Scripture-light I answer A spiritual mans light is the light of Christ and is infallible and cannot be altered and therefore all that are guided by it are one where there is no disputes nor janglings but you that have your light from what you gather out of the letter are confused amongst your selves adding to it your own meanings for your own ends and do not speak one and the same things but every man according to his imaginations of the letter so he judgeth and so he worshippeth and here are you Teachers of the world divided in your several judgements and your several worships And thus you are putting meaning upon Paul's words where he saith He is

sin neerer hand for whoever opposeth the end of Christs coming which was to take away sin and to set free from it and to present perfect unto the Father without spot or blemish such are Antichrists and the man of sin acts in them to uphold his own kingdom which is sin and there you are as your practise printing and preaching may witness and are discovered by the Spirit of Christ where it is though you have long acted in a mysterie for are not you the same men who have had great sums of mony for crying out against sin but now that the kingdom of sin begins to fall you have changed your voyce and tels people they must never be free from sin while they live nor ever attain to perfection and so takes peoples money for pleading against the commands of Christ who saith Be ye perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect Mat. 5. 48. Be ye holy for I am holy 1 Pet. 1. 15. 16. Eph. 5. 27. and so being found to minister against Christ he is blinde who cannot see you to be ministers of Antichrist for they who were ministers of Jesus Christ prayed and preached for the perfecting of the Saints that they might perfect what was lacking in their faith 1 Thes 3. 10. that they might present every one perfect in Christ Jesus Col. 1. 28. and bring up to perfection even to the measure stature and fulness of Christ Eph. 4. 12. and such said how can you that are dead to sin live any longer therein Rom. 6. which you deny that any can attain to perfection or freedom from sin while they are here and so are acted by a contrary Spirit to Christ and all that ever he sent forth and would make people beleeve that Christ had commanded that which none should ever attain to and those who witness it and would press others to press after it in the power of Christ such you reckon up among those you call blasphemers and heretical doctrine but all this is that you may be made manifest whose ministers you are And whereas you reckon us up among the Papists thereby to make us odious unto people but are you not ashamed of it who are found amongst them your selves in many things which you call your worship wherein we deny both them and you and they are one with you against us in persecution and revilings have not they builded the Idols Temples and you worship in them are not you one with them in observing many dayes and times and forms as sprinkling infants singing and many such like things are you not one with them in bearing rule as lords and masters over the Common People and would have to doe in ordering of the State-affairs are you not one with them as in your tythes and fat parsonages and divers other things which might be mentioned all which we deny yours and their practise as being contrary to the Saints in Scripture and commands of Christ And where is there one Papist ownes us I command you all you Priests to make your slander good or else lay your hands on your mouths in silence and confess your selves to all the world to be lyars And now to the particulars wherein you charge us to be one with the Papists I charge you to be lyars and do answer As we receive not the ground of what we practise from the Papists or you neither do we deny what is truth because they or you may profess it but shall owne it before all the world though by you we be reproached for it And first You charge us with denying Justification without us and for witnessing justification by Christ alone in us which we owne Christ in us according to the measure made manifest our sanctification justification redemption from sin and the hope of glory Col. 1. 26 27. and this we owne within us which is a mystery and hath been hid from ages and is now hid from you and the wisdom of the world as you make it appear And here he th●t sits in Heaven may have you in derision and you to be ignorant of the mystery who have shewed forth your folly For the second You charge us for being justified by inherent righteousness which word we deny it is a word of your own coyning but by being made the righteousness of God in Christ 2 Cor. 5. 21. and denying all our own righteousness are we justified And this Christ and this righteousness we witness within us in measure Thirdly you charge upon us that we say Every Saint is perfect and that it is possible to be perfectly holy and without sin and yeeld perfect obedience to the Law of God I answer To your first it is a lying slander that we say every Saint is perfect for we witness the Saints growth and the time of pressing after-perfection To your second we own it that it is possible to be perfectly holy and without sin and herein we have the Saints in Scripture to witness with us which I charge you to be ignorant of and not come to the first principles who witnessed the new birth freedom from sin and perfection Heb. 10. 14. As to your third I answer that not one jot or tittle of the Law shall pass till all be fulfilled and it was the end for which God sent his Son manifest in the flesh that by him the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 3 4. And herein we have the Saints in Scripture to witness with us The fourth thing which you charge upon us is That the Spirit is not to be tried by Scripture To which I answer That Spirit which is of God is one with that which gave forth the Scripture where-ever it is yet can none who have not that Spirit try the spirits by the Scripture for they who have not that infallible spirit that gave forth the Scriptures have the spirit of Errour and judge amiss both of Spirit and Scripture as the Scribes and Pharisees did and you do But they who have that infallible spirit which gave forth the Scripture have that which tryed the spirits before the Scripture was and such have their touchstone wit●in them and not without them and such need not go to the letter to try the spirits The fifth thing you charge upon us is to cry down the necessity of the written Word and call it a dead letter and that it is but a declaration of them that spoke it forth To which I answer Where read you of a written Word But if you thereby mean the Scriptures which we call a declaration of them that spake them forth It is true we do so and they who spake them forth witness them with us to be a declaration Luke 1. 1. 1 Joh. 1. 3. and the letter and not the spirit But that we cry down the necessity of the Scriptures is false for they are our own and we see them

and they want nothing And as for those that do not work that they should not eat and those who live disorderly not working at all 1 Thess 3. 10. 11. how are you not ashamed to take these Scriptures into your mouthes when all that know you may witness this against you that no sort of people in the Nation lives like you for idleness like beasts and swine for 1. Your families are provided for by the sweat of other mens brows 2. You are those that walk disorderly not working at all and therefore ought not to eat 3. And for abiding in our callings we are in them and there abide with God but you are crept in and are not called of God by your own confession who never heard his voice And whereas you make an Objection lest we should say that the Apostles left their callings and followed Christ and you say 'T is true the Messiah had his disciples following him but Paul after Christs ascension left a standing rule say you for all to abide in their callings As if when Christ should ever call out any more they should not obey him as though Paul had left a standing rule to the contrary And thus you bring Paul to oppose the commands of Christ and one Scripture to cross another and yet would not be counted wresters of Scriptures nor opposers of Christ But you are found out and can no longer be hid And whereas you tell of them who were called forth having an immediate call and to pub like work in the Ministery herein I say silence flesh who knows nothing of that immediate call to that publike work but denies it And whereas you tell of Paul reproving Christians for leaving their callings I answer Did Paul reprove them for leaving all and coming forth at the commands of Christ O with what subtilty do you go about here to make people believe that Christ should never call out any more not they obey And whereas you tell that a man may forsake the world and yet enjoy his possessions in it I answer Such a forsaking of the world pleaseth you well and so do you forsake the world when you leave one Parsonage to go to a greater Living and this is all the forsaking of the world that you know or can judge of But did ever any that Christ called forth to be Ministers forsake the world so but they left all at his command And whereas you tell of using this world as not abusing it and many such-like words which you know nothing of I answer When you come to live in what you speak and so to use this world you will cease to compel your hearers to pay you Tythes or Money for your hours talk or one to pull out another for greater Livings for he who spoke those words did no such things and till you come to live that life you have nought to do with those words And whereas you say you spoke not a sillable of the pride and lusts of the world in your Epistle but it is foisted in by James Nayler I answer Doth not he that forsakes the world forsake the pride and lusts of it which you live in and seem to speak evil of them that do forsake the world as is plain in your book and then what wrong have I done you for I do not charge you with the words but with the thing And now for those things you have set down as trivial observances they are these our not saluting which we witness a command to the contrary our not putting off the hat before the Magistrate wherein we have the example of Christ and all the Apostles and Saints and are plainly forbidden to have the faith of Christ in respect of persons and our Thouing every one which is the Scriptures language and none of the holy men of God ever used any other to a particular and our not calling men Masters which is the command of Christ in plain words Now you that call your selves Ministers and call the commands of Christ trivial observances I charge you in the presence of the living God to be in the doctrine of devils and there are seen by all the children of the light and makes it plainly appear how little you regard the language of the Scriptures given out by the Spirit of God or the practice of the Saints who were guided by the same Spirit or the express commands of Jesus Christ but stand up to maintain the customs of the world against all these and here you plainly appear to whom you belong for you who are guided by the spirit of the world stand up to maintain the customs of the world and they that are guided by the Spirit of God are led into the same way words worship and obedience that those walked in who were guided by the same Spirit before them and none can live in the kingdom of Christ and conform to the customs of the world neither doth the Apostle speak of any of these when he saith Touch not taste not handle not as you would make people believe but of your carnal Ordinances And whereas you say we place Holiness and Religion in these things It is false our holiness is in Christ but these things we cannot neglect being the commands of Christ to us and practice of the Saints in Scripture And whereas you say we will not submit to Christs righteousness I charge you to be lyers and slanderers and that we also deny many other truths with full opposition to Gospel Ordinances Prayer Baptism Supper Church-Government and Ministery which is all false and a lying slander for the righteousness of Christ we own and in him alone are we made the righteousness of God 1 Cor. 5. 21. But your righteousness which live in sin and talk of righteousness without you and are not made conformable to Christ but are conformable to the world that righteousness we deny And Christ the Gospel-Ordinance we own and deny your carnal Ordinances and set Forms And Prayer we own which is with the Spirit and as the Spirit helps our infirmities so we ask and receive of the Father and deny the vain bablings of you Heathen and you that under pretence make long prayers And the Supper of the Lord we own which is spiritual and deny your carnal Sacrament for which there is no Scripture and your mixt multitudes The Baptism of Christ we own and are baptized by one Spirit into one body And the Holy Ghost and the fire we own and do witness but deny your sprinckling of Infants for which there is no Scripture Church-government we own and Jesus Christ the head and governour of his Church to whom we submit but deny your Classes Assemblies and Masterships by which you rule and govern in your own wils the Ministers we own which is of Iesus Christ and immediate call to it and deny all whose call is mediate and are made ministers by the will of man and here I charge you in

in his own power to stand perfect And you are offended that I should say that the book should witness against your false slander and that the word is twice repeated to stand in Gods power and not in his own I answer I shall appeal to any sober Christian who reads the Querie whether the words carry not the very same sense twice over where it is said Able in his power to have stood if they had not for saken his power and consented to the wisdom of the serpent Where if I had spoken of the power of man and woman then it should have been set down their power and not his power which onely holds forth the power of God And for your deceitful reasoning to back your slander wherein you would deny Adam in that state of innocencie to stand in the power of God therein you shew you know not Adam in innocencie nor his standing with God for while he stood he stood in that power and wisdom and counsel of God and the looking out from that was the cause of his fall And here all that ever know Adam in innocencie shall witness against your ignorance and foolishness And whereas you charge George Fox with scoffing at the grace of God and that to pray for the sight of sin and for power from sin is a tempting of God and to pray for light to discover sin and refraining from it are needless I answer This slander comes from the same root of the rest For scoffing at the grace of God it is false I charge you to be lyers in the presence of the living God and you for eternal condemnation for the grace of God he owns as is plain where he saith The free grace of God hath appeared to all men which shews sin and evil which whosoever lives in after it be discovered by the grace of God and yet with a pretence makes a prayer to God to give them a sight of their sins when God hath letten them see their sins freely by his grace and they will not forsake it such tempt God and their prayers are abomination and God will not hear the prayers of them that regard iniquity But how falsly you gather from these words that to pray for power against sin or to refrain from it is to tempt God or a thing needless let any one that fears the Lord judge and witness against your slanderous spirit But wickedness shall be upon the head of the wicked And for the prayers and practice of the Saints which was to overcome and forsake sin them we own and have union with in that which is holy and they witness with us against your practice who live in sin and plead for it and for a pretence make long prayers And for that you call Nayler's lyes because I say you are slanderers which shall appear to be true more and more to all the children of light under your own hands And whereas you would go about to prove Adam in the state of innocencie under the Covenant of Works and that he had the Levitical Law for that is the Covenant of Works I answer What were the works that he was to do for life for the Covenant of Works saith Do this and live but he had the life already while he stood in it and so it was not to be obtained by working and the Scripture saith The Law was added because of transgression which if it had been before the transgression could not have been And Adam in his innocencie stood not by the Moral Law as you call it for that which was given to Adam was Thou shalt not eat which nowhere in Scripture is called the Covenant of Works Thus while you laugh at my ignorance as you say you discover your own wickedness and folly Now to your ninth Position That no man that commits sin or that is not perfectly holy can ever enter into the kingdom of heaven unless there be a Purgatory And in your Reply you think strange that I should deny your wresting of my words to another purpose then for which I spoke them But seeing your charge is grounded upon my Querie why have you altered the words from what I wrote as by inserting the word ever whenas he that hath sinned may repent and so his sin be done away and your adding the words Vnless there be a Purgatory as though I owned a cleansing after death When as the Querie is Whether you own a Purgatory or no who say none can be clean from sin while they live Now I shall appeal to any where there is honesty if you have not wrested my words and you in the Papists minde again in that Querie whenas you charge me with owning a Purgatory which I deny as is plain by these words seeing the tree must lie as it falls this is your deceit which would perswade the Reader to look upon my words according to your false interpretation when you have wrested them and not as I spake them but when my words will not serve you to ground your slanders on as they are set down then you take and alter them for your own ends and that this is not a shuffle and your shuffle I own not which shall stand for your selves but plain dealing in me to clear the truth from your slanders may appear to all who read both our books And whereas you say You have found me out a medium for the washing of the sins of them that die in sins which is neither holiness here nor a purgatory but the blood of the Lord Jesus Now I challenge you to finde one Scripture which saith The blood of Christ cleanseth sinners after death for it is onely effectual to the believers And now let all who know any thing of faith judge if it be not you that are shuffling and put to the pinch you speak of who for clearing your deceit would make people believe that which the Scriptures speak not but is raised in your invention And whereas you charge me with dealing falsly with that Scripture 1 John 1. 7. because I say Doth it say any are cleansed from sin while they personally act sin which I say that Scripture doth not as shall appear to all that read it but quite contrary And whereas you charge me to imitate Satan who when he came to tempt Christ took what Scripture would serve his purpose and leaves out the rest I answer Your slander is false for I mentioned the same Scripture you set down without adding or leaving out and herein I have not wronged you neither will the verse following nor any other Scripture warrant what you speak That a man is cleansed from sin while he personally acts sin but your words are contrary to the words of Christ who saith He that committeth sin is the servant of sin but you say He may act sin and be cleansed from sin Now who deals deceitfully with the Scripture and with mens souls and imitates the father of lyes let

the cross for his people he doth the same now and so is the same yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 13. 8. which cross you that live in your pride and lusts of the flesh will not take up and therefore the works of the devil remain in you undestroyed And for the Scriptures you alleadge do any of them say that Christ hath destroyed the works of the devil for them who live in sin for to commit sin is the work of the devil And first you say Christ hath destroyed the works of the devil upon the cross and then you say the works of Satan shall be destroyed in the time appointed of the Father and he shall present us spotless at his coming which time of the Fathers appointment and coming of Christ to present spotless you appear to be ignorant of for the Fathers time is To day to them that will hear his voice And the coming of Christ without sin unto salvation and presenting spotless is witnessed And whereas you go about to make people believe that though they die the servants of sin yet they shall be compleat in Christ and be made glorious and perfect and holy after death which is your own imagination here I charge you in the presence of the living God to be in the Papists faith to encourage people to live in sin while they live and for which you have no Scripture for I challenge you to bring one Scripture which doth say That perfection and holiness are reserved till after death or that any shall inherit them after death or one Scripture that saies Men shall live in sin while they are upon the earth who cannot witness them here but as men die so shall they come to judgement and so shall be proceeded against without any holiness added to them after death And thus you are not afraid to deceive souls and hold things contrary to plain Scripture to deceive withal which at that day you shall accompt for which will be terrible to all deceivers and whereas you would wrest those words of Christ Mat. 5. 18. Not one jot or tittle of the Law shall pass away until all be fulfilled and this you would wrest to make the Law void as though God did not require it to be fulfilled and you say this was the scle and alone work of Christ which work of Christ you know not in your selves who puts it far from you for they who witness the work of Christ they know that he who did fulfil the Law doth fulfil the it in every generation of the Saints who believe in him and so by faith the Law is established and not made void and whereas you say It is not said in all the book of God that the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in this life in any Saints and here I charge you all to be lyers in the presence of the living God But you say the contrary is asserted I answer It seems you hold a fulfilling of it after death but read Rom. 8. 3 4. and let the Scripture be witness against you which saith in plain words That Christ came for that end to fulfil the Law in the Saints which they could not do through the weakness of the flesh and there is no Scripture that asserts the contrary without your wrestings which I deny as you have wrested and turned many Scriptures here to your own destruction and to destroy others turning them into your sence to another end then for which the holy Ghost gave them forth for the Spirit of God did never give out the Scripture to plead for sin while men live but they are so plain to all your wresting of them that I forbear to mention them in particular and whereas you slander us to hold up Popish notions and inherent holiness that is your own practise and your own words which we deny And you that say May not a man be in part unclean and yet pure and spotless too by reason of imputation Here you now shew your confusion and I command you to shew plain Scripture for this without twining And now let any who sees your pleading for sin and uncleanness which Christ came to take away judge if you are not the upholders of what Christ came to destroy and here you are Antichrists and by your pleading for sin is the man of sin discovered in you who pleads for his kingdom while men live and how I am a Railer for laying open these truths let any judge where the man of sin is discovered and you are found faithful to therein you are in the doctrine of the Papists your Master The eleventh Position That every man in the world hath a light within him sufficient to guide him to salvation without the help of any outward light or discovery And in your Reyly you deceitfully put in that word saving light which is not spoken by me for though Christ be the light of the world that enlightens all yet none are saved by him but who believe and follow him out of the works of darkness but to the rest it is the condemnation that light is come into world and they love darkness and their evil deeds and here are you to be condemned with it who are enemies to the light and pleads against it and so lives in works of darkness And whereas you say None can come except the Father draw them it 's true but those drawings you and all that hate the light do resist And whereas you say Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh to me It 's true and that 's the reason why you who own not the teachings of the Father but counts it blasphemy to witness his voice come not to Christ but are at a distance from him and for John 1. 4 5. which you say Is clear against me and you say They were in darkness for want of light but John saith The light shined in darkness and he came unto his own and they received him not John 1. And here John shews the cause why they were in darkness was because they received not the light for as many as received him became the sons of God and thus what John saith you hold the contrary and you say that of Joh. 3. 19. This is the condemnation that light is come into the world is full against me but how that is full against my witnessing every man to have a light let any man see but you sure think that people are bound to believe any thing you say without any further trial but the light is come and you must now lead none but who are wilfully blinde And for the third branch of my answer That where the light of Christ is there needs no outward discovery to this you say You have abundantly proved that Christ is not in all nor doth enlighten all I answer Your proofs are contrary to plain Scripture in this as in all the rest for the Scripture saith Christ is in all Jew

commands of God into which the wisdom of the world could never enter God hath made many as signes among you as to go naked in your Steeple-houses in your markets in your streets as many in the Northern parts which is a figure to you of all your nakedness Priests in your first page you say It is their greatest work to deny his righteousness fulfilled in his person to be imputed to you for your justification Rep. What righteousness is there imputed to the workers of iniquity which are cursed the righteousness of Christ we own which he fulfilled in his own person who is the Lord our righteousness we through him are become the righteousness of God and from this you Priests are shut out who would do as your fathers did who persecuted the Lord of glory and I charge you here in the presence of the living God to be lyers for what Christ fulfilled and came to fulfil we own which Christ is the same yesterday to day and for ever and the same Ministery and the same immediate call we witness and have all the Prophets Apostles and Christ the Corner-stone to witness us in the same and all you reprobates and all your weapons you strike with against the truth do but confirm us and establish the innocent and confirm the truth against all you opposers Priests you are speaking of faith being swallowed up in vision I charge you to shew such an expression in Scripture amongst all the Saints which was in faith Priests whereas you say That George Fox called Mr. Nichols hypocrite in Carlile though he never saw his face Here I charge you all Priests to be confused And you say How doth this bottom upon Christ who gave it to none but such as they had a particular knowledge of Here I charge you to be contrary to Ch●st contrary to the Apostles for Christ said Judge not according to outward appearance as the Pharisees did And here I prove you to be Pharisees and the Apostle said He was present in Spirit beholding the order of the Saints though he never saw their faces and here I judge with the Spirits of the Apostles to be out of their life And you say That Christ gave that title as hypocrite to Herod and the teachers of false doctrine Now to you I speak The Scripture it self and Christs words in it shall be your judge to be in the steps of the Pharisees and false teachers and in the nature of Herod which are called of men Masters as the hypocrites were and hath the cheif places in the assemblies and stand praying in the Synagogues which are painted with the Prophets Christs and the Apostles words as your fathers were with the Prophets words laying heavy burthens upon the people as some of your fellow-Priests have imprisoned some because they would not pay Tythes which are pretended teachers and here you are under the wo which Christ pronounced against your fathers as you may read Mat. 23. and so with all the children of the light you are judged and with the light of Christ you are condemned to be out of his doctrine eternally and for condemnation of old with the light which gad in the way of Cain and after the error of Balaam who received gifts and rewards You are casting out your lyes and slanders upon the innocent but with the light of Christ they are for eternal condemnation and you that act them to that in all your consciences I speak which shall witness it eternally and condemn all you that are acquainted with lyes and slanders for the book of conscience is opened Priests you say Paul disclaims all equality with God in your one and twentieth page Here I charge you to be lyers in the presence of the living God Paul saith Let the minde be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet made himself of no reputation c. Phil. 2. 5 6 7. Priests and whereas you say The light which is by Christ is the light of the first covenant Rep. Christ Jesus saith He is the light of the world and doth enlighten every one that comes into the world and the Prophet said God would give him for a Covenant a light to the Gentiles and here let the Scripture judge you to be out of the light that stumbles at the light and the covenant And whereas you would have James Nayler confess George to be the adopted Son of God what Son was that that was revealed in the Apostles but the confessing of the Son of God vexeth you and shews you had not life for you that have not the Son of God have not life Christ saith He is that true light that enlightens every one that comes into the world and your answer is This light is not Christs will and here you blasphemously declare your selves to say The light of Christ is not his will when Christ saies I am the light that enlightens every one that coms into the world him that hates it shall be his condemnation and here you shew you are in darkness that stumbles at the light and your darkness cannot comprehend it Priests you say The light of Christ is not a knowledge of Christ as Mediator Here again I charge you to be lyers in the presence of the living God whoever comes to know Christ as a Mediator is with the light of Christ which hath enlightned him and here again I charge you to be stumblers at the light And whereas you speak in your seven and thirtieth page of a natural light and so blaspheming the light of Christ but with that light ye shall be condemned before you know the Gospel Priests in your sixtieth page you say Christ did not give a saving light to every man Rep. Christ the Saviour saith He enlightens every one that comes into the world and he that walks in the light shall bave the light of life and not walk in darkness and as many as believes in him and receives him to them he gives power to become the Sons of God but you which stumbles at the light of Christ and hate it shall be your eternal condemnation and all your profession to be air and winde and empty and shews you do not believe in the light of Christ and so with the light you are condemned and your mouthes stopped And whereas you are speaking of your outward helps and discoveries or to help the light of Christ here you declare your light to be darkness for the visible doth not open the invisible but the invisible the visible He that hath an ear to hear let him hear but I see you have none that stumble at the light of Christ You speak of a Trinity of sprinkling Infants of merits and of inherent righteousness I command you to shew a word in Scripture that speaks of any of these words you speake of a moral Law of the word essential or suggestion shew forth where the Scripture speaks any such words so take the slander upon your selves wherewith you slander George Fox as jugling which he abhors and your slander reacheth him not and so finde out these words in Scripture else lay your hands on your mouths and confess your selves to be juglers to all the world and let the Scripture it self judge you that teach those things there is no Scripture for who saies it is your touch-stone and standing oyle and so the title of Perfect Pharisee shall stand to your selves who would be justified in the sight of man so the beast shall be burned and the false Prophet cast into the lake of fire The thing that was seen concerning Newcastle all his pillars to be dry and his trees to be bare and much nakedness that they have not scarcely the bark but are as a wilderness where much winde and cold comes where there must be much labour before the ground be brought into order for it 's a stony ground and there is much bryers and thorns about her and many trees have grown wilde long and have scarce earth to cover their roots but their roots are seen and how they stand in the stones and these trees bears no fruit but bears moss and much winde pierce thorow and clatters them together and makes the trees shake but still the rootes are held amongst the stones and are bald and naked FINIS

and Greek bond and free Col. 3. 11. And this is the true light that enlightens every one that comes into the world John 1. 9. John 8. 12. And you say you have fully proved that all men in the world do need an outward light and that it is the way of Christ to make himself known by outward discoveries and you say you have proved it by arguments I answer Your deceitful arguments I deny and they are no proof to me nor any that fear God who receive that truth by the Spirit and not by arguments but bring one Scripture in plain words that all men need an outward light or that an outward discovery is the way by which Christ makes himself known to his people and till then I deny you and your Philosophy and prove one Saint that ever knew Christ since his ascension but by revelation And what talk you of preaching the Gospel who denies the immediate call of Christ or any hearing his voice or to talke of Officers given for perfecting of the Saints which say none shall ever be perfect while they live which shew you to be none of those Officers given by Christ for the perfecting of the Saints for you plead against such as witness that work and that end And whereas you say That the light spoken of 2 Pet. 1. 19. that Peter doth not send them to a light within but to books and words of the Prophets which Scripture shall witness against your deceit and blindeness for the Apostle exhorts them to wait on the light til the day dawn and the day-star arise in their hearts which is not without nor in books and if the testimony of the old Prophets was a more sure word then that which Peter heard from the mouth of God then it must needs follow that the testimony of the old Prophets who spoke but darkly of Christ and did not see his day though they desired it must be a more sure testimony then the Apostles who were his eye-witnesses and the words of books a more sure word then the voice that came from heaven which was the immediate voice of God which blinde absurdity all who have the Spirit of prophesie which is the sure word and testimony of Jesus shall condemn your blindeness who knows not that sure word of prophesie that was in them And whereas you wish the Reader to observe that Nayler cries down the Scriptures as needless here you would have the Reader to observe your lyes for though the letter doth not discover Christ but the Spirit yet it is not useless for it is a witness against your practice opinions traditions and casts you all amongst the false Prophets and hirelings and herein it is of use and authority and also is a witness without against all who will not own the witness within nor do I cry down the publishing the Gospel by the Ministery nor the hearing God and his word but you who deny the immediate call and the word of God coming to any now denies both the word and Ministery which we own and witness The twelfth Position That there is no need of any outward teaching by reading or hearing the Scriptures opened or applyed And herein you accuse me of shuffling railing and lying because I say you apply the promises of God to them who are in the first birth and preach them up all believers and say men must commit sin while they are here and sow pillows under mens arm-holes now is not this true of you who sprinkle Infants by the faith of their Parents and calls them your flock and receives them to your Ordinances and do you not here preach them up believers within your liberty or Parish though they live in sin and here you sow pillows under every arm-hole and then do you not fine them who refuse to pay you Tythes or hire and so you prepare war against them who put not into your mouthes And you hold forth that none can be free from sin while they live Now where are the lyes or what wrong have I done you let any that is spiritual judge for lying I abhor or to wrong any but I speak the truth of you as your practice doth witness And in your answer to that Scripture which saith They shall no more teach every man his neighbour saying Know the Lord Heb. 8. 11. This you say doth onely concern the children of God and such as have their sins pardoned wherein you exclude all your Parish people from the children of God and pardon of sin for how many have you that are taught of God and needs not your teaching as you say I desire your hearers that they would consider of it that so they might come to the teachings of God and so witness the children of God and sin pardoned and so to witness the everlasting Covenant and no need of your teachings And whereas you tell of 4 Arguments and above 30 plain Scriptures in your Perfect Pharisee Your Arguments I deny and sees them to be deceit and there is not one of the thirty nor in the whole book that doth plainly witness to your way of teaching but the whole Scriptures are against you and all that teach for hire and denies the immediate call and the word of the Lord coming to you Jer. 23. 21 32. And you ask why the Apostle wrote to the Hebrews to teach them if that were the meaning that no man should teach their neighbour I answer To draw them to the teaching of Christ as is plain when he tells them of a growth that need no man to teach them and though he say You have need that one teach you again which is the first Principle of the Oracles of God doth he say this to continue them in a need of that as you would inferre or to shame them that they were not yet grown up to the teachings of God Heb. 6. 1. and out of mans teachings towards perfection And whereas you alledge the exhortation of the Apostles we own it which was to draw up to the light and teaching as is plain in their exhorting them to wait for the appearing of Christ who was their light and life Col. 3. 4. And whereas you say You press all to struggle after that perfection they do not yet enjoy now how this agrees with your saying they shall never be perfect while they live and what encouragement you give them to struggle is evident who tells them they must struggle but never prevail while they live And here you are found to be the juglers you speak of whose teaching is yea and nay And whereas you charge me with casting dirt upon the Scriptures because I say the Holy Ghost did not put it into Chapters and Verses but the hireling-Priests to trade withal Here you appear to be false accusers and the railers and lyars you speak on for I have not spoken one word against the Scriptures but own them as the Holy Ghost gave them forth The thirteenth