THE REVILER REBUKED OR A RE-INFORCEMENT OF THE CHARGE AGAINST THE QUAKERS So Called For their Contradictions to the Scriptures of God and to their own Scriblings which Richard Farnworth attempted to answer in his pretended Vindication of the Scriptures but is farther discovered with his Fellow-Contradictors and Revilers and their Doctrine to be Anti-Scriptural Anti-Christian and Anti-Spiritual By JOHN STALHAM a Servant of the Great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls appointed to watch his little Flock at Terling in Essex Titus Cap. 1. ver 7 10 11 13. A Bishop must be blameless holding fast the faithful Word as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers whose mouthes must be stopped wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the Faith Zach 3. 2. And the Lord said unto Satan The Lord rebuke thee O Satan even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee London Printed by Henry Hills and John Field Printers to His Highness 1657. To His Highness OLIVER Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England Scotland and Ireland AND To the Right Honorable The Council of State SIRS IF the Highest himself shall establish Psalm 87. 5. Zion there is encouragement sufficient and abundant for You his Servants rejoycingly to serve him in the countenancing of his Truth and contending with the men of this Generation for the Faith once given unto the Saints by the most proper means and methods which the Lord of lords in his wisdom hath directed and shall lead you unto The Liberty proclaimed to Godly-Gospel-Preachers and your fostering of Orthodox Pastors and Teachers will much conduce by the Spirit of Christs mouth to the consumption of the Man of Sin and what abuse soever is made of the Press for the spreading of Anti-Scriptural and Antichristian Errors yet it needeth not to be feared while Pulpits and Presses are open through Your Highness and Honors favors for a Testimony against them but that God will confound their Language who by false and perverse Interpretations of the Scriptures would seduce the mindes of the simple into an expectation of nothing but Immediate Raptures and Revelations Some indeed cry up nothing but Club-law against the men called Quakers and can give no other measure then their Prelatical Fathers to those that dissented from them But by Your Indulgence and Forbearance of Saints erring and otherwise minded many have conscientiously made enquiry after those Truths which lay hid or were defaced and have the more heartily embraced them and do hold them fast after Scripture-conviction And however the Men I deal with for the present do debate the Scriptures and decry the Ministery Churches all New Testament external Worship and whatsoever beareth the stamp of Divine Authority as not to be found among us yet by Your Lenity and Gentleness exercised towards them while You espouse or patronize none of their Errors it may be firmly expected that the Elect supposing such among them shall be reduced And as for others that are evil men and seducers from that perverse Principle of their Self-adoring Light they shall wax worse and worse and as the madness of some is evident so shall the folly of other be made manifest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3. 9. to all who are not bewitched with their Spiritual sorceries MY LORDS Let but the Saints and the Churches of Saints according to Scripture-evidence be protected and cherished as You have graciously begun and the Officeministery will soon be known setled and established Let every stumbling-block as speedily and safely as lyeth within Your Power be removed from the way of the blinde and occasion cut off from them that seek occasion and ere long the Lord himself will rebuke them to silence that they shall neither talk nor write so presumptuously nor shall arrogancy come out of their mouth The lip of truth shall be established for Prov. 12. 19. ever but a lying tongue is but for a moment Let Learning be advanced among pious men for God hath his Wits and his Learned ones and through the sanctified Improvement thereof Ignorance its froward enemy will creep into corners as darkness vanisheth before the light Some of these men * Lip of truth opened by Tho. Lawson page 13. Christs innocency pleaded by Tho. Speeds Epistle with his Guilty covered Clergy-man unvail'd page 69. begin to appeal unto the Consciences of the Learned for Idioms and propriety of speech in Hebrew and Greek with the Dorick dialect they will give us leave then to make use of our English dialect also and speak vulgarly while we think as the Philosopher Our contentions with them are not about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tu or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but pro aris focis for the lamp life of our Religion the Rule of the Holy Scriptures the Glory of the Blessed Trinity the peculiarness of the Covenant of Grace the sole matter of our Justification before God the continuance of our Christian warfare during this natural life the truth and efficacy of Christs own Institutions c. Amidst which digladiations our Lord Jesus is fighting against them with the Sword of his mouth and him wee 'l trust with the issue of the battel whereupon I humbly supplicate That every person whatsoever may not impunè strike them corporally in the Steeple-house streets or prison for they think it a great triumph to have this to object That any are tolerated with this mutinous word in their mouths * Answer to the Quakers Catech. p. 19. Fight Lads for the Gospel and they 'l still cry out Persecution as they have done if every Turn-key or Tapster in the prison may without check be permitted to wreak their teem and spite upon them with some base illegal and inhumane usage or other But while any of this Sect for their exorbitant courses meet with legal and due correction Be pleased to let them all know that we are guarded by a better Law then what they * Teachers of the world unvail'd p. 29 30 upbraid us with enacted in the Marian times And that while they carry Popish and Jesuitical Doctrine along with them they are to have no more liberty for divulging it in our Assemblies then the men of that profession Popish Doctrines and Idolatries are as abominable as ever were the Paganish And some of these mens Tenents are as reprobate stuff as the Jesuits Their blasphemies as horrid as the Popish Parasites What is Rome but Babylon the Mother of Abominations And what is this Sect but a daughter of that great whore who doubts but the Romish Emissaries are abroad to seduce Some quondam Professors of the Gospel have lost their Garments and men see their shame They bid farewel to Imputed Righteousness in the Scripture-sense and how they can be girt with
night where our hearts are most obscure and in some places as the light at noon-day they shine with their Light upon every mans conscience that reads them Every Book and Chapter is a lightsom Book and Chapter were not our eyes more then purblinde Every Verse is a little vessel of light yea how great and how much light in some one line or a few letters as in John 10. 30. I and my Father are one And in that Rom. 5. 6. When we were yet without strength Christ died c. Doth it exalt Christ to call him our Rule and then deny it to the Scripture The Scripture exalts him higher and calls him Christ ruleth by the Scripture our Rule-giver or Law-giver which comes all to one And it exalts it self or is exalted by Christ to be Canonical or our Canon and Rule Gal. 6. 17. As many as walk according Gal. 6. 17. opened to this rule in the whole Epistle and in the Verse before If any say the Apostle speaks of the new creature as our Rule I conceive they are mistaken For 1. The new creature is too narrow for a Rule nor of authority enough to be a Rule it is but imperfect here as to degrees of renewed qualities and one Christian hath more another less none are gradually perfect 2. The new creature is subordinate and subject to Rule the old man is not nor cannot be subject if the new be not nothing in a Christian is regulated and then he will not be found a Christian If the new creature be subject it is to Christ the King and his Laws If it be regulated it is by a declared Rule which is the written Word Rom. 7. 25. I saith Paul at that time a new creature do serve the law of God as that Rule he speaks of to the Galatians and who so walks according to it peace shall be upon him Is Christ Christ guideth and teacheth by the Scripture our Guide he guides us by the Scripture without and by the Spirit of and in the Scriptures and within our hearts Is Christ our Teacher and doth he teach all without book Christ had never such disciples since the Scriptures were his Book which is profitable for Doctrine or Teaching 2 Tim. 3. 16. Christ himself taught out of them and by them and so doth he still continue to train up the Scholars of his Christ accuseth and judgeth by the Scripture highest form Doth not the Scriptures accuse and judge also under Christ and for Christ John 5. 45. Ye have one that accuseth you even Moses John 12. 48. The word that I have spoken the same shall judge him at the last day because spoken from the Father and according to his commandment in the Scripture To return to R. F. again and at last to close up this Section I leave this with him and others Christs Scripture is of the same authority with Christs Sermons Christs Sermons shall judge men at the last day Therefore Christs Scripture shall have the same authority of judging It is one of the Books that shall be opened Rev. 20. 12. with the books of mens consciences Revel 20. 12. and of Gods omnisciency and Decrees and all the dead shall be judged out of those things which were written in the books And they that now are unwilling to be judged by the Scripture shall at the last day be judged by it whether they will or no. 2. Head of Scripture-contradiction Concerning the Trinity Section 7. I Had discovered their contradictious language that There is no Scripture for the Trinity when the Scripture is plain before them 1 John 5. 7. There are three 1 Iohn 5. 7. vindicated that bear witness in heaven the Father the Word and the holy Spirit and these three are one Here is a Trinity I said or a Three-ness in one Essence and One-ness of Essence in a Three-ness of Subsistence R. F. * Page 7 8. challengeth me for perverting the Scripture saying here is Trinity when it expresseth no such word in that nor any other Scripture as Trinity But the Reader will easily perceive how he perverts my writing and fights against this Text and five more which I referred to for I said not here is Trinity or the word Trinity but here is a Trinity asserted He grants the Father Son and Spirit are one and then beating about the bush from John 14. 20. which mentions but two of the three he denies it to speak of distinct persons three Rep. What if John 14. 20. speak not of three 1 Joh. 5. 7. expresly saith there are three c. But R. F. falls point-blank in opposition to the third in order of the three and addeth The holy Ghost is no person My work therefore here is first to clear out from this place in Johns Epistle and the five other that I onely hinted at that there are three distinct persons in the God-head Secondly that the holy Ghost is and how he is one of the three I cannot open any of the six Texts which I quoted but the latter will be proved by the former onely in clearing the latter by it self R. F. his Heresie and Blasphemy will be yet more evident and notorius To the first then I argue thus in the general If the Scripture speaks of three the Father Son and Spirit that are one and yet three then they are as distinctly three in their Persons as they are undividedly one in their Essence But the Scripture speaks of these three that are one and There is a Trinity or three persons in one Godhead proved from and by the Scriptures yet three Therefore they are as distinctly three in their persons as they are undividedly one in their Essence The consequence of the proposition is thus proved When the Scripture speaks of these three either it is to be understood of three distinct ways of Being or of three distinct Beings But it cannot be understood of three distinct Beings for the Lord our God is One I am or Being of himself Therefore it is to be understood of three distinct maners or ways of Being each of which maners of Being is no other but that which the Scripture expresseth by the word Hypostasis or Person when it sometime speaks of one of the three sometime of another The Assumption is clear from the Scriptures that either expresly say there are three and these are one or reckon up three neither more nor fewer coequal and of the same dignity as co-essential and of the same Deity More particularly 1. Let that 1 John 5. 7. be viewed and weighed let 1 John 5. 7. opened not men shut their eyes against the light of it and think lightly of its Testimony where Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity is set forth by words equivalent and of as great force as if the very terms of Unity and Trinity were put down The equivalent words are there are three and these three are one
and the meaning this that three distinct persons are united in the same Essence and one and the same Essence is distinguished into three persons 2. Let Matth. 28. 19. be heard speak for a Trinity Here Mat. 28. 19 opened is express command for baptizing into the name of three of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost The phrase into the Name compared with 1 Cor. 1. 13. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as into the divine service honor and worship of some person or persons Paul speaks of being baptized into his own name as too great an honor for him or any creature But if the disciples were and are baptized into the name of Christ as they were dedicated to a dependence upon Christ Christ should have his due honor given him and if according to Christs command they are baptized and by Baptism as by an outward rite and sign given up to the name both of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost then are they in one Essence three persons equally and infinitely honorable 3. In 2 Cor. 13. 14. we have mention made of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ there is one person of the Love of God or the Father there is another and of the Communion of the holy Ghost there is a third 4. Again Matth 3. 16 17. Jesus is baptized there is one person The Spirit of God descendeth upon him there is another And a voice from the Father This is my beloved Son there is a third 5. In that Scripture John 15. 26. There you have the Comforter the Spirit of truth one sent by Christ another from the Father a third though he is the first the Son the second the holy Ghost the third in order and maner of subsisting within the God-head and of working outwardly upon the creature yet there as elsewhere they are spoken of promiscuously to note their equality of Essence with the Trinity of persons Lastly to multiply no more places John 16. 13 14 15. There you have the Spirit pointed out as a person distinct from the Father and the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ille He six times in ver 13. and ver 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 again He there is one person shall glorifie me there is another and ver 15. All things that the Father hath c. there is another Let R. F. or any other consult with his Arithmetick and reckon the number then consult with natural Logick or true reason and conclude If there be neither more nor fewer but three in one God-head and that the holy Ghost is one of the three Then there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Trinity And if the Father Son and holy Ghost be co-equal and that the Father hath the place and dignity of one Person and the Son hath the place and dignity of another Person Then hath the holy Ghost the place and dignity of a third and indeed is the Third in order of personality Secondly and more directly in reply to R. F. who saith he is no person I must tell him and his disciples in the general what a Person is viz. A living intelligent substance subsisting by it self and What a person is truly and really distinct from others by his incommunicable property more particularly A Person in the God-head What a person in the God-head is is the divine living understanding uncreated infinite Essence subsisting by it self and really distinct from the other by his incommunicable uncreated property yet each of them having one and the same Essence or Godhead in him from Eternity By this latter clause each of them having one and the same Essence c. A divine uncreated person is distinguished from created persons for created persons suppose an earthly father and a son are not the whole Essence one in the other but the uncreated are One person in the divine Essence is in and with the other In humane persons the Essence of the one stands out of the other In the divine persons the whole Essence of the one is the Essence and substance of the other and as the whole Essence of the Father is in the Son of God and the whole Essence of this Son is in His Father so the whole Essence of both the Father and the Son is in the holy Ghost By the former clause a living understanding Essence uncreated subsisting by it self and is really distinguished from the other by his incommunicable uncreated property we have to consider 1. Something common to all persons viz. they are each of them a living understanding substance subsisting by it self and distinguished by its incommunicable property 2. Something to distinguish Distinct from created persons 1. God and each person in the God-head from the creature viz. That God is a divine un-created infinite Essence the creature that is a person is either humane or Angelical and both created Essences and each of the divine un-created persons hath a distinct incommunicable un-created property but the created Essences men or Angels have though distinct incommunicable yet created finite properties and personalities 2. Each of the persons in the God-head from one another How distinguished in the Deity though relating to each other The incommunicable relative property of the first person the Father is to be of himself unbegotten and to beget his natural onely Son the relative incommunicable property of the second person the Son is to be though he is God of himself yet as the Son begotten of the Father the relative incommunicable property of the third person the holy Ghost is though he is God of himself yet as the Spirit to proceed from the Father and from the Son And hence I argue for the holy Ghost his being a person If the holy Spirit be distinguished from the Father and from the Son by his ineffable maner of being or by his relative incommunicable property of subsisting in the Godhead then he is one of the divine persons But the holy Spirit is distinguished from the Father and from the Son by his ineffable maner of being or by his relative incommunicable property of subsisting in the Godhead Therefore he is one of the divine persons That the holy Spirit is distinguished by his ineffable maner of being and relative incommunicable property of subsisting in the God-head is clear from that one Scripture among others above cited John 15. 26. In these words which proceedeth from the Father and in many Scriptures he is called the Spirit of the Son and the Spirit of Christ and therefore he proceedeth from him also and is known thereby to be a distinct person from him and from the Father If any say this doctrine of the Trinity is very mysterious make it out by some similitude The Prophet answereth him or rather the holy Ghost by the Prophet Isa 40. 18. To whom will ye liken God or what likeness will ye compare unto him or we may in
some modulation musical measure or tune What is Poetry but a confined speech or words bound up into verses of so many feet Or what is meeter but a form of words ordered into set pauses and rests and sung in its due measures And what better Poetry then that in the Scripture which is translated and ordered as suteth best to our own mother Tongue for singing and teaching others to sing Davids words and praises with Davids spirit But saith R. F. We deny your teaching people to sing lyes in hypocrisie saying they are not puft in minde when they are puft in minde and they have no scornful eye when they have Rep. 1. We call none to sing that which is not true for the matter and we exhort them to sing in a sincere maner with an upright heart 2. A sincere heart may sing that or other Psalms as Davids frame of spirit more then his own yet with desires and breathings after a farther measure of humility weanedness of affection from the world faith joy in the holy Ghost c. 3. If the wicked take the name of God in vain sin lies at their door we warn them against hypocrisie For this man therefore to say We teach people to sing lyes in hypocrisie is to speak a falshood in plain English He may think his tongue and pen is his own and none shall control him yet I would have him remember Psalm 52. ver 2 4 5. 16 Head of their Scripture-contradiction Concerning Elders and Ordination Section 43. ORdaining of Elders was not by man said one this I noted as contrary to Acts 14. 23. where by the direction and assistance of the Apostles with the suffrages or consenting voices and gestures of the Brethren in the Churches Elders Teaching and Ruling were ordained or being chosen were set apart to their office by Prayer and fasting in every Church R. F. * Page 21. represents me as if I had not truly quoted James Nayler his Discovery of the man of sin Page 38. and calls the wise-hearted to read that book and it will witness and clear him and the truth declared in it Rep. Agreed let the wise-hearted read all that book if they please and gather up more of his Errors to witness against it then I have done But for that which concerneth Ordination I again affirm saith J. Nayler that the ordaining of Elders by the direction of the Spirit was not by man nor of man nor any created power c. The wise-hearted here appealed to will soon grant that which they never denied That the direction of the Spirit was his own not mans and the gift of the holy Ghost was his gift But if the holy Ghost makes use of the Apostles and of the Churches to chuse and set Elders apart as he did then the wise-hearted will conclude agaist J. Nayler this call is not immediate but mediate a call of God by man or by the ministery and service of man and is not disproved by what he hath said to the contrary What hath R. F. to say against it This I say The holy Ghost made Overseers and so Elders in the Church Acts Acts 20. 28. vindicated 20. 28. and the holy Ghost is not such men as you are Rep. 1. It were well for R. F. if he knew what or who the holy Ghost is Under that Head of the Trinity as before Section 7. he was no person in his judgement distinct from the Father and the Son and now he tells us he is not such men as we are Why what is he Is he a man or Angel speak out R. F. tell us what he is in thy judgement for in ours and according to the grounds of our faith laid down in Scripture he is neither such men as we or the Sect of men called Quakers nor is he such a person as man nor is he man or Angel but the very God And as he is God with the Father and the Son so he is a divine person distinct from the personal subsistences of the Father and the Son as hath been proved above 2. What the Father and the Son do he doth as to the making of Overseers or Bishops and Elders he gives the office he designs the officer he furnisheth the Elders with graces and gifts fitting for the function and he directeth the Church by his word and rule whom to chuse and set apart 1 Tim. 3. Yea he approveth of mens service in the setting apart of men to this as other offices he made use of the Prophets and Teachers at Antioch to separate him Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto he had appointed them as R. F. acknowledgeth but if he thinketh that which followeth and they were sent out by the holy Ghost cuts off Ordination by man it is a contradicting-thought to the very Scripture he quoteth Acts 13. ver 3. When they had Acts 13. 2 4. vindicated fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them they sent them away and yet are said to be sent forth by the Spirit because they were but instrumental to the Spirits sending but if he sends by them instrumentally he sends by them mediately If R. F. thinketh the Spirits sending in this maner doth not cut off Ordination by man then he contradicteth his fellow J. Nayler who saith Ordaining no not so much as of Elders was not by man 17. Head of their Scripture-contradiction Concerning Ministers maintenance Section 44. I Had noted what R. F. saith in another Pamphlet viz. The Apostle had a free spirit and was chargeable to no man building this assertion upon 2 Cor. 11. 9. and 2 Cor. 11 9. vindicated mounting it up against Ministers taking any maintenance He attends not the Apostles limitations I preached to you at Corinth the Gospel of God freely ver 7. With you I was chargeable to no man ver 9. nor how he used his liberty elsewhere to take wages ver 8. But he * Page 22. returns me some truth and some railing as his maner is Paul coveted no mans silver nor gold nor apparel but preached the Gospel freely and his hands ministred to his necessities That is truth and will stand as a witness against all proud covetous self-seeking hireling Priests in Scotland and elsewhere and at the Truth which witnesseth against your deceit thou art offended Rep. It no ways offendeth me that R. F. or any man can write out a Scripture-truth viz. That Paul was free of covetousness in outward manifest acts while he had the body of all sin within him take that truth with the other Rom. 7. but it offends me and much more the holy and true God when his words are alledged to bad ends and purposes and when more is collected from them then he intendeth as in this case of Ministers maintenance and in these instances of Preaching freely may stand with taking maintenance the Apostles words and practise For First Preaching the Gospel freely may stand with taking
Singing See Psalms Spirit of God How in the Scripture-Letter 4 254 How proceeding from the Letter how not 5 How given by it 6 10 255 Leads to the Scripture-Rule and and by it 9 10 His Prerogative above the Scripture 31 Swearing By creatures forbidden 235 By God commanded ibid. Not in ordinary speech 237 Oaths lawful 238 Vnlawful 239 By a book unlawful ibid. Upon a book superstitious 240 T. Teaching All Believers not immediately taught 216 Who were or were not immediately taught in the Apostles days 217 220 They that pretend to immediate Teaching have had it by men and means 279 280 Transubstantiation A blinde dotage 189 Trembling True at and by the word or Scripture rightly understood 6 286 Trinity A Trinity of Persons in the Godhead proved 46 W. Warfare Saints not out of it till out of their bodies 167 Woman A woman not to speak in the Church 33 Word of God Essential or spiritual 22 25 Language of the Spirit and Word of the Scripture all one 292 Scriptures vindicated and explained  Psalm page Ps 119. 105 40 Proverbs Cap. Verse  20 9 158 22 20 21 32 Eccles 7 20 166 Isaiah 8 20 23 24 64 65 20 2 291 30 20 42 48 16 17 30 Jeremiah 5 31 42 20 9 41 23 29 Ibid. Daniel 9 1 219 Matthew 5 8 158  34 to 36 235  37 237  48 228 6 5 201  6 202 11 27 14 23 8 10 245 28 19 47  19 20 177 Luke 16 29 7 17 21 Ep. to Ch. 22 32 129 John 1 1 25 1 1 to 14 54 to 58 1 9 53 55 261 5 44 232 6 45 216 8 12 53 260 15 5 42 16 13 10 Acts 2 17 18 34  38 39 179  42 46 195 13 2 46 208  39 122 20 28 160 207  34 209  35 210 Romans 1 18 19 274 2 4 170  12 63  15 16 269  29 268 3 3 2  21 92 5 12 63  13 99 6 14 11 7 9 10 110  14 to the end 113  17 138  23 25 139  25 12 115 8 1 115  2 168 8 3 266  3 4 144  4 145  10 139 140  14 9  26 149  37 169 10 8 41  18 82 12 3 62 14 17 190 16 1 2 6 12 35 1 Cor. 1 15 16 108  21 72 2 6 162 164  9   10 17 6 11 156 9 14 209 11 1 11  26 191 198  29 197 12 7 30  12 13 178 14 14 15 202  26 29 217  31 34  34 35 33 16 19 35 2 Cor. 3 2 71  6 5  16 with 14 13 17 9 4 6 23   24 263 5 21 132 11 7 209  9 208 12 7 c. App. 2 13 11 164 Gal. 1 1 211  16 263 2 17 18 19 123  20 21 124 3 19 104  20 89  21 99  27 178 5 17 138 6 17 44 Ephes 1 17 15 2 17 18   20 81 3 17  4 4 5  5 1 9  26 179 6 2 106  17 25 Phil. 2 5 226 2 12 286 3 12 161  15 16 162 4 3 35  13 42 Col. 1 23 82  27 264  27 28 62 2 17 89 1 Tim. 2 11 33 5 18 35  24 267 Titus 2 11 75 Heb. 4 12 41   152  12 13 154  15 153 5 7 Ep. to R. 11 6 1 162  16 238 7 16 24 8 7 94 10 14 135 12 1 116  23 146 to 150 13 8 277 1 9 10 234 5 12 237 240 1 Pet. 1 13 16  15 156  22 160  23 with 25 28 4 7 App. 2 2 Pet. 1 16 19 15  19 36  20 21 37 219  21 248 1 John 1 5 68   77  8 78 2 27 41  29 142 3 3 117  5 156  6 78   79 165  10 142 4 4 169  17 164 5 7 45 46  10 245  12 73  18  Rev. 19 10 39 20 12 45 FINIS ERRATA sic emendanda in the Book PAge 4. Line 8. read the two witnesses p. 9. l. 35 r. is to make p. 21. l. 15 r. Blockhouses p. 33. l. 26. r. he may p. 39. l. 31. for immediately r. mediately p. 41. Marg. r. Jer 23. 29. p. 55. l. 21. r. re-assumeth p. 58. l. 2. r. arbitrement p. 60. l. 21. r. Rom. 1. 18. p. 91. l. 2. dele is the old p. 100. l. 24. dele to be p. 103. Marg. r. Gen. 3. last p. 106. l. 8. r. the word of p. 117. f. 28. for now r. know p. 120. l. 11. for form r. from p. 124. l. 34. for that r. but. p. 134. l. 4. the parenthesis to end at Book p. 137. l. ult dele his p. 138. Marg. r. Gal. 5. 17. p. 209. l. 26. r. Acts 20. 34. p. 215. l. 23. for to r. till p. 221. l. 2. for we are r. were p. 238. l. 13. dele to them p. 245. l. 11. r. we should p. 256. l. 1. r. be not p. 258. l. 32. for that r. the. In the Epistles Epist Ded. for debate r. debase Epist to the Reader for Bellarmine r. Bellarmine p. 9. l. 9. for professed r. possessed Julii 18. 1656. Imprimatur JOSEPH CARYL
the Exposition of Rom 7. from ver 14. to the end of the Chapter understanding it of a man unregenerate in conflict with a natural conscience and not simply of one regenerate in combat with corruption of nature in every faculty of the soul How far the spirit of Antichrist works in these men God will yet farther discover and what Jesuitical Plots and Designs there are carried on by some of them unwittingly by others as wickedly as wittingly the day shall declare it And if any will take the pains to compare their Pamphlets with the Charge which Dr. Willet drew up about forty years Supplement to Synopsis Papismi by-past against the Papists he shall finde that Quakerism is built upon the Tetrastylon or four-fold Pillar of Papistry viz. 1. Sarcasms slanders railings and forgeries 2. Flat blasphemies and contradictions to Scripture 3. Loose arguments weak solutions c. 4. Repugnant opinions and contradictions among themselves in all leaving the consciences of people upon the Rack or full of doubts and uncertainties For the undermining of which Pillars the learned and unlearned the simple and judicious are alarum'd First to a more assiduous and studious reading of the Scriptures Get you Bibles 't is your Souls physick said Chrysostom of old to the people his hearers There is no greater torment to the devils then to see men busied about the Scriptures said * Orig. another before him But because it is as much pleasure to the devils to see men abuse and wrest the Scriptures ye are called Beloved Secondly to the owning of them in their just Authority above all Testimonies of ancient Writers and modern Authors who were but men subject to infirmities in the head as heart Above the Churches Testimony which gives no authority to the Scriptures but onely declare what is intrinsecally stamped upon them Above the testimony of your own hearts and consciences which must receive a true judgement from the right understanding and application of the Scripture bove all visions and revelations which if false draw from the voice of Scripture if true they send you thither as to your Rule and a more standing Rule and above all the Pamphlets of the Quakers now swelled to above two volumes Thirdly to a dependence upon the Spirit speaking in the Scriptures to seal up their Authority to you and to give the efficacy of what you read and hear Gods Spirit breathes in good mens books much more in his own and is there as to seal up the truth of his Word so to stamp the goodness of every truth upon our hearts As for this Reply what you finde therein agreeable to the Spirit of God his language of plain and naked Scripture-truth receive in the love of it and give God the glory I onely intreat as * Tantum oro ut cum petitis etiam Tertulliani peccatoris memineritis Tert. lib. de Bap. one before me of his Readers that in your prayers which should usher in all our other work or recreation and that of reading books you would remember him also who though he hath obtained mercy to be faithful yet hath cause enough to subscribe himself The sinful JOHN STALHAM The Heads of their Contradictions 1. To the Scriptures 1 Concerning THe Scriptures 2 Concerning The Trinity 3 Concerning The Light within 4 Concerning The Law 5 Concerning Sin 6 Concerning Justification 7 Concerning Regeneration 8 Concerning Sanctification and its Perfection 9 Concerning Christian warfare 10 Concerning Repentance 11 Concerning The means of Grace 12 Concerning Baptism 13 Concerning Lords Supper 14 Concerning Prayer 15 Concerning Singing 16 Concerning Elders and Ordination 17 Concerning Ministers maintenance 18 Concerning Immediate Calling 19 Concerning Immediate Teaching 20 Concerning Questions 21 Concerning Civil Honor. 22 Concerning Swearing 2. To themselves 1 Concerning THe Scriptures 2 Concerning Hearing the Word 3 Concerning The Light within 4 Concerning Sin 5 Concerning Christ 6 Concerning Justification 7 Concerning Immediate Teaching 8 Concerning Perfection 9 Concerning Quaking and Trembling 10 Concerning Growth in Grace 11 Concerning Forms of Religion 12 Concerning Fruits of the Spirit 13 Concerning Ordinances 14 Concerning Speech and Silence 15 Concerning Elders 16 Concerning Conscience and Laws THE Reviler rebuked OR A Reply to R. FARNWORTH HIS INTRODUCTION BEfore I can fall upon the Subject of the Controversies between me and my Antagonist I must touch at his Introduction wherein he mentioneth his receiving of my Book renews his charge against me gives a seeming proof of his charge and concludes with a Thundering Anathema 1. What he received A Printed Paper as he calls it slightingly that came out of Scotland into York and Yorkshire in England published by one John Stalham Preacher of the Gospel at Edinburgh That little piece of three sheets and a half J. S. owneth as published by him and that he called himself Preacher of the Gospel at Edinburgh for the present as was inserted it was because for some time he had been and then continued preaching of the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ to his Auditors from Rom. 15. 29. with other Scriptures And for as much as that great truth of the Gospel was openly opposed by one of the Sect called Quakers touching the justification of a believing sinner he was called to enquire after the opinions of the said Sect and to draw up his collections from divers of their Pamphlets which he referred unto several Heads of their Scripture and Self-contradictions wherein he is Secondly Charged by R. F. to have manifested himself and his subtile serpentine Spirit by his lies and slanders for all his glosses and covers to be a minister of deceit and so of Antichrist of all this or any part of it J. S. is no ways conscious nor of his falsly accusing the people of the Lord suppose any people of the Lord be fallen into the errors and opinions of the Quakers as he is charitably jealous some are surprized therewith nor of shewing forth a bitter spirit of envy against them and the truth The Lord knows he loveth all the people of the Lord for the Truths sake that dwelleth in them and pitieth those who are over-run with these errors as with a running Itch or sore as he himself would be loved and pitied who is not absolutely free of error although the particular fruit is not in these matters of difference visible to him yet the root of all error as of all sin is in him and seen by him not throughly in all degrees mortified As for any of his painted and deckt Notions Implications and Contra-distinctions his gilded coloured borrowed and form'd up imagined Expressions he thinketh R. F. had a minde to please himself and some of his Readers with seeming shadows of Rhetorick which J. S. never affected but clothed all he wrote with a familiar home-spun stile as he shall this Reply Thirdly The seeming proof of the Charge is That with the Light John 8. 12. John 1. 9. R. F. thinketh J. S.
is seen and known to be one that hates it and why 1. He bears record of himself against Christ and his Apostles Let that be found in any passage of his former or present piece and R. F. shall be no false Apostle J. S. will hide his head in a hole or openly recant the folly and wickedness 2. He calls the true light saith R. F. the Light of nature and the common Light of reason Where 's the proof of this allegation J. S. doth peremptorily deny that he ever so exprest himself since he had the Light of reason in him The true Light as 't is printed both in R. F. his Book * Page 2. and in the Bible John 1. 9. with a great L and there spoken of is Christ J. S. never called Christ the Light of nature or the common Light of reason or reason as Page 34. R. F. clamoreth and clattereth Haply he may say again and again That Christ as the very God and the true Light giveth the Light of nature to all men and common light of reason more or less to every man for he is able to distinguish betwixt the Donor and his Gift betwixt the un-created Light-living God and created Light-given before the fall to Adam or given back since the fall to him and his posterity If R. F. or any man will confound Christ-giving or enlightning with the Light-given or lighted up as a Candle in every man he may as well confound God and the Creature and make them as some blasphemously imagine to be one and the same Essence Therefore as in this so in all other instances Fourthly J. S. is confident after R. F. his impudence in his Preface and Proceedings he shall neither be found Lyar nor false Accuser but as he is sure that Saint Pauls Anathema was out long since Gal. 1. 8 9. and is still in force against those that preach another Gospel-way of Justification as do these Quaking-Papists or Popish-Quakers so the Anathema Maran-atha that R. F. denounceth imperatively and imperiously Let him be an Anathema Maranatha against J. S. shall be as the curse causless that shall not come but that God will do him more good as already he hath done something for him by Shimei's railing Tyrants Sectaries Seducers and Hereticks as Luther said do nothing else but drive us unto the Bible to make us read more diligently therein and with more fervency to sharpen our Prayers and I may adde by their buffetings to be more taken off from self-estimation and to be viler in our own eyes then we can be in the eyes of our Adversaries who know not our hearts THE Reviler rebuked PART 1. 1. Head of Scripture-contradiction Touching the Scriptures themselves Section 1. THe holy Scriptures by one thunder-stricken in spirit and blasted in profession with the Quakers Books and company in Scotland were denied to my face to be the word of Truth which I noted as the first and great Contradiction R. Farnworth in answer returns me thus much of truth in form of words That the Scriptures are words that proceeded from the Spirit of Truth we do not deny but own and so they are the words of truth Plainly he doth not say they are the words of truth nor plainly joyn Scripture the word of truth to all issue with him that denied them to be the word of truth but if they be own'd for words of truth as proceeding from the Spirit of truth then for the advantage of Truth I argue 1. They are the word of God and so should be owned by them Surely the Spirit of truth is the Spirit of God proceeding from the Father and the Son and these three John 15. 26. being one their word is one That which is the word of the Spirit of truth is the word of the Father of truth and of the Son of truth The Scripture by R. F. his confession is the word of the Spirit of truth therefore he must grant it to be the word of the Father and of the Son of truth and consequently the word of the true God 2. If they be words of truth as proceeding from the Spirit of truth then they are the Rule Standard and Touchstone of truth the true Spirit being known by his words and directing us to know his minde by his words what we should believe as truth and practise as truth or according to it but we shall anon hear R. F. denying the Scriptures to be the rule of a Christian as of other men that are unchristian 3. If they be the words of the Spirit of truth then they are so to all men or but to some men 1. If so to all men that have the Scriptures by them then why doth not R. F. challenge him that denied them to be so to unbelievers as I noted in my Book Why doth he challenge me for falshood with a therefore too * Page 2. therefore thy saying is false What saying of mine is false and wherefore I truly related what I had from him I mentioned above in discourse once and again That the Scriptures were not the word of truth And doth it follow because R. F. acknowledgeth them to be the words of truth that therefore I heard not the contradiction or mis-related what was spoken 2. If they be the words of truth but to some men not at all to wicked men and unbelievers no not condemningly as were his expressions then it seems the unbelief and wickedness of men doth make the Faith or Truth of God of none effect but S. Paul Rom. 3. 3. is of another minde Rom 3. 3. cleared yea the Spirit there by the Interrogation first and second What if some did not believe shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect forcibly denieth the frustration or making void of Gods word of truth by the Jews former or following continued unbelief God hath laid his faith and truth to pawn as it were in the holy Scriptures and as he is a God of truth his word is a word of truth taking hold of men by the threatning as Zech. 1. 6. who misbelieve or reject the promise And Is he the God of the Jews onely and not also of the Gentiles to justifie and condemn all that are believing or unbelieving according to the Scriptures Such therefore who will say No more is the truth of God or word of God to me then what I believe were they never so dear friends must be as roundly taken up and faithfully rebuked as sometimes Luther took up a man of no mean account Bullenger you erre you know neither your self nor what you hold According to your falsities if the Word findes not the Spirit but an ungodly Person then it is not Gods word whereby you define and hold the word not according to God who speaketh it but according as people do entertain and receive it Whereas as he again a true Christian must hold for certain and must say That word
knowing the Spirit nor power of God declared in the Scriptures Rep. 1. Wherein have I erred who never exprest my self so dubiously as thus the Spirit proceedeth from the Letter but thus The Spirit is given by it The Scripture is but instrumental to the Spirit yet so instrumental he makes it as whatsoever R. F. thinketh of me I know and remember that my first awakening of conscience was by the Spirit and from the power of God upon my spirit as I was reading that Scripture Heb. 10. 26. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth c. The Spirit which gave this Scripture gave forth his convictions by it to my heart What if I say his Terrors as by that in Isa 5. 18. at the ministers reading of the Text and preaching upon it will R. F. or any other say why then dost thou not own our Trembling and Quaking I shall reply to R. F. why doth he reject all my Epistle to the Readers in my former piece where I gave some characters of true Trembling and to all others with him I subjoyn such is the power of the Spirit in and by the Scripture True Trembling is at the truth and power in Scripture and leads thereunto that there is a wide difference between the trembling from a supposed Revelation that is not by nor according to the Scripture but leads men both from it and from the due honor to be given to it and the trembling which ariseth from the Scripture-revelation and from the Spirit speaking in that which is read and heard out of it The former I judge to be theirs who pretend to the Spirit without and beside the Scripture the latter I own and all that the Lord hath wrought upon by the word will own it with me The account which that famous Francis Junius gives of the Spirits working by the Letter of Scripture is upon record * Vita Francisci Junii After he had drunk in that which stirred up in him the seeds of Atheism and had vented something that way before his father and had profited nothing by Sermons to this present time he takes up the new Testament laid before him by his father and reads the former part of the first chapter of John In the beginning was the Word c. Ita commoveor legens c. as it first came to his hand and view Whereby saith he I was so stirred that suddenly I perceived the divinity of Horrebat corpus stupebat animus c. the Argument and the majesty and authority of the style very far excelling all the floods of humane eloquence my body trembled my minde was astonished and I was so affected all that day that I knew not where and what I was And from that time forward he gave himself to the study of the Scriptures and read other books but coldly and carelesly in comparison Here was the mighty operation of the Spirit accompanying the Letter here was a right Scripture efficacy from the Spirits application of it to the conscience As God declares his Spirit and power or speaks of them in the Scriptures so he declares or exerts and puts forth his Spirit and power by them and that upon their hearts who do not believe In this first Section of my book I had noted another of their Contradictions viz. of James Naylers * A few words of J. Nayler pag. 10. 11. thus now more fully Thou callest the Scriptures a standing Rule but it is not so to you who cannot believe that ever it shall be fulfilled in you as it was given out by the holy Ghost Contrary I said so Luke 16. 26. They have Moses and the Prophets for a standing Rule let them hear them and ver 31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Here the Scriptures are asserted to be a more standing rule then visions and revelations R. F. * Pag. 3. 4. calls the simple-hearted to judge of my deceitful perverting of this Scripture for my own ends from it raising a false doctrine Rep. Let simple and wise also examine the proofs and reasons of this charge and of his denial of the Scriptures The Scripture a standing Rule 1. To be a standing rule at all or to any 2. To be a more standing rule c. The shew of reason he gives for the first I shall faithfully and for conviction if the Lord please of this Gain-sayer uncase and discover the weakness and nakedness thereof 1. The verse saith not so Rep. The 29 verse meaneth Luke 16. 29. cleared and vindicated and intendeth no less Scripture-sense is Scripture as our Lord teacheth us to reason from John 7. 38. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water The Scripture no where had said so in so many express letters syllables and words but it saith it in the scope and sense and it speaks as much as amounts thereunto So doth this place for the Scriptures being a standing rule there is the sense of what I spake They have Moses and the Prophets for what for a cypher No but for a rule Let them hear them for what if not to testifie unto them as was desired ver 28. that they might repent as was expected ver 30. if one came from the dead Hence I reason They that constantly testifie in their writings from God how unbelievers should escape hell torments they are in their writings a standing rule to them that do not believe as to all other But Moses and the Prophets do constantly testifie in their writings from God how unbelievers should escape hell torments Therefore Moses and the Prophets in their writings are a standing rule to them that do not believe And therefore again R. F. his charging of me in the presence of God to be a liur of the Scriptures will by the Lord one day be made to fall upon his own pate or conscience notwithstanding his second reason thus If Moses and the Prophets had been left to all and for ever for a standing rule then Christ and the Apostles might not have been after Moses and the Prophets for following examples or rules Rep. It followeth not for Christ and the Apostles brought no new rule for the substance but onely cleared and enlarged it in what was Moral and Evangelical so that R. F. is beside the cushion when he addeth And therein thou bringest the old Covenant to contradict the new What he meaneth by the old Covenant I know not very well or what by the new The old Covenant in Scripture phrase and meaning What the old Covenant what the new was but the old administration the new Covenant the new copy of the same Will and Testament Heb. 8. 13. the same for substance before as now Moses wrote of Christ John 5. 46. The Prophets from Samuel and
those that follow after as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these days the days of the New Testament and the things of Christ Acts 3. 24. As God spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began Luke 1. 70. There is no contradiction between the Old Testament and the New in the sense I have given therefore none in my collection from Luke 16. That Christ asserts the Scriptures to be a standing rule 3. Reason It crosseth many Scriptures as Ephes 5. 1. Rom. 8. 14. 2 Cor. 3. 17. Rep. Not one of these nor any other for the Scripture cannot doth not contradict it self how ever it seems so to them that understand them not and have not will or skill to clear the harmony The first Scripture alledged Ephes 5. 1. requires that Ephes 5. 1. opened Christians be followers of God as dear children Dear children of God will minde their Fathers will in Moses and the Prophets and if we be followers of God we must follow him in his whole written word as it is plain in the Old or as it is explained and cleared in the Books of the New Testament The second Scripture Rom. 8. 14. hath nothing against Rom 8. 14. vindicated The Spirit leads by his Letter the Scripture rule however R. F. improveth it to his purpose thus They that follow him in the Gospel are led by his Spirit and that is not the Letter for although the Letter is not the Spirit yet the Letter is the Spirits Letter and they that follow God in the Gospel do and dare not upon the hazard of disobedience to their Father but follow him in the Spirits written Gospel seeing the Spirits inward leading and guidance is to the same obedience which the Scripture leads unto The Spirit leads by and to the Scripture never from it as the Spirit in Seducers doth The third Scripture 2 Cor. 3. 17. God is that Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 17. vindicated what then Then the Spirits Letter is Gods Letter I can conclude Or thus The written word of the Spirit is the very written word of God and again God that gave the Letter gives the Spirit with it and by it with it even to those that yet are unbelieving and are ever resisting the Spirit speaking in it and from it Nehem. 9. 20. Acts 7. 51. By it to those whom he effectually preventeth and calleth home to himself or buildeth up Acts 8. 35. Acts 10. 34. with 44. But R. F. his drift in quoting the words above to make people believe that because God or the Lord is that Spirit as saith that Scripture therefore that and all the rest of the Scripture is not a standing rule which follows as much as if it should be said God is the Lord therefore the creature is not his creature I shall for his learning and better improvement of that Text turn the edge of his allegation against himself If that Scripture saith The Lord is that Spirit then that Scripture is the rule for me and him also to believe the Lord is that Spirit and if that Scripture be not fallen out of its authority it is a standing rule for us so to believe but that Scripture says as much and R. F. runs to the authority of it as yet in force therefore that Scripture is a standing rule for the faith of that truth and consequently other Scriptures are the rule for other truths and all Scripture for all truth what we are to believe and what to practise A fourth Argument seems to be drawn from current experience But we follow God who are guided by the Spirit and that is our guide and rule to wit the Spirit of truth Rep. 1. Whose experience is this whom means he by we If onely himself and his companions who deny the Scriptures to be a rule then I deny they are guided by the Spirit of God who breathing forth the Scriptures and guiding men to write them guides men to read hear believe and obey them as their rule If by we he means all sober Saints and godly conscientious Readers not so in his opinion but really so and if he meaneth by the Spirit the Spirit of God then I appeal to all such and all the Saints who love the truth in sincerity whether they have the Spirit for their guide without or not rather with and by the Scriptures The Spirit indeed is promised to be the Saints guide John 16. 13. but it is neither there said although John 16. 13. vindicated R. F. affirms it That Christ appointed him to be the rule nor is he properly the rule but the giver of the rule and the guide unto and by the rule The schoolmaster which sets the copy is not the copy but he guides the hand of the scholar to write after the copy in like maner the Spirit of God appoints the Scripture to be written for a rule and guides the Saints to believe and live according to it Yet would R. F. have the force of a fifth Reason lie in these words Since he promised it as if the Scripture was not a rule since the Spirit was promised as well as before Surely if it was a rule before it is still the same rule as it is the same Scripture And the promise of the Spirit in a larger measure doth not in the least hinder the Scripture from being a rule but the larger measures of the Spirit help towards the understanding of that rule for a clearer and more Gospel-like administration and application 6. Reason If thou wouldst have the Letter to be the rule and Moses and the Prophets onely then thou wouldst not have Christ and the Apostles to be followed according to 1 Cor. 11. 1. Rep. 1. I used not the word onely although the Books of Moses and the Prophets when Christ referred to them Luke 16. were the onely Scriptures extant and a sufficient rule for the present 2. When Christ by his Spirit in the Apostles enlarged the Scriptures he altered not the rule for the substance of it Moses and Christ the Prophets and Apostles are so to be followed that he who leaves the one will forsake the other and he that loves the one will cleave to the other Had ye believed Moses saith Christ ye would have believed me for he wrote of me but if ye believe not his writings how shall ye believe my words John 5. 46 47. And such is the harmony of the Apostles with Moses and the Prophets that the one preached and consequently wrote no other things then what the other did say should come that Christ should suffer c. Acts 26. 22 23. What if the new Testament was written after the Old the matter contained in both is of the same concernment to believers as unbelievers What if Paul gives that godly exhortation Be ye 1 Cor. 11. 1. vindicated followers of me even as I am of Christ is Christ divided Is not Christ
and the Lord of truth But R. F. granting one part of truth viz. That the Son reveals and denieth the other part viz. That the Scripture revealeth when as he hath this from the very Scripture that the Son revealeth and what he revealeth therefore he may be if he be not condemned in his own conscience that he wrongeth the truth and the Lord of truth Again he that understands Matth. 11. 27. of immediate revelation onley and shuts out all mediate revelation by the Scripture falsly accuseth the Lord of the Scripture but R. F. understands that place of immediate revelation onely and shuts out all mediate revelation by the Scripture therefore R. F. falsly accuseth the Lord of the Scriptures If he understands it of mediate revelation by the Scripture then it Section 1. will follow by his reasoning that the Scripture-revelation is surer then the Scripture If he saith the Spirit by the Scripture makes the truth more sure not in it self but to us it is that I contend for and that which all believers are to pray for Ephes 1. 17. There is the light in the air and the Ephes 1. 17. opened light of the eye now though as to bodily sight the light in the air doth not give the light of or in the eye but onely to thee ye yet the Spirit of revelation which is peculiar to Saints and common to all Saints by the light of Scripture that is as the medium or means of light in the air doth give the light in the understanding as it brings light to it therefore it follows ver 18. the eyes of your understanding being enlightned But still the Spirit of revelation is not a surer Rule no nor properly our Rule but our guide and leader to and by his Rule the Scriptures which are the more sure word of Prophecy as to us especially in a ordinary and standing way in all ages 2. R. F. reasoneth Visions are a way of Gods making known himself after Moses and the Prophets as to Ananias Paul and Peter Act. 9. cap. 10. Gal. 1. Rep. 1. These visions were but occasional and extraordinary as sure as the Scriptures as all true visions and revelations of God are in themselves and to the particular men that had them yet not to us that saw them not but know from the Scriptures they had them those Scriptures viz. Act. 9. cap. 10. Gal. 1. and so all the Scriptures are as sure yea to all Saints more sure compare 2 Pet. 1. 2 Pet. 1. 16. 19 opened 16. when we made known unto you with ver 19. we have also a more sure word we that is you with us and we with you Visions were but of rare use the Scriptures are of long and constant use and by such as receive them to be of divine inspiration they have ever been acknowledged more firm as to us still then occasional visions 2. If God had known as Chrysostom upon Luke 16. that visions from the dead would have done more good to the living he would not have omitted or waved such a way in an ordinary course 3. As sure as the Gospel was to Paul given him by immediate revelation yet he confirmed it to others by the Scriptures Act. 26. 22 23. and the Bereans examined it by the same Rule Act. 17. 11 12. Searching the Scriptures daily whether those things were so therefore many of them believed Wherefore because they found what Paul taught as had been revealed to him was agreeable to that Lydius lapis that infallible touch-stone and most standing Rule the holy Scriptures 3. Reason Paul knew much of the writings of Moses and of the Prophets and Letter of the Scriptures whilst he was a Persecutor but then he knew not Christ as after he did and went up to Jerusalem by revelation Gal. 2. and not by the Scriptures therefore the Scriptures are not so sure a Rule as visions and revelations by the Spirit of truth are Rep. 1. Paul had nothing of Gospel-truth given him by revelation but what for matter and substance was before in the Scripture which Gospel although he knew not while he was a persecutor yet as a Jew he walked up strictly to the Letter of the Law or Rule in outward acts 2. His special revelation for going up to Jerusalem was a special application of the general rule of Scripture viz. to do what God commanded him but in it self it is no rule for our imitation in the like matter of fact 3. His true revelations never lifted him up above the Scriptures 4. The same Spirit of truth which gave out his revelation gave forth the Scripture by inspiration and as immediately directed him to write all his Epistles for the more certainty to others that they might know he had his Revelations from the Lord therefore to us the Scriptures are as sure yea a more sure rule and the onely standing rule for faith and maners 4. Reason or allegation of R. F. is The Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 1. 13. exhorted others to wait for the grace that was 1 Pet. 1. 13. cleared and vindicated to brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ Rep. 1 By grace here is meant glory as cap. 5. 1. that which is to come is the glory that shall be revealed first Christs glory cap. 4. 13. at his coming in the clouds his glory shall be revealed secondly the Saints glory which they shall have out of free grace or favor from God Col. 3. 4. When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall they also appear with him in glory This glory to be brought at Christs coming the Apostle exhorteth the Elect and called to hope for perfectly or * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the end to death and in death yea they may and do carry this hope with them into heaven viz. hope of a glorious resurrection c. When at his coming 1 Cor. 15. 23. When the Lord shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire c. 2 Thes 1. 7. this is not a Revelation by the Spirit that Paul or Peter in the places mentioned speak of and therefore makes nothing to R. F. his purpose no more then what follows in a fifth Reason or Allegation The deep things of God are revealed not by the Letter but by the Spirit 1 Cor. 2. 10. Therefore revelations by the Spirit of truth are more sure then the Letter Rep. 1. Did not R. F. grant us at first page 2. that the Scriptures proceeded from the Spirit of truth Whether then they be revelations or doctrines or writings or interpretations as they come from the Spirit of truth he must yield they are all alike sure in themselves or he still fighteth against the Scriptures or the Spirit or both 2. The Apostle saith not that the Spirit revealeth the deep things of God but searcheth them that is he exactly and infinitely knoweth them as God knoweth them and thence by the way he
Paul of himself and of true Gospel-ministers and believers viz. That God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness had shined in their hearts for it is not Pauls scope to disparage Scripture light The light that shined in Pauls heart and the light that shineth in the Scripture is the same light and God who shineth in the heart by Gospel-light of which the Apostle speaks ver 4. shineth in the Scriptures by the same light 3. It follows not because there was light in Paul and such as he inclâ—des with himself that there is light and the same light in R. F. and such as he includes with himself nor doth it appear to me and others that God shineth in his or their hearts who give a new and dark interpretation of that Scripture as of other Texts For R. F. * Page 6. Isaiah 8. 20. vindicated with J. Nayler expound it of the Law of the New covenant written in the heart by God c. Now though the Scriptures do witness that the Law of the new Covenant is written in the heart Jer. 31. 31. Heb. 8. 10 11. yet that is not the meaning of the phrases Law and Testimony Isaiah 8. 20. but the meaning is The Law and Testimony written in the Scriptures is the touchstone of what men speak as a Doctrine taught from God but if they speak not according to this word written in the volume of Gods book it is an evidence that their hearts are not taught of God or that the Scripture written without is not written within their hearts for what is written by God in the heart is consonant and agreeable to what he hath written in his Book and it never taught any man to call the Bible or written word as John Lawson calls it natural and carnal this I said was to blaspheme the Scripture Here R. F. * Ibid. takes me up as one not regarding what I say and as ignorant of what the Scripture saith concerning the same which speaketh of a carnal commandment Rep. Must the written word or Gods holy Scripture be natural and carnal because it speaks of a carnal Commandment He might as well imagine and affirm because it speaks of Types Figures and Shadows therefore it is all but typical and a shadow When the Apostle * Heb 7. 16. opened makes mention of the law of a carnal Commandment according to which the Priests in the Law-Levitical were made but not so Christ our high Priest he is treating of the Ceremonies now abolished The Scriptures not carnal but spiritual which were laws of things weak and frail as all flesh is considered in themselves not lasting and abiding he gives not the title of carnal and natural to the Scriptures as J. L. and R. F. do nor is he speaking of the Scripture as Scripture which is all spiritual and heavenly in its pedegree proper scope energie and vertue but he calls the Ceremony mentioned in Scripture carnal i. e. as to the materials appointed in the Legal Ceremonies they were outward bodily weak dead things of themselves this makes the Scripture no more carnal then because it speaks of the Earth therefore the Scripture is earthy or of Esau the profane therefore the Scripture is profane Section 4. TO my fourth Section R. F. * Page 7. In what sense the Scriptures are the word of God saith no more but this which is too much unless it were better Thou cannot with all that thou hast scraped together prove that it the Scripture is the Word which is eternal life and so the Word that was in the beginning with God John 1. 1. Rep. 1. I had indeed collected several Scriptures Isaiah 8. 20. Isaiah 6. with Acts 28. 25 26. John 10. 34 35. Psalm 82. 6. Ephes 6. 17. but it is an unhandsom and reproachful expression put upon my collecting and comparing Scripture with Scripture for him to call it scraping together 2. My collation was not to prove the Scriptures to be the Word i. e. the eternal life and that essential word spoken of John 1. 1. But insomuch as Jam. Nayler put us to Iohn 1. 1. cleared prove the Letter is called the Word in plain words and that then there are two words I shewed that this phrase the word of God is taken two ways in Scriptures sometimes for Christ himself the Essential word of the Father sometimes for the Scriptural word it self which being evidenced by my aforesaid collections what trifling and absurdity is it in R. F. to call for the proving of that which was not to be proved as not being affirmed by me or any other that I know that the Scriptures are the Word spoken of John 1. 1. but the Scripture or inspired written created Word doth there as elswhere speak of the Essential uncreated Word as a mans tongue pen or secretary doth speak of himself Ephes 6. 17. opened That last Scripture I quoted Ephes 6. 17. one would think were enough to convince gainsayers where the sword of the Spirit a piece of spiritual armor is said to be the Word of God What meaneth the Apostle by the sword of the Spirit but the spiritual sword the Scriptures put into the hands and mouths of Christians no carnal but a spiritual weapon mighty through the Spirit to run into the heart of Errors and to cut asunder Temptations and to repel the Tempter Christ himself made this use of it against the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 5. Against the Sadduces Mat. 22. 31 32. And against the Devil Mat. 4. 4 7 10 ver Once the Devil hath Scripture in his mouth but Christ hath it thrice in his mouth It is written It is written It is written and is too hard for Satan at this as all other weapons Here the very power of the written Letter puts to flight the adversary And if J. N. or R. F. will read over and over the 119 Psalm they will finde matter enough to cure their contradictions Spirits who are more nice then wise in abstaining from Scripture-expressions or attributing to them their due title There they will finde that holy David professing his zealous affection to God and to his Scriptures useth this phrase of thy word above thirty times plainly enough and yet elegantly also Let their consciences answer Is not thy word as much as God 's word And that he speaks of Gods written word the Scriptures as of what is according thereunto is clear in that he calls the same word of God the statutes of God O teach me thy statutes c. near twenty times now Gods statutes are his standing Laws or Rules put into writing as all the Statutes of England are upon record written down in Books Section 5. I Had charged it as another contradiction of theirs to the The writing of the Spirit the ground of the Saints acting Scripture it self in that they say The Saints ground of acting is not the outward Letter but the Spirit which
the Old and New Testament-Scripture thence to suck and draw for their refreshment preservation and consolation But such cursed step-dames have we now sprung up who would wean every new-born babe from any further tastes of Scripture-milk it must be no ground of their acting then no means of their growth no food to them at all nay it shall be no seed instrumentally to beget them as not milk to nourish them 3. They that deny the Scriptures to be in any good sense the ground of the Saints acting in effect deny them to be Gods Scriptures and Christs Scriptures for either the Authority of God and Christ is stampt upon them or not if it be then by their Authority may and ought the Saints to act if it be not then are they but humane and not the Scriptures of God and Christ But let us examine what R. F. saith for himself * 2 pag. of his Epist and 7. p. of his book and men of his judgement The Lord God and his Spirit is the ground of the Saints acting as it was formerly Isa 48. 16 17. For the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me And the Lord Isaiah 48. 16 17. cleared vindicated teacheth his that he so sends to profit Rep. 1. So reads he or writes I must not say wresteth lest I retort but the words are directed to the people or Church and truly thus read which teacheth thee to profit The prophets had more extraordinary impulses of the Spirit then the Saints in ordinary for their actings 2. One way whereby God then taught and now teacheth his people to profit was by reducing them to the written Rule ver 18. O that thou hadst hearkned to my Commandments which they had in writings from God before the Lord God and the Spirit sent Isaiah to them Christ who came with the Spirit as he received it not by measure came with the Scriptures taught the people and his disciples how to profit by them Luke 4. 18. Matth. 5. Luke 24. 27. and as the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal which Scripture 1 Cor. 12. 7. R. F. alledgeth in 1 Cor 12. 7. vindicated part so is all the Scripture given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in righteousness 2 Tim. 3. 16. neither is there any manifestation of the Spirit in any Teacher if he doth not manifest his doctrine from or according to the Scripture when required so to do It is not to be believed that God ever gave his Spirit to such a Teacher who doth manifestly or covertly under pretence of the Spirit flie from the light of Scripture The Spirit of God never taught any The property of the Scriptures to speak dishonorably or diminishingly of his written word but to give unto the Scriptures what is its due viz. That they are Gods holy Scriptures Rom. 1. 2. able to make a childe wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3. 15. and given ver 17. That the man of God the Prophet Apostle Evangelist Pastor or Teacher and others by their ministery may be perfect throughly furnished unto every good work and unto the Spirit what is his due The prerogative of the Spirit prerogative to work by the Scripture when and upon whom he pleaseth to their saving profit But haply I might have spared this pains in reference to R. F. though others have need of it because in his Epistle he hath this passage The Scriptures in the Letter onely are not the true ground of the believers faith as they in Scotland affirm for he seems to be a little yielding that they are the ground of the Saints acting though not onely if in any good sense he will grant them to be the ground of the believers faith he must in that The ground of the Believers faith is the ground of the Saints acting sense yield them to be the ground of the Saints acting for the Saint and the Believer is all one and all acts of holiness in general as of any particular grace spring from the same root that the acts of faith do and are built upon the same ground-work that is laid by God for the edification of faith and its actings Onely I must advertise him and others that I know none in Scotland that so affirm or express themselves as he speaks They may say and say truly that the Letter i. e. the Scriptures which never were without their true sense nor without the Spirit breathing in them though it be not manifested to every one that reads them nor a like manifestation given at all times to all the Saints are the onely visible and legible Rule of faith and Judge of Controversies as all sound Protestants have hitherto maintained this truth against the Papists And they that are of a sound minde in this British Isle as in all Europe and the world have from Gods Authority stampt upon the Scriptures asserted them to be a true Ground of the Believers faith which R. F. weakly denies * Epist because Christ is the true Ground of faith whereas the affirmative is hereby the more strongly proved For the true adaequate or proportionable Object of faith is the true Ground of faith but Christ speaking in the Scriptures is the true adaequate Object of faith therefore Christ in the Scriptures is the true Ground of faith And thus again If Christ be the true Ground of faith then the Scriptures of Christ which are his written truth are a true Ground of faith as if the man be honest I may build upon his word so if Christ be true and Truth itself his word is true and the truth as his Fathers word is John 17. 17. when written down for a more certain ground as to us and our actings then if but spoken in the air or to the ear Let R. F. therefore or all that have a minde to be sound in the faith if he hath none hear the Scripture speaking for it self and hear Christ together for himself and his Scripture Prov. 22. 19 20 21. That thy trust Prov. 22. 19 20 21. opened and urged may be in the Lord I have made known to thee this day even to thee Here is a ground of faith laid by the Lord himself What is it his making known of what Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge Here is excellent matter made known as a ground of trusting in the Lord and here is the maner of revelation by writing Have not I written wherefore That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth Behold the maner of making known a ground also of certainty of knowledge and consequently of faith for a mans self and it followeth that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee Lo here is the ground of our Embassie and Message for others
3. vindicated which labored with him in the Gospel for all these were employed not contrary to his order unto the Church at Corinth in publick preaching or so much as acting by their votes and suffrages in Church affairs but either in succoring Paul and others or in messages or in working out Pauls liberty mean while hazarding their own lives or in composing differences or in entertainment of strangers or in some other Christian-gospel-service sutable to their sex gifts and graces And as for that which R. F. collecteth from 1 Cor. 16. 19. that if Priscilla be not permitted to speak in the Church and the Church be in her house she must not speak but go out of her house Sure it is that as she 1 Cor. 16. 19. vindicated and her husband Aquila had taken up a house at Corinth Act. 18. 3. so they had a godly family like a little Church for knowledge piety and good order but the order of a godly family is after one way and the order of a ministerial Church is after another way Besides the Church at Corinth did ordinarily meet in Gaius's house therefore he is called Pauls Host and of the whole Church Rom. 16. 23. and Paul at other times wrought with his hands at Aquilas house Act. 18. 3. and in some one place compare 1 Cor. 14. 23. with chap. 11. 20. or other where that order was observed which was given to the Church ministerial and where Priscilla her self must not speak in the case in controversie with R. F. though haply she was more eminent in grace and gifts then her husband Aquila and upon that account her name may for once Rom. 16. 3. be set before his Lastly as for her own house it is not said the whole Church met there as at Gaius's house but it may well be collected those of her family were part of the whole and so the name Church is given to it and speak there she might to teach her family and with her husband to instruct an Apollos in the way of God more perfectly Act. 18. 26. without going out of her house or out of her place Will J. Nayler notwithstanding all this persist in his bold opinion that Pauls words of a womans keeping silence in the Church must not be taken in the Letter and will R. F. defend him with his own glosses I must leave them to the Lords rebuke for being wise in their own conceit and proceed to the close of this Paragraph in my book where I had given another instance of their new gloss upon 2 Pet. 1. 19. 2 Pet. 1. 19. vindicated affirming the sure word of prophecy there spoken of to be the Prophecy and Spirit of Prophecy within them and not the outward Prophecy or declaration of Gods minde in the Scriptures R. F. * page 7. hath nothing to say but this the sure word of prophecy we witness to and do not to it say No and then falls upon me with reproachful language as his maners serve him But how doth he witness it If by the word of Prophecy he means as Peter interprets it ver 20. the prophecy of the Scripture then he contradicts his fellow J. N. and doth not say no where his fellow saith no if he witnesseth onely the prophecy within or the light * Discovery of the man of sin by J. Naylar pag. 30. as J. N. glosseth till the day dawn c. which is not without nor in books then he with Nayler contradicts Peter and the holy Ghost moving him to write of a more sure word of prophecy of Scripture then the voice on the mount To clear this further As Peter v. 20. expounds v. 19. calling the more sure word of prophecy the prophecy of Scripture or Scripture-prophecy not heart-prophecy or breast-prophecy arising and residing onely in the minde but written down in books so this written-prophecy he sets in opposition to cunningly devised fables which ver 16. he professeth against in which fables there was no sureness or certainty at all and then he lays it in the ballance of comparison with his and others making known the Lords power and coming on the mount Peter James and John Mat 17 1 c. were ear-witnesses of a voice from heaven concerning Christ and eye-witnesses which is ten times more then onely to take a thing by the report of the ear of Christs majesty honor and glory this Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus they preached of to the scattered Jews as others yet notwithstanding their preaching of what they had heard and seen and the certainty of the voice they heard and the glory they saw We saith Peter including James and John with himself and the believing Jews whom he wrote unto who honored the writings of Moses and the Prophets as infallible have a more sure word of prophecy or of the Prophets writings whereunto ye do well that ye take heed hereby commending them for their respect to the Scriptures and encouraging them to be intent thereunto as unto a light shining in a dark place the Scripture-word being a lamp unto the feet and a light unto the path of Saints amidst Psal 119. 105. all the darkness of the heart of the world or of the Church until the day dawn and day-star arise in our hearts i. e. until by the study of the Scriptures more light be cleared up and Christ make himself more manifest to us and within us But lest any should stumble at the Apostles assertion which comparing ver 19 20. as before is to this effect that all or any part of the Scripture is a more sure word then what is spoken in the air and but to the ear the Apostle preventingly addeth ver 20. Knowing this first let this be laid as for a fundamental truth in your mindes that no prophecy of the Scripture whereof we speak 2 Pet. 1. 19. with v. 20 21. more cleared is of any private interpretation Were it so that every man might as his private minde leads him interpret Scripture the authority and certainty of it would vanish as the light Scripture to be interpreted by Scripture and truth of it would be eclipsed it would be far from being a more sure word men might that way turn the Gospel into a Fable and make the Scriptures as Antichristian Popelings do a nose of wax well how proves the Apostle that no Scripture is of any private interpretation why verse 21. For or because the Prophecy came not in old time or at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any time by the will of man but holy men of God spake it as they were moved by the holy Ghost As was the Genesis such is the Analysis as was the composition such is the resolution and meaning of it from the same Spirit the publique Spirit of the Saints and of the Scriptures the holy Spirit of God composed the word of Prophecy not mans will but Gods digested it his Spirit indited it and
hath spoken all his sense under the words which he directed holy men to express his minde by and therefore without going forth of Scripture to any private spirit the true and sure interpretation of Scripture may be obtained which if first we know and be perswaded of we may confidently be perswaded still to take heed thereunto as unto a more sure word and as a help in all our darknesses c. But J. Nayler thinks this a blinde absurdity For saith Discovery c. pag. 30. he 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 must be a more sure Testimony then the Apostles who were 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 Rep. All this grant but the testimony of Prophetical Writings to be Gods and the words of Scripture-books to be Gods books and his words may and doth follow without any absurdity at all For 1. Although the Apostles preaching was as infallibly true as the Prophets writings in themselves yet as to men and as to the Jew first and then to the Gentile and in respect of our capacity our reception and retention of truth the word of the Prophets writings was and is still more sure yea the Apostles writings such as the holy Spirit moved them to write and hath ordered to be the Scripture of the New Testament are in the forenamed respect a more sure word then their preachings hence it is that Paul perswaded the Jews Acts 28. 23. both out of the law of Moses and out of the Prophets 2. Although Gods immediate voice from heaven hath as infallible certainty as when he orders his minde to be written yet in respect of our frailty and the above-mentioned cases his written word is more sure to us and we have it so left upon record for our constant use Let not then J. Nayler * Discovery c. as above pag. 30. mislead the simple with great swelling words of vanity concerning our blindness about the Spirit of prophecy as the sure word and testimony of Jesus excluding thereby the Spirit from the Scriptures and the Scriptures from being the word of Prophecy and the sure Testimony of Jesus For Jesus Christ appointed John to write because the words he sent and signified to him by the Angel were true and faithful And when the Angel observed what John was about viz. to worship him Rev. 19. 10. he forbad Rev. 19 10. vindicated him upon two Reasons 1. He was his fellow-servant and of the brethren that have the testimony of Jesus 2. The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy And John having the Testimony of Jesus as well as the Angel though not so immediately he had the Spirit of Prophecy so have all they who have the true sense of Scripture and of Johns Revelation though they received it not by the Angel as John did because the Spirit was with John as with others when he wrote and he that hath an Rev. 3. last ear is commanded to hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches in that written word with the rest of the Scripture The Testimony of Jesus immediately given and received is hath in it and carrieth with it the Spirit of Prophecy as that Testimony which is immediately given and received All they that call off from the mediate Testimony may boast of the immediate but do not discover it Let not J. Nayler * Sauls errand to Damascus pag. 33. again upbraid us with his ignorant question Where readest thou in the Scriptures of a written Word It is no more then if he had said Where readest thou in the Scriptures of the Scriptures Let not J. Parnel * Christ exalted c. p 3. further revile us with doting upon the Scriptures without with our dark mindes when as God hath appointed the voices of the Prophets which are read * Acts 13 27. and preached upon with the voices of the Apostles every Sabbath day as a light shining in a dark place and as a more sure word for our daily use then his immediate voice from heaven Let him not heap up Scriptures to press the Scriptures to death Let him not make the world believe we would take the Authority from Christ because we own Christs Authority in the Scriptures and acknowledge them as instrumental unto Christs saving enlightning of us guiding quickning ruling of us Let him beware of despising Scripture lest he sin more wilfully after his first conviction by the Scripture He that would set Christ upon his throne as he pretends to do must not take the Scepter the Scriptures and what is preached faithfully from thence out of his hand This doth J. Parnel with R. F. and that generation of men who have learned as they imagine beyond the Scripture-Light and need neither man nor Scripture to teach them Yet I will unteach their misinterpretations of Scripture as they fall in my way that people may not further be deluded but undeceived In that one sheet of Paper * Christ exalted c. J. Parnel hath put the Conceptions and Imaginations of his own heart upon ten places of Scripture as he hath disparaged all the Scripture at once in more then one passage Christ he saith Page 1. was that Lamp to Davids feet Psalm 119. 105. Psal 119. 105 vindicated and that Light unto his paths Christ indeed gave that word to David which was his Lamp and Light but David speaks not there of Christs Person but of his Doctrine which the holy Ghost by his pen giveth several titles unto throughout the Psalm The word which David speaks of is called and was as called the Law of the Lord his Precepts or Commandments Statutes Testimonies and Judgements Christs person is not the Law of the Lord c. besides what ver 105. is in the singular number thy word is ver 103 57 139. in the plural number thy words Christs person is not two or many but one David therefore is commending that which J. P. is disparaging the written and declarative word of God Again Page 2. he applieth Jer. 20. 9. and 23. 29. in the like maner to Christs person when as the Section 6. Jer. 20. 9. and 23. 19. vindicated Prophet speaks of Christs Doctrine His word or message of Doctrine which God gave me to deliver was in my heart as a burning fire c. which I could no longer forbear from declaring it And Is not my word like as a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces By Gods word here is meant Gods saithful Doctrine which must be spoken faithfully ver 28. then it hath the power of a purging fire and of a battering hammer
and 27 verses every such man as is a Saint in one place and another where he came not yet perfect except in Justification that he may be presented perfect in Christ Jesus in holiness 3. Christs person with and by his Spirit dwelleth in every Saint with a light that never was given to every man that cometh into the world nor ever will be given 4. Though Paul preached to the world unconverted as well as to the Saints yet it was to bring them who were of Gods election among the Saints that they might be partakers of that mysterious light which they knew nothing of before But R. F. thinks if the Scripture make mention of every man it must needs include every man that is was or will be in the world therefore he addeth in the above-mentioned Pamphlet The Apostle saith to the Romans That as well as to them God hath given to every man a measure of grace Rom. 12. 3. And none shall be condemned for that Rom. 12 3. vindicated which they know not but for that which they know and do not obey Whereas here 1. By every man is not meant every man that cometh into the world but that cometh into the Church or company of Saints or whether in or out of the Church yet maketh profession of Faith and hath received some supernatural gifts in measure 2. It is a measure of faith the Apostle speaketh of not a measure of grace Faith may be taken there for knowledge of Gospel-doctrine and gifts flowing from that knowledge which may be in men that are not truly sanctified or endued with saving grace 2 Thes 3. 2. All men have not 2 Thes 3. 2. opened faith not so much as knowledge of the Gospel-letter nor the general assent to Gospel-truth as very Gospel much less that justifying faith which onely the Elect have 3. Every man that cometh into the world hath not that which is termed and is but common though supernatural grace i. e. gifts freely given in common to Hypocrites and Formalists as to the Elect and effectually called of Jesus Christ 4. Every man that neither hath true saving grace nor ever lived in times and places when and where God hath given common supernatural endowments will have enough to condemn him for that which he had in Adams loins yet standing and particularly for that which he knew in him but lost yea put it away by his voluntary disobedience in whom all have sinned Rom. 5. 12. Besides for not obeying Rom. 5. 12. opened that which he knows of God of good and evil as natural conscience dictates for God Every man who hath but every mans light will at last be condemned Rom. 2. 12. For as many as have sinned without law i. e. without the written word shall also perish without law i. e. by the law witness and judgement of their own consciences which is that we call the Light of nature the Law of nature or natural Light by good warrant from Scripture and reason that things should be called as they are But to proceed Section 10. TO call the light within them and which every man hath the word of God as they frequently express their natural impressions To you all this is the word of the Lord while as they will not have the holy Scriptures so called This as I noted is still to hold up Contradiction as to the whole Scripture so to that particular place in Isaiah 8. 20. whence I inferred That Light without Scripture Isaiah 8. 20. further vindicated is no light This passage R. F. stumbleth at in his Epistle and saith It comes as the rest of my sayings from the deceitful Spirit that guides me Rep. What doth he less then fasten deceit upon the Spirit of God as far as he can the Spirit of truth who speaks in that as in all the Scripture and guided me to write as I did If they speak not according to this word saith the Spirit there speaking of the Law and the Testimony written in books and tables it is because there is no light in them How Light without Scripture is no Light What clearer and truer inference from the words of the Spirit by the Prophet could I raise then this viz. Light though said to be saving Light without Scripture i. e. besides or not according to Scripture is no Light Men may R. F. His reasons to the contrary in his Epistle dissolved call it light and light of life but the holy Ghost saith it is not so if it be not agreeable to Law and Testimony which is Scripture-light R. F. would fain disprove my inference thus 1. If light without Scripture be no light then I know not the light that was before the Scripture or Letter and so am ignorant of Christ the true light Rep. 1. It follows not for there was no light before the Scripture but what is now revealed in and by the Scripture 2. It is a learned ignorance to know no more in order to salvation then that which is in Scripture revealed The Lord give me and all his more of this learning 3. As the Spirit shews me by the Scripture that God did teach the knowledge of Christ to the Fathers before the Flood and after till Moses without a written Word so I know that all that light which the Patriarchs had concerning salvation and right worshipping of God through a Mediator was according to the Law and Testimony committed to writing in Moses time and since 2. R. F. objecteth By such a saying Light without Scripture c. I would not have God to be God and Christ to be Christ without the Letter of the Scripture Rep. 1. What an absurd that I say not malicious inconsequence is here 'T is as if one should have cavilled against Isaiah when he said To the Law and to the Testimony c. Why Isaiah if there be no light in them that bring not Scripture and that soundly interpreted according to the Spirits word thou wouldest not have God to be God nor Christ to be Christ without the Scripture The charge of R. F. is not against me but contradictious to that Prophet and to the Spirit For when God gives a written Law Doctrine or Rule and Touchstone to try even Prophets and Apostles Doctrine by he that shall speak things discrepant from this Canonical Word speaks as we say without book without ground or warrant without or besides and consequently against the Light of a Rule and against the Spirit that gave the Rule 2. God who was God from everlasting and much more before he appointed his minde to be delivered in writing Isaiah 8 20. farther cleared hath thus given out his minde in that written Text by Isa 8. 20. consult but the verse before When they shall say unto you seek unto them that have familiar spirits c. should not a people Gods people seek unto their God where should they seek him should they go to the
wrought upon by my poor labors in Norfolk or Essex in England or Scotland stand forth as some have in their life time some on their death-bed and all the rest shall at the great day witness for me 2. In the case of lying it is charged here in a double respect First I have lyed of the truth and of them with a deceitful Page 9. spirit by twisting and winding about nothing being alledged for colour of proof I must intreat the Reader to peruse this whole Section 11. in my book * Contradictions of the Quakers c. pag. 8. 9. which consists not of above a dozen lines and three words and then I shall have better measure given me Secondly whereas he adds Thou may well lye of us that lyes of the Apostle Paul and wrests not our words onely but his also Let any indifferent person judge how he makes this out I had shewed how contrary they are who would set up the teaching by the creatures against the Scriptures to Paul asserting 1 Cor. 1. 21. that when by the wisdom of 1 Cor. 1. 21. opened and this world in all the study of the creatures men knew not God to life and salvation it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching a Text a Doctrine a Reason a Use out of the word to save them that believe R. F. excepteth two ways First There is not any such words of the Apostle as Text vindicated Doctrine Reason Vse to save them that believe and here thou hast lyed of him Rep. 1. The words a Text a Doctrine a Reason a Use were in a Parenthesis as a part of the Paraphrase with what went before By the foolishness of preaching Paul meaneth the matter he preached Christ crucified according to Scripture Text Doctrine Reason and Use which very subject preached of the Greeks and Gentiles counted foolishness and being preached according to Scripture Text c. R. F. accounteth a lye That Paul preached according to Scripture-Text which laid together one place compared with another hath Doctine Reason and Use in it let who please consult Act. 26. 22 23. and chap. 28. 23. and it will be abundantly evident 2 That God hath converted millions and saved them by this way of preaching R. F. will know one day whether he be one of the number or not 3. I used that paraphrase the rather because preaching of Christ from a Scripture-Text c. is so much despised by men of R. F. his profession and by himself after his maner jeered at * See Part 2. Sect. 27. as I afterwards noted in my book pag. 26 But let him and the rest know that heaven and earth shall fail before one Text Doctrine Reason Use or Iota of any of these in Scripture shall fall to the ground for want of truth or accomplishment Secondly he excepteth against my calling the Letter the Word as if I would make the Letter a Savior Rep. 1. This exception ariseth from the passage before mentioned a Text c. out of the word meaning out of the Scripture which how it is the Word and that it is so called by the holy Ghost and his Pen-men of the Scripture hath been already cleared 2. Christ the Author of salvation to them that obey him speaking in the Scripture saveth by the Scripture read soundly interpreted rightly divided faithfully applyed If R. F. saith the contrary as he doth Christ the alone Savior or perfect Savior being able to save all that come unto God by him not by the Scripture but by him he dares affront the Lord Jesus himself who directeth his very enemies to the Scriptures Joh. 5. 39. to finde eternal life by him as he is in and by the Scriptures discovered 3. If the Scripture declares of Christ as R. F. grants either Christ maketh that declaration of him saving to some or not If not it doth not declare him to be an able Savior if yea then he saveth by that declaration or by the Scripture One word more we must animadvert * Page 9. from R. F. ere we close this Section He that hath the Son hath life 1 John 5. 12. if he have not the Letter but he that hath not the Son hath not life though he may have all the Letter Rep. 1. Would not R. F. or his friends think it rash and 1 Joh. 5. 12. vindicated broad language if I should salute him with thou lyest because John hath no such words as if he have not the Letter nor though he may have all the Letter and yet this kinde of usage I had even now from him 2. It is no part of the Apostles meaning to exclude the Scripture from being a means to espouse Christ and a Christian together Having of Christ relates to the Brides having the Bridegroom It becomes not the Bride to reject the Letter of her Bridegroom and the word of the Covenant by which she is married to him which is the word of Scripture preached opened and applyed 3. If they that have all the Letter in form may yet have none of Christ in power and therefore not life how shall they be thought to have Christ in life and power who will have none of the Letter as they ought to have and hold it viz. a glorious means of their knowledge of Christ crucified and of their salvation by him Section 12. I Had instanced yet again about their magnifying the Light which every man hath above the light of Scripture from what George Fox saith in his Parables It is the Light The light of naâ—ure no Interpâ—eter of Scripture and the grace therein revealed that gave forth the Scriptures and will open the Scriptures to us and 't is a more sure word of Prophecy yea the Grace that appeared unto all men c. R. F. saith nothing in defence hereof nor in opposition to what I discovered of its Scripture-contradiction from 1 Cor. 2. 9. It is written Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him yet by what he hath elsewhere we may not conclude his silence as to this Section to be an Argument either of his consent or dissent but I shall evidence my charge against G. F. a little further That Christ the Son of God gave forth the Scriptures by his Spirit inspiring them that wrote as he moved and acted them is a most undeniable Truth For Christ is the great Light giver he gives common Creation-light and he gives special Scripture-light and all that is truly called Light-given and he is above all that he giveth But when men speak of the light given to every man as G. F. doth and then attribute as much to it as to the person of Christ viz. That the Light in every man gave forth the Scriptures and will open the Scriptures to us this is palpable darkness and contradiction to the Scripture I quoted 1
mens mindes or will he have his words The light is pure standing out of all corruption to be understood of Gods Essence onely and not at all of that which is but a quality in the creature If he would be understood to speak of Gods Essence onely we agree in the light and understanding of the Text 1 John 1. 5. But if he would have it partly meant of God and partly of the Light either innate or regenerate in the creature then he confounds uncreated and created Light and shews his own woful darkness 2. He that would speak aright of God must say with the Apostle God is light and in him is no darkness at all no ignorance 1 John 1. 5. impurity or corruption to be discovered or found in him And he that would speak aright either of the inbred or of the new-bred light in the creature must distinguish of it either as it is in it self or in the subject-person First in it self created light is pure such as it is and so much as there is of it since the fall but yet imperfect Secondly in the subject the person in general particularly the minde or understanding and there is a mixture of light and darkness purity and pollution the one discovers the other and if the Saints should say We have no darkness no ignorance no sin they are so much the more dark sinful ignorant and there is no truth in what they say 1 John 1. 8. But I say quoth R. F. and so doth the Scripture that he that abideth in Christ sinneth not 1. John 3. 6. Rep. Will R. F. make no Scripture of 1 John 1. 8. because 1 John 1. 8. with 1 John 3. 6. compared cleared and vindicated this in the third chapter is Scripture or will that perverse and wicked evesion pass with him which one at a meeting of their fraternity in Essex not long since vented to him that urged the Emphasis if we we that have communion with the Father and with the Son if we say we have no sin c. That the Scriptures have been much altred and corrupted and though it be now so written yet at first it was thus If we that have fellowship say we have sin we deceive our selves c. Oh the diabolical strong delusion that these kinde of professors are under and leading others into or let me farther reason with those who are not so far infatuated either the Apostle John and such as he wrote unto did not abide in Christ or there is some other sense of his words in the third chapter then R. F. or his fellows would give of it for as full of contradictions as men are the Holy Ghost by the Apostle doth not contradict himself Let God be true and his word true and every man a lyar and his words lyes which agree not with the Canon Doctrine and harmonious Sense of the Scriptures And therefore when it is said He that abideth in Christ sinneth not the words and sense must be reconciled in our mindes for in themselves they were never at variance with the words in the first chapter thus 1. Although every man that is in Christ while here hath sin in him and he is neither perfectly free from the presence of original nor actual sin yet so far as he abideth in Christ he sinneth not It is no sin to cleave to Christ and his Doctrine Spirit and Grace and to persevere in it and him 2. The meaning of verse 6. must be gathered from verse 1 John 3. 6. cleared by ver 8 9. 8. and 9. where the Apostle speaks of committing sin or of trading in sin and that in a constant course That this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very sense and minde of the Holy Ghost is clear from the reason for the devil sinneth from the beginning He therefore that constantly goes on to sin plots sin and practiseth it with delight he is of the devil He that abideth in Christ sinneth not after such a maner And yet more clear from ver 9. whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed Gods seed remaineth in him and he neither doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor can commit sin as the devils nor as those who have no regenerate part in them because he is born of God and so far as born of God be sinneth not nor shall he ever be left to a total and final relapse into sin seeing he hath a contrary principle of the new birth abiding and remaining yea reigning in him And me thinks R. F. his conscience tells him he should be captivated by the truth of this interpretation For he tells me thou commits sin and so art a servant of the devil for thou goest on with thy lyes It is not then the presence of sin that makes one to be of the devil but the purpose practice and procedure in a way of sin If we say we have not sin present with us and dwelling in us we lye and if any say that every one that hath sin in him is a committer of sin a workman in sin he is in a foul error If any say he hath not sinned since he was converted he goes about to make God a lyar and his word is not in him 1 John 1. 10. That nor any other Scripture that speak of the Saints sinnings is not written in his heart nor believed by him But although I have an old lying heart and flesh wherein there dwells no truth no good thing yet R. F. hath not hitherto detected and proved a lye in my right hand or in my pen nor will he be able to make good what he boldly calumniates me with Let tryal be made in what follows Section 15. R F. here reviles me with thou lies of Ed. Burrough because I had noted the expression which he puts upon every mans light which is but common light at the best viz. The corner-stone And how doth he prove it not by denying there is any such expression as the Corner-stone but there is not such a word as common light there Rep. Nor did I use the word common as E. Burrough's and therefore put it in a Parenthesis as now and ordered it to be printed as my own phrase not his in a differing letter from his and accordingly it was so printed What lye is here in my mouth that deserves the lake which he threatens Had I not studied brevity I might have more fully given it thus How can he teach saith E. B. * Warning to the inhabitants of Underbarrow p. 7 and direct toward true Religion who denies the Corner-stone the first Principle of Religion which is the foundation the light of God which hath enlightned every one that comes into the world which he denies speaking of the Preacher at Vnderbarrow to have enlightned every one R. F. backs him thus Christ is the Light and Christ is the chief Corner-stone Acts 4. 11. 1 Pet. 2. 6 7. and so saith
Ed. Burroughs therefore he agrees with the Scripture and his saying as thou says is not contrary to Ephes 2. 20. but agrees therewith there thou art taken with a lye in thy mouth Lyar be ashamed and blush Rep. 1. To hold forth Christ to be the chief Corner-stone and yet to insinuate and winde into peoples bosoms a new mystery That the light which every one hath is a Corner-stone is to teach diverse from and contrary to the minde of the holy Ghost in that as other Scriptures Ephes 2. 20. for Christ is so the chief as he is the onely Ephes 2. 20. vindicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corner-stone The word in the Greek is of full force to this purpose signifying such a Corner-stone as doth not onely unite the sides and parts of the building of the Church-Catholique consisting of Elect Jews and Gentiles and that strengthens the whole building but that which reacheth from the bottom to the top of it and is all but one stone in the whole foundation and in all the corner from one end to the other As no other Foundation so no other Corner-stone can be laid then that which is laid the Lord Jesus Christ 2. Christ as he enlightneth every one that cometh into the world is not the Corner-stone Christ as God consider him onely so and with the common gifts which he bestows upon every man is not laid as the Foundation of the Church but Christ as Mediator God-man the Word made flesh 3. As the light which every man hath given him is none of the six Principles Heb. 6. 1 2. much less the first principle of Religion so neither is it the Corner-stone though given by Christ yet not to that end It is not light wrought in us but Christ the light-giver and in his person not his gifts who is both Foundation and himself * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief and onely Corner-stone so Ephes 2. 20. Will R. F. say to me as he hath to others * Light out of darkness pag. 21. You are ignorant of the first principle of Religion that make a scorn of this light I shall return him this for his information That as I own every mans light in its due place and am far from scorning it or him for it so I cannot by warrant from Scripture admit it into the place of Christs person or of Christ-Mediator nor farther acknowledge it a principle of Religion but such as is common to Pagans and Heathens that teacheth them a God and that he is to be worshipped But if it be a stone it is of the old foundation of life by works and not any principle of Christian Religion as such nor any stone of the New-building by and according to a covenant of Grace in Jesus Christ Here I may take occasion to answer a Quere made by a company of this Sect in one of their Pamphlets * Entituled To all that would know the way to the kingdom p. 16 How is the Gospel of Christ preached to every Creature under heaven if it be not the principle of light in the conscience it being that many never come to read or hear of the Scriptures One would think if their light were not darkness or that their mindes were not darkned with the light of the Scriptures those two Texts which are referred to in their Margent might have resolved them sufficiently Rom. 10. 18. Rom 10 18. opened and Col. 1. 23. In the former of these alluding to that in Psalm 19. 3 4. the Apostle invincibly clears it that the Jews could not but hear who had the Scriptures with them wheresoever they were dispersed and besides as the Sun casts its beams all over the world so had the Gospel by the Apostles ministery shined forth into all known habitable parts of the earth In the latter of them Paul speaks of Col. 1 23. opened such a preaching and hearing of the Gospel whereof himself was a minister and that was sent forth according to Christs commission Mark 16. 15. by the ministery of man to every creature i. e. to Gentiles as to Jews and to all nations as to some Matth. 28. 19. Nor did the Apostles and Evangelists at any time so preach without book in any place to any reasonable creature but as they carried the Scriptures with them so they made all the world ring of one Christ crucified according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15. 3. This saith Paul to the Corinthians I delivered unto you first of all The principle of light in the Conscience will never discover this first principle or fundamental truth Christ dying for sinners where the Scriptures and Preachers of the Scriptures come not as it never preacht it in the Ages past Those Preachers will be ashamed of their work who do not rightly divide the word of truth much more they who say they are Apostles and are not but are found lyars as all they are who reject the Scriptures the word of truth from being the Rule Card and Compass of their work and who drive people that have the Scriptures to the light in their consciences as a surer and better light and that which will change the minde as I had noted Sect. 13. whereas there is not the light of a Mediator or Christ crucified in it nor the power of God in it but to restrain moralize and civilize it never reached to renovation nor ever will renew the minde according to a Gospel sense though men abide in it till dooms-day Section 16. I Had noted here what J. Nayler saith If thou know own and obey it speaking of the common light of every man it would lead thee out of the fall which because I brought it in as another instance of their Scripture-contradiction R. F. * Page 10. tells me I go on with my Lyes And how proves he it Why The words in it J. Nayler's book are not as thou says Rep. Let the honest Reader be judge between us if he please to view the Pamphlet Entituled A few words occasioned by a Paper c. Page 10. The words of James Nayler are these more at large Thou goest about to make people believe that the light of Christ which is given to every one that comes into the world is a natural or fallen light but if thou didst know own and obey it it would lead thee out of the fall The very words I cited and in the very sense of the writer for J. N. speaks of the light given to every man which though he calls not common nor will not have it called natural yet we must call things as they are for The natural light of every man leads no man out of the Fall that which every one hath is no more and although to own and obey that dim light of nature is every ones duty yet to set it up as the light which shall lead out of the fall is beyond Gods intention of giving it and beyond
who may be for a while in this point seduced I shall open three things 1. What the Covenant of Works and what the Covenant of Grace are 2. Shew the different administration of the Covenant of Grace 3. Give some arguments farther to disprove the Levitical Law from being a Covenant of Works 1. The Covenant of Works is that part of the word or What the Covenant of Works is declaration of his will which is pure Law and a Covenant of Justice which promiseth life to them that personally perfectly and perpetually fulfil it but is the ministration of death to them that break it in the least Iota or Punctilio as we may say of it The Covenant of Grace is that part of the What the Covenant of Grace word or of Gods revealed will in and according to Scripture which is pure Gospel issuing forth from Gods absolute free love wherein he promiseth Christ for righteousness and life or upon condition of Christs satisfaction to give righteousness and all that appertaineth to salvation unto all that are Christs peculiar purchase whether of years or infants These two Covenants are of differing kindes and contradistinct each to other 1. The one is a Covenant wherein Justice bears sway Defferences specified the other wherein mercy and grace or Gods free distinguishing love doth reign though in a righteous way also 2. The one sets forth a promise of life that is of continuance in that which is given the other a promise of salvation from sin and death The former promiseth no salvation mentioneth nothing of a Savior or a surety the latter promiseth restitution or deliverance from a fallen state 3. The Condition and foundation of the one is mans personal obedience of the other Christs obedience and satisfaction thereby to the justice of God on others behalf for whom he freely becomes a surety Hence the Covenant of Grace is called a Testament as well as a Covenant not so the covenant of Works 4. The one admits of no failing upon pain of present death and accepteth of nothing but all or the whole payment of the debt by the party himself the other admits of a surety and though it allows of no sin yet it gives forth a pardon with faith and repentance and accepteth of what is given and acted when first the person is accepted in Christ and a willing minde is wrought by the Spirit This were easie to demonstrate from Scripture but that I study rather to contract then enlarge 2. The covenant of Grace admits of a twofold administration thence it is called the Old and New Testament A covenant yea a Testament or will of Christ it was before his death and since That which the Scripture expresly call's the Old testament or covenant Heb. 8. 20. was but the old administration of the covenant of Grace the old copy of Christs will that which it calls the new The Covenant of Grace covenant is the old is the old for substance though new for the administration the new copy of Christs Will First the old and new is one for the substance one Testament of Grace one Gospel of life and good tidings of salvation One for the substance by Jesus Christ from the first promise to Adam and Eve after the fall to Abraham from Abraham to Moses from Moses to the Prophets from the Prophets to Christs death from Christs death to this day from this present time to the end of time and to all eternity For the clearing of this let the Apostle be heard speak or the holy Ghost rather by him Heb. 13. 8. Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever As Christ-personal so the doctrine of Christ and of salvation by him is the same in essence and substance without change and in his covenant without alteration Heb. 11. 13. The true believing Fathers of the Old Testament did all of them embrace the same promises for the substance that we do Christ then to be exhibited and Christ now exhibited in the flesh and in his grace and Spirit is all one yesterday to day and for ever Adam and Eve had Gospel preached to them Gen. 3. 15. Christ that eminent Seed of the woman which should break the Serpents head i. e. by sufferings and satisfaction to God should overcome all the power of his accusations of the elect the redeemed seed before God Abraham had the Gospel preached to him Gal. 3. 8. concerning justification by free Grace The promise of Christs coming out of his loins contained in it the promise of life and salvation so did the promise of Gods being a God of him and of his seed God holds up the same covenant from Abraham to Moses for he renews it to Isaac Gen. 26. 4. And when he puts a message into Moses mouth he calls himself the God of Jacob as of Abraham and Isaac Exod. 3. 6. 16. which shews he dealt with Jacob after the same covenant and so would he carry it on with his posterity then in Egypt In Moses time it holds in force when the Law is given as the Apostle clears it Gal. 3. 16 17. The moral law was not repeated to disanul the promise but to make way for a discovery of the need of the promise and Moses preacheth the righteousness of faith Deut. 30. compared with Rom. 10 In Davids and the Prophets times the same Gospel-covenant is upheld thereupon we have the account of Christs line and genealogy all along Matth. 1. Luke 3. and many precious promises of him accordingly Rom. 1. 1 2. That which Paul preached was promised before by his Prophets in the holy Scriptures and as any believed they were partakers of the saving benefit of this gracious covenant Rom. 3. 21. The righteousness of God or his Rom. 3. 21. opened righteous way of saving sinners by Christ without our personal obedience to the Law and without the Laws discovery as it is a covenant of Works is now manifested by the preachers of the New Testament that before was witnessed by the doctrine of Moses and the Prophets under the old administration The Apostles all of them preached for substance what was in Moses and the Prophets Act. 26. 23. that Christ should suffer c. and be a light and salvation to the ends of the earth Act. 13. 47. Peter professeth Act. 15. 11. this was that he taught and believed that we through the grace of the Lord Jesus shall be saved as they as who as the believers of the Old Testament It was the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that saved then and now and if any mixed Gospel be taught not that which was of pure grace from the beginning the holy Ghost Gal. 1. would have the doctrine and the Doctor accursed Secondly The maner of dispensation of this Gospel-covenant 2 In the maner of dispensation was different from that it is since Christs death 1. It was administred after a legal and servile way urged with legal conditions
there is hyperbolical That seems simply and absolutely to be denyed which is to be understood but in part and comparatively in respect of the greater and more constant elaborate employment of preaching as is the Lords maner of speech Jer. 7. 22 23. But such as Paul Baptized as few as they were he did not Baptize short of besides or without a command And in short every one in his particular vocation the Apostle in his place the Pastor in his the Church in their relation the Husband in his place the wife in hers c. are to obey the commands given to those relations But Object 3 3. You go to duty as you call it by imitation from the Letter without Answ 1. Imitation properly respecteth examples and obedience precepts and it is but duty and obedience to hearken to Scripture-commands for imitation of holy and godly examples Jer. 6. 16. Philip. 3. 15 16 17. and chap. 4. 9. 2. While professors old and new decline the old and good paths let them beware of dangerous precipices of Apish Popish Monkish imitations and of un-warrantable pretences to the Prophets extraordinary Raptures and Postures such as those Isa 20. 2. Ezek. 4. 9 10. c. Object 4 4. You go to duty in your own wills and time your sacrifice is not accepted Answ 1. They that look rightly to a Scripture-command will eye the maner end and other circumstances and watch unto seasons of prayer reading hearing c. required in Gospel-times 2. Every duty or performance to which a Saint is duly tyed by a command respecting his relation and calling and consequently his person is accepted by God for the matter of it because he requireth it but his person is accepted as he is a Believer within the covenant of Grace and hath Christs righteousness reckoned to him for his justification and he is also accepted in the sincere Gospel performance of a duty not for the works sake but for Christs fake Object 5 5. You go without the moving of the Spirit in your own strength and you know not what a command from God in the Spirit is Answ This might be laid in a carnal mans dish and at an unbelievers door but being an objection against Saints to beat them off from performing duties by reason of a Scripture-command is as false as it is bold and daring For 1. Every true Saint hath the Spirit dwelling in him 2. There is no warrantable evidence that the motion is from Gods Spirit if it be not according to a Scripture command and if it be according to it it is as uncharitable as untrue to say the holy soul goes without the moving of the Spirit A command from God in the Spirit is no other What a command from God in the Spirit is for the matter of it then what already he hath commanded in the word of Scripture and that which he forms and stamps upon the fleshy tables of the heart by the Spirit of the living God so effectually that the mind understands it and the will obeyeth it in newness of spirit 3. The Spirit of God is free to move when he pleaseth in and upon the heart but the Saint is obliged to duty when through the flesh he is very dull and indisposed to it Matth. 26. 41. 4. He goes in his own strength to duty who follows Who act in their own strength the light of a natural conscience onely or undertakes it in the strength of his natural parts or moral abilities or common gifts of the Spirit but it is one of the greatest scandals which I have known cast upon the Scriptures and upon the Saints together to say they go in their own strength to duty who act by virtue of a Scripture-command for although Who in the strength of Christ they have not such movings and stirrings of the Spirit at one time as at another yet in sense of greatest deadness they act their faith for acceptation of their persons and believing the work is duty indeed trust not to the stock of grace within them but act faith again upon Christ for fresh influence and new supply in the present performance ordinance or exercise And another is like unto this that they know not what a command from God in the Spirit is when as Saints experience about a command 1 Past every Saint more or less hath had a twofold experience about the commandements of God and from him one in a legal way of ministration when the commandement comes as Paul speaketh of himself Rom. 7. ver 9. 10. that Rom. 7. 9. 10. opened is in the light of its spirituality striking at heart-corruptions which in their native rebellion rise up sin revived the more against the commandement and by the way it was the written-commandment as that opposed the Pharisaical pride of his heart and I died here is yet no Gospel mortification but legal consternation Paul is slain in his false perswasions and presumptuous hopes of getting life by his own blameless obedience to the Law Thus the Spirit of God sets home the law in its vigor of spirituality and rigor of exacting absolute freedom from the least swerving thought and takes off a soul from expecting life in his own righteousness or by the best frame of heart that he may reach unto and keeps him for longer or shorter time as he please under fears of the second death and of the first because of the second The other in a Gospel dispensation 2 Present is experience by the Saints when they are through Gospel-enlightning faith and renovation made to understand what the covenant of Grace is and what a Gospel-command The covenant of Grace calls for satisfaction at Christs hands and hath it The Gospel command from God in the Spirit is not some sudden impulse or rare impression upon the soul which few Saints meet with but it is every Scripture-precept which the Spirit of faith holiness and liberty works the heart to a sweet compliance withall according to the measures of grace received amidst the present and constant conflict with in-dwelling sin This was Pauls experience after conversion as he lays it forth Rom. 7. from ver 14. to the end and in the following Chapter The command wherewith he had no compliance before as to the spirituality of it now he consenteth to and delighteth in and complains against that contrary frame of corrupt nature which remained though it reigned not and rebelled in him but as sin served it self and its own ends grace and the new creature made him serviceable to the law of God the Scripture-command with which he and his new nature was reconciled and he that cannot finde something of this experience will not finde himself a Saint he that elasheth with Scripture-commands so far discovers himself to be unregenerate Let E. B. and R. F. a little more examine themselves by what spirit they are acted while they decline the Scripture-Gospel-Rule 5. Head of Scripture-contradiction
who seem not to deny the authority of the holy Scriptures yet would have it meant of Christ for this reason because the word of God ver 12. is in the 13. ver described as a person in his sight and the eyes of him with whom we have to do Now this is but their mistake for albeit Christ in person is the living word yet it is the Apostles scope to gain honor to him by gaining honor to the declarative word which being Christs word spoken by him written by the inspiration of his Spirit and preached accordingly is therefore quick and lively powerful and piercing because it is his word and the words of the 13. ver are not a description of Christs person as he is the living word nor of the declarative word spoken written preached but of God the Father Son and holy Ghost who being the living God his declarative word is like himself and from the knowledge of his nature we may know what his word is If God hath an all-seeing eye his word hath an all-searching power He puts not one but two edges upon this sword of his Spirit Ephes 6. 17. and makes it sharp and piercing for conversion or conviction at least and for such ends as he hath intended by his word and the ministery of it to effect and work out therefore the words of ver 13. his and him with whom must be referred to God ver 12. distinguished into Father Son and Spirit i. e. to all three or any of the three Let sinners in whom sin reigns and Saints in whom sin remains look to it for God by his Scripture-word is able to finde them out even them that pretend to present perfection and have it not for whom these words speak nothing at all Should we take God ver 12. not onely at large and personally for any of the three but strictly for Christs person yet we must take the word to be as I have said the word declarative and read it thus The word of Christ is quick or lively c. We cannot read it out of the Greek the word-Christ nor the living word is lively nor the living word is powerful but as 't is read in our new Translation The word of God is quick and powerful or as in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Geneva Translation The word of God is lively and mighty in operation that is as their Note is The Doctrine of God is so and so hath lively and mighty effects why because it is Gods Doctrine Gods Word Gods Scripture if it be but his Letter or outward ministery it is Christs two-edged sword which serveth unto his design of searching hearts of comforting the believer of cutting off and excluding the unbeliever from rest But this place of Scripture will not serve R. F. his design hitherto 2. Let us observe his application and inference Here the ground of sin is by the living word shaken at the roots and rooted out of such before their bodies and souls part asunder Rep. 1. Granting it is divine power that makes efficacious Mis-application the divine truths of the Scripture and that the Spirit doth by conviction shake a sinner at the very heart-root and by conversion shake yea kill sin at the roots for sound conversion is more then lopping of branches or moral restraints the best fruits of Quakerism yet is not all sin at first conversion nor all the life time extirpated or pluckt up absolutely totally and as perfectly as at death and if R. F. proves not this from the place as he doth not but onely say it he had better never have quoted it Nay he dare not affirm it in plain words but obscure The ground of sin c. What makes he the ground of sin If he meaneth the subject where sin dwelleth and is rooted what is that subject but the faculties of the Soul Minde Will and Affections Conscience c Now these are shaken I confess but not rooted out for neither Law nor Gospel the word of Terror or Grace and Peace nor the Power and Grace of the Word doth abolish or destroy the faculties and being of the soul If he meaneth by Ground of sin the cause of sin it must either be guilt of sin or the original stain and filth if the guilt 't is granted that sin is abolished and there is no ground or cause why a Believer justified and discharged from guilt and curse by the imputation of Christs obedience should be condemned Rom. 8 1 33 34. and the abolishing of guilt is the cause and reason why the inherent roots of sin are shaken and mortified in their regency or reigning power for the present and why they shall be rooted out as to residency and inherency at the last yea why no justified believer should allow the least sin that yet remaineth in him If by ground of sin he meaneth the original stain and filth it is the same with the roots of sin and then he proves nothing but idem per idem the same thing by the same namely that the roots of sin are shaken at the roots and rooted out when they are rooted out but the question is when are they perfectly and in all degrees rooted out I have said and proved it from Scripture it is not till the parting of Soul and Body The truth then and the illustration by the simile of the fig-tree stands firm and good for ought that R. F. hath objected to the contrary yet we must hear him * Page 16. out It is Christs work to take away sin here and to sanctifie by his Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 John 3. 5. Rep. We know that he was manifest to take away sin in 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 John 3 5. compared cleared and vindicated and from us as in him is no sin according to that in John and that of Paul to the Corinthians expressing two ways whereby he taketh away sin by the way of justification from defiling guilt and damning curse this is perfectly done here as to Gods act of reckoning and account though as to manifestation in us to us and concerning us it comes by degrees and not till the day of Judgement will all the world know who are now Gods justified ones By the way of Sanctification he takes away the dominion of sin in the very root and the strength of the roots of filth is mortified here in some Saints more in some less as he pleaseth who puts forth the power but in none are the roots of every sin nor of any sin wholly perfectly pluckt up till bodily death I am for purity and holiness here in heart and life but I am for purity of the Scriptures also according to their pure sense What saith the Scripture which R. F. next calleth forth As he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all maner of conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15. 2 Pet. 1. 15. vindicated Rep. This is a command of and
they preach that men should repent I ask how shall the ungodly sorrow after a godly maner If they lay the burden upon the ungodly onely and absolve the godly altogether they may by that way preach down all godly sorrow and startle the wicked with legal convictions and that which is remorse of conscience but no way help toward the pulling down the old man or building up the new in the true Believer 11. Head of their Scripture-contradiction Concerning the Word and means of Grace Section 37. I Had expresly cited C. Atkinsons words viz. I deny that God did ever or will ever reveal himself by any of those things thou callest the means of grace which were spoken of before in his book as reading hearing prayer c. contrary to 2 Tim. 3. 15. Rom. 10. 17. Luke 11. 13. c. R. F. in answer * Page 19. saith I would raise a slander c. as if they should deny the way and means that God useth to reveal himself to his people by How makes he it to appear why Christ is the light and the way to the Father and that they own and he reveals his secrets by his Spirit Rep. In all this confession here is no acknowledgement Christ and the Spirit give light and grace by outward means of reading hearing prayer c. That Christ is the light and light-giver hath never been denyed by me and that with his Spirit he is the author and worker of all grace who but graceless men will gain-say We do with the Scripture attribute higher things to God and Christ and the Spirit then to be the means of grace but R. F. will not ascribe so much to the Scriptures read heard sung prayed upon i. e. according to the rules and patterns of prayer there set down to be so much as outward means of grace we can have no such outward ingenuity from him But what saith he The Scriptures are not Christ nor the Spirit Rep. What if they be not they are Christs word and the word of the Spirit as hath been shewed and what the Scripture saith Christ saith and the holy Ghost also the same He therefore that rejects the Scripture and its several exercises from being the means of grace rejecteth Christ and his Spirit also But the Spirit he saith teacheth us how to pray and profit Gal. 4. 6. 1 Cor. 12. 7. c. and this doth not contradict the Scriptures Rep. No for the Spirit of grace and the outward means agree very well yet this is not a yielding them to be the means by which Christ and the Spirit revealeth their secrets and convey grace It is one thing for the Spirit to teach how to pray and read another thing for the Spirit to work by reading praying c we grant the former but he grants not the latter as he ought that I can finde Yes may some say what think you of that which followeth we know that faith is given by the ministery of Christ in the Spirit Rep. But speak plainly is it given by reading and hearing the Scriptures opened and preached as 2 Tim. 3. 15. Rom. 10. 17. hold it forth And we know that God giveth us his holy Spirit Rep. But doth he give it in a way of preaching and prayer as Act. 10. 44. and Luke 11. 13. bear testimony As soon as Paul is converted is he not at Prayer and had he not the fillings of the Spirit given him in that way as by Ananias putting his hands upon him Act. 9. 11. 17. And the wisdom saith R. F. which is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace James 3. 17 18. for which we praise God Rep. 1. But doth he give this wisdom by asking as saith James 1. 6. If any lack wisdom let him ask it of God is not prayer a means of wisdom 2. I wish we could finde the wisdom James describeth in R. F. As yet I discern not any seeds of it sown in his books one or other 3. Let him beware of taking Gods name in vain by praising him legibly in print for that which he hath not printed in his heart nor holdeth forth visibly in practise Why but he addeth we own reading hearing prayer and the teachings of God according to his promises Rep. I wish he doth well understand the promises of Means of grace have a promise of blessing annexed God Gods promises are made of a blessing upon such means as reading hearing and prayer as well as of gracious abilities to read hear and pray with Isaiah 55. 3. He that heareth and inclines his ear shall live 1 Tim. 4. 13. 16. If Timothy attend to reading meditation preaching to others watching himself In doing this he shall save himself and those that hear him To prayer is promised salvation Rom. 10. 13. Christs presence Matth. 18. 20. Returns and answers Matth. 7. 7. To preaching Christs presence assistance and blessing Matth. 28. 20. To the Saints conditions which C. Atkinson rejected with the ordinances all blessed success Rom. 8. 28. They shall look unto him and run to him and their faces shall not be ashamed Psal 34. 5. why so Ver 6. This poor man cryed and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles and therefore we may from others experiences together with our own have hope Rom 5. 4. And Hope in and by a promise an experimental promise and a promised experience maketh not ashamed If therefore R. F. doth own these means and the teachings of God according to Gods promises he must own them otherwise then C. Atkinson even as means by which God hath revealed himself and will communicate his grace and then I will not accuse him as I have not slandered C. A. when I speak the truth I harm them not The more nakedly their Errors are detected by the Truth the more good it may do them and I wish it with my heart 12. Head of Scripture-contradiction Concerning Baptism Section 38. THat they are against Infant-Baptism I had noted contrary to Acts 2. 38 39. where the command for application of Baptism reacheth as far as the Promise and as I hinted in my shorter piece the Promise extendeth it self to Children while Children they are part of the Saints of the Church at Corinth 1 Cor. 7. 14. if but one of the parents be a Believer and a Church-member R. F. is for the Negative in a transition from what was spoken of before But your brain-imaginations we deny and sprinkling Infants with water Rep. 1. If he puts this scandalous title of brain-imaginations upon the other means of Grace reading preaching hearing prayer experiences c. he doth but back his sellow Atkinson Suppose God should leave him as one of that name if it be not the same C. A. to Fornication were it not just for his casting reproach upon the ways of God 2.
and moderation as it ought to be that will mortifie a lust but onely give a check of restraint Bodily exercise of fasting profiteth little that way Acting of faith upon Christs death every day will do much as well out of meals as at them yea he that doth not remember Christ at his plowing and sowing when he lieth down when he riseth up goeth out or cometh in or at other times as at break-fast dinner or supper will go near to forget him then But that we may never forget him and his death and his power and love to take away our sin he hath left us his solemn sacred Supper as an instituted means of a Remembrance of him to be used as oft as with conveniency we can meet at his Table Let not J. Nayler or any man upbraid us with eating and drinking in a Self-solemnity once a moneth or three times a year The superstitious observation of times by man set up is laid down I think by all the Godly in the three Nations as to that business None have impositions upon them for once a moneth Were hearts and purses large enough in all the Churches they might meet every first day of the week our Christian Sabbath-day a day that the Lord hath made for solemn conventions and exultations Psal 118. 24 at the Lords Table Let him look to the idols in his own heart and beware of imposing upon others his New-model or putting off his Gibeonitish old clouted shooes and mouldy bread I mean his pieces of old Familism For what shall we make of that passage * Love to the Lost pag 45. It must needs be so viz. to spend upon their lusts with such as do not discern his body in their eatings who is the Body of all creatures but a chip of the old block H. N. the old father of the pretended Family of Love his Doctrine to incorporate Gods Essence into the creatures and the creatures into his For said he In the beginning one God and one man had in all one order being and nature And God was all that the man was and the man was all that God was Accordingly saith J. N. He is the Body of all creatures and filleth all things in heaven and in earth but by them that are in the lust Christ is not discerned present who is the fulness and vertue of every creature Here is it may be an Ubiquitarian mystery Christs glorified Body deified and to be discerned every where in every creature But will the lost soul be carried away with this winde of doctrine so diverse and estranging from and contrary to the blessed Apostles intention 1 Cor. 11. 29. where by not 1 Cor. 11. 29. vindâ—cated cleared discerning the Lords Body he holdeth forth their sin who confound their own meals with the Lords Supper whereas 't is the duty of all the Churches and every Communicant to distinguish both notionally and practically between that Bread and Wine instituted and set apart for special sacred spiritual use and common ordinary food used for civil repast and corporal nourishment The Bread at the Lords Table is to be discerned as a pledge sign and memorial of the Lord Christ his natural body once broken and crucified The Wine is to be discerned as the sign pledge and memorial of his natural blood shed in the garden and upon the cross And the relation which Christ hath unto his appointed signs together with mystical union and special spiritual presence promised and given to the true partaker of the signs is to be discerned also all which James Nayler is ignorant of or wilfully shuts his eyes with his fellow-creature R. F. who threw off the ordinance because he wanted the assurance that he expected But how to reconcile these two mens writings about the Lords Supper I was at a loss while the one saith Wheat bread and red wine is not souls food as before and the other dictateth The Lords Supper was to be at all seasons when they eat and drank one would have the Supper to be altogether within the other would have it to be at all times when men eat with moderation and without excess it is well if they understand themselves until I compared their other words viz. of R. F. The Lord is come in to sup with me with James Naylers God's Son the fulness and virtue of every creature which all know who come to his Supper where the Father and the Son are come in and sup with the creature And hereby as by other of their expressions it appeareth they do both of them cast off the external visible ordinance of the use of particular bread and wine at some times for the ends appointed and resolve it into an imaginary transformed communion of God in and with every creature which so it speaks like H. N. the old branded Familist they care not how unlike the Holy Scripture they write as one said long since of his first followers Section 40. THat they may with the fairer shew make void the Lords institution at his Table they have devised false Interpretations of that place in 1 Cor. 11. 26. one of which 2 Cor. 11. 26. vandicated I discovered in this Section to which R. F. answereth nothing although I had it out of one of his Pamphlets viz. of shewing the Lords death till he came to his disciples after his resurrection which to mention onely carrieth confutation in the forehead J. Nayler notwithstanding its grosness favors this sense and addes another First he gratifies R. F. in his sense by reading or writing it in the Praeter tense * Love to the lost page 43. They were to do it in remembrance of him shewing his death till he came Now Pauls words are plainly respecting the time to come till he come i. e. till the very instant hour of his coming for the * Adverb of time notes duration having 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another Adverb and Particle added to it which imply a drawing out of the time that should the Lord stay never so long ere he comes the Supper is to be continued till that coming of his which I hinted in the former Section was his coming the second time as it is called Heb. 9. 18. in that humane nature which at his first coming he assumed into the unity of his person The word for he come used by Paul is the same and in the same subjunctive Mood as in Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. 26. when he shall come in his own glory and in his Fathers c. so it might be read in Paul as our Latine * Beza Translation hath it usquequo venerit and Tremelius out of the Syriack usque ad adventum ejus even till his very appearance in the clouds For that meaning must stand whatsoever J. Nayler * Love to the Lost pag. 46. secondly addes to the former Fiction viz. That Christ charging his disciples to wait for his coming at
visible Saints called out and distinguished from the wicked ignorant and untoward multitude by their free consents and professed subjection to Christ and his Laws of Worship and Government Let these daring men calumniate all Gospel-administrations with the term of mediate stuff and think by their high swelling words of vanity all mediate call's are razed out in the full as their phrase is the Scripture will stand and the means of the new Testament worship and order will stand immutable to the Lord his appearing in glory at his second coming according to the charge of Paul to Timothy 1 Ep. Chap. 6. ver 13 14. And as the command of Christ for Church-order is perpetual so the call of God by the Church is spiritual The The Churches call Spiritual holy Ghost in the Scripture lays down spiritual Rules 1 Tim. 3. He confers spiritual gifts according to his Rules and the Church a spiritual Corporation gives the outward call where they finde such spiritual characters and qualifications God owns this choice while the Quakers with carnal Parishioners dis-own it who will have the worst of it in conclusion the day shall declare 19. Head of their Scripture-contradiction Concerning Immediate Teaching Section 47. IHad noted how they pretended to be immediately taught The teaching of God saith one is immediate in the least degree contrary to Dan. 9. 1. 1 Tim 4. 14. R. F. answereth * Page 22. We do not pretend so to be but we witness that we are so taught and according to the promise of the Lord. Rep. 1. But who will believe him and his fellows when the witness is of themselves from themselves and without proof They that flee to an experience and a promise for proof must first shew the promise and then the performance of it to themselves I am yet to learn the promise of the Immediate Teachings of God to be given to all that are to teach others of which is the question The promise John 6. 45. They shall all be taught of God concerneth all John 6. 45. vindicated All Believers not immediately taught that have truly believed do or shall so believe all the children of Gods election all the children of the Church-Catholique and of the new Jerusalem Isa 54. 13. which teaching if God had intended to be given immediately i. e. without any medium means or instrument then would he not have sent Preachers abroad for them to hear thereby to be taught and drawn to believing 2. Had all that the Lord sent forth as Gospel-dispensers immediate teaching we grant Paul had it more immediately Apostles immediately taught more fully and more at once then the rest of the Apostles Gal. 1. 12. and 2. 6. will R. F. and his Brethren witness the same immediate teaching with Paul and the utmost height of his revelation that nothing can be added to them We grant the rest of the Apostles had the immediate teaching and ducture of the Spirit in their preaching and writing But are all Apostles 1 Cor. 12. 28. compared with Ephes 4. 11. There was a second sort of the Ministers of Christ who were called Evangelists assistants to the Apostles these had their light and knowledge by mediate Evangelists taught mediately ways Timothy is instructed of Paul 2 Tim. 2. 2. and 3. 10 14. as taught out of the Scriptures by his mother and grandmother from his childehood 2 Tim. 1. 5. with Chap. 3. 13. Apollos was instructed * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the way of the Lord by the Scriptures Acts 18. 24 25. and had the way of God more perfectly expounded to him by Aquila and Priscilla ver 26. These Evangelists were of too low a form for R. F. and men and women too of his way There was a third Some prophets immediately inspired sort called Prophets some of which were immediately taught and inspired with knowledge of things to come some of these men as Agabus Acts 11. 28. and 21. 10. some women as Philips four daughters which did prophesie Acts 21. 9. I do not finde that Quaking men and women pretend to this kinde of immediate teaching received about things to come Other Prophets there were Some prophets mediately taught who were mediately taught as they at Corinth and elsewhere who did out of the old Testament expound give the sense of the Prophets writings and raise Doctrines confirming them by edifying testimonies and reasons out of Scripture to edifying use and benefit of Believers principally and Churches 1 Cor. 14. 3. compared with ver 22. latter part These I cannot call men quite out of office as the word Office is largely taken Rom. 12. 4. Every member hath an office that is work and employment in the body mystical as natural but as the word is taken strictly they were and may be persons out of office i. e neither Apostles nor Evangelists nor Prophets foretelling things future nor Pastors and teaching Elders As they were not Apostles Distinguisht 1. from extraordinary officers nor Evangelists that is plain enough so First you will finde them distinguisht from the Prophets immediately inspired two ways 1. These might be taken off by one that had a revelation They might have a Doctrine ver 26. who had not a Revelation 1 Cor. 14. 26. 29. opened which coming immediately for time and maner when the other was speaking was to take place and be heard while the Prophet who onely hath a Doctrine or truth collected from Scripture is to give place and hold his peace This onely for order sake not but that the doctrine from Scripture was as infallible as the Revelation and the immediate Revelation was to pass the trial as the doctrine verse 29. and 32. 2. In so much as women are excluded from this kinde of prophesie by two or three at a time verse 29. with ver 34. But if it had been extraordinary predictions of things to come they i. e. women might have delivered their message Secondly you will finde these gifted brethren endued 2. From ordinary onely with a gift of scripture-exposition and application distinguisht from Pastors and Teachers in peculiar office As two or three might exercise at a time for which a liberty is granted ver 29. Now if they had been Pastors and Teachers in office strictly there was no question but they might have preached at all seasons when the Church met together and a necessity is laid upon them in season and out of season a liberty onely is granted to these Prophets and that liberry is limited also as before Would R. F. or his Fellowes be content with this low Form among gifted brethren in a Church who have received their gift by reading and study of the Scriptures together with conference and observation of their own and others experiences which being sanctified and blessed by the Spirit of God helps men forth to teach others till they be called to office or whether ever they be chosen to office
or not it would something savor of an humble spirit But as some deem this exercise of the gift of Prophesie too high for a believing brother so he and those of his Spirit not in this guided by the Spirit of God think it too low for themselves and all other Teachers and therefore whosoever are not taught as immediately as the Apostles of the highest Form are no Teachers with them Hence he addes * Page 22. And thou that art not taught of him shews that thou speaks a vision of thy own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord. This is his judgement but erroneous enough and contradictious to the whole Scripture as not being the mouth of the Lord. And if I affirm as I did the true Prophets studied the Scripture True prophets studied the Scripture that is my imagination Rep. The true Prophets were either under the Old or New Testament before or since Christ 1. Before some of them studied the word who were at other times immediately inspired as I instanced in Dan. 9. 1. Dan 9. 1. vindicated If Daniel understood by books he read and considered what he read in those books what was prophesied of the captivity when it began when it should end and the writings of Jeremy were the Books as Daniel himself tells us by which he understood the number of the years c. Others were trained up in a ordinary way in the schools of the Prophets under Samuel at Ramah 1 Sam. 19 under Elijah at Bethel and Jericho although the Lord added impulses and inspirations more then ordinary and more immediately to some of these afterwards this is none of my imagination If R. F. goes on to charge it I shall still lay his Scripture-contradiction before him and at his dore it will lye till he repents of it for he chargeth not falshood upon me but upon the word of God whence I demonstrate what I affirm 2. Since Christ the true Prophets studied the word The Scriptures studied Gods Spirit going along therewith made them Prophets in ordinary of whom Paul speaks 1 Cor. 14. as it fitted A pollos and Timothy for Evangelists what hath R. F. to say against it no prophesie of the Seripture came in old time by the will of man then not studied but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the holy Ghost and the Scripture is of no private interpretation Rep. 1. By prophecy of Scripture 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. is 2 Pet. 1. 20. 21 vindicated meant the word and minde of God declared in writing God lest it not to mans will what and when and how he should write his Canon But he did immediately inspire and dictate to the Pen-men of Scripture matter maner and time It follows Scripture is to be studied because inspired of God not because the Secretaries of the holy Ghost wrote by his immediate inspiration therefore the Prophets and Teachers are not to teach others but as they are immediately inspired But it will follow from hence and make against R. F. as it did in the first Section and the sixth that if there is nothing of the will of man or private-selfish meaning and sense in the Scripture then is it a rule for Teachers as Scholars and they that will teach sound doctrine must teach from and according to the Scripture and therefore had need study and meditate on the Scripture that he may be a right man of God the title of a true Prophet throughly 2 Tim 3. 17. furnished to all the work of a Minister as of a Christian 2. This truth is not onely given forth by sound consequence but directly and expresly the will of God is laid down 1 Tim. 4. 15. Meditate upon these things Timothy an Evangelist must study that Epistle which Paul wrote to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him and be wholly in them he must be taken up altogether therewith referre all his studies bend all his thoughts to the knowledge of the Scriptures And 2 Tim. 3. 17. with 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God c. that the man of God the minister of the Gospel may be perfect i. e. have a sacred library to converse with in all ages and be made a compleat Scholar able to teach reprove instruct and comfort out of Scripture store and furniture Hence we Bonus Textuarius bonus Theologus use to say A good Text-man a good Divine or an able man of God and he is likely to be a light and treacherous Prophet who slights the meditation of Scripture-Text and speaks onely quicquid in buccam venerit what comes next to his tongues end A fourth sort of ministers are Pastors and Pastors and Teachers mediately taught Teachers who having the grace of God and gift of prophecy are called out from among the Brethren to office and oversight of the flock as Bishops of the Lords institution These were not so immediately taught that I can finde in the Apostles times but rather by means and ways of the Lords appointment they were trained up and fitted for the office as by the exercise of their gift of Prophecy before-hand 1 Cor. 14. each Church being as a School of the Prophets and that of Corinth eminently so by their submission to tryal at election 1 Tim. 3. 10. And besides none but disciples of some years in nature and standing in grace and profession were called to the office of Pastor or teaching Elder now such disciples were first taught of others of catechized instructed in an outward way hence the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek word for disciple comes of another that signifieth to learn by outward teaching Those that heard John Baptist were first called disciples whereof Andrew was one Simon Peters brother John 1. 40. They that heard and followed Christs Sermons were also called disciples and so we are all believers and members of the Churches till at Antioch they were also called Christians disciples as taught outwardly Chrians as anointed with the Spirit and partakers of Christs grace and gifts And such being chosen who were outwardly as inwardly trained up I conclude immediate teachings did not onely furnish men for a Teachers or Ministers function but mediate ways also which is both a warrant for them that desire the office of a Bishop first to study the Scriptures and an encouragement also for Churches to covet gifts and chiefly that they may prophesie and for University Scholars to give up themselves to present catechizings and exercises after Sermons as they have begun in the Colledges for the better storing of them with grounds of knowledge and discovery of such disciples as the Lord hath begun to teach inwardly by and with outward teaching that they may be issued forth for service in the ministery after grounds laid in their understandings and some experimental work of grace approved of if it might be in some of the Churches of Jesus Christ And oh that to this
mouth in the Scriptures while he would but seemingly make Gods Law and the heart to be one with it Another of this mans Self contradictions though common to his fellows I noted in this Section crying up Thou and Thee to a particular as Scripture-language and yet crying down the Letter as no Scripture that is the mouth of God the word of God or a binding Rule What J. Nayler means by that * Few words page 14. Thou wilt neither make Scripture thy Rule nor suffer them that would let R. F. well consider for if J. Nayler would have it to be a rule R. F. and others would have it to be none much less a standing rule as hath appeared in 1. Part Section 1. Section 4. THe Scriptures say they were given us by inspiration and by inspiration are to be understood again In this passage there is coucht another of their Self-contradictions which R. F. neither approves nor condemns but passeth it over un-toucht un-answered The Reader may please to peruse what was said for discovery of their clashing Principles in my former piece This I shall adde The Spirit of God who breathed forth the Scriptures must give us the spiritual understanding of them if we have it at all but this he doth in another way then that whereby he inspired the Pen-men of the Scriptures They were so inspired when they wrote the holy Canon of Scripture as men rapt up with an extatical motion 2 Pet. 1. 21. The word there translated moved signifies a forcible acting of the Spirit 2 Pet. 1. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon them they were mightily born away by the impetus and impulsive power of the Spirit The same word is used by Luke Acts 2. 2. in the description of the visible pouring forth of the Spirit by a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind this rushing power of the Spirit invisibly acted the holy Men of God who wrote the Scriptures in a way immediate when they had not a letter of Gods Book before them But thus the Scriptures come not to us nor the understanding of them we have the Book and Canon written down and by providence printed translated into our Mother tongue and preached to us Now then they that profess they own the Scriptures and they own the reading of them and they own prayer for the understanding of them c. and yet when it comes to the upshot they dis-own and deny all actings of the Spirit upon them by means of second causes instruments and ordinances by which we are to get understanding and by which he gives it forth it plainly appears that as the beasts that have no understanding they kick down the good pail of milk before-given by frustration and neglect of Gods gift of the Scriptures and exercises about them thereby to come to the knowledge of them under the conduct of the Spirit Section 5. ANother of their Self-contradictions I shewed to be this That they profess to own the Scriptures to be true in themselves c. but do not own them in their true sense and meaning I gave instance of their interpreting 1 Cor. 14. 35. Husbands at home to be Christ in the heart and I referred to all the other instances of their Scripture-contradiction for conviction of their dis-owning the true sense R. F. * Page 25. would make the world believe I had confuted my self and cleared them because I granted they said That they owned the Scriptures c. whereas this doth evidently make the more against them that they will pretend so much to the Scriptures and yet rend the sense of them all a pieces And although that sense put upon the fore-mentioned place in the Epistle to the Corinthians be broached by no man more then by R. F. in another Pamphlet by it self and he entitleth this Piece of his I now deal with The Scriptures vindication yet he doth not in the least undertake the vindication of this place either when I alledged it against them before Part 1. Section 6. or now onely he speaks his wonted swelling words of vanity Thou art under the guilt and the pit which for others thou diggedst thou art faln in thy self and catcht in thy own snare and craftiness take notice of that and see how thou hast contradicted thy self Rep. But that I desire some may be convinced of the folly and falshood of this man and of his Sect I would not spend time and waste paper to transcribe such empty stuff If it be proof enough for him to accuse and recriminate I cannot be innocent who shall in the like case That which hitherto I have charged him or other of this way withal I have not given words but Arguments for proof and demonstration of the Charge Let me give another instance R. F. * Page 2. in answer to my first Section Part 1. saith thus That the Scriptures are words that proceeded from the Spirit of truth we do not deny but own and so they are words of truth Now hear what * An untaught Teacher p. 2. Th. Lawson judgeth of this matter To say that the word of truth is called the Scripture or that the Scripture is called the word of truth that is a lye I ask the simple honest hearted Reader whether Th. Lawson puts not the lye upon his brother R. Farnworth or whether these men do own the Scripture of truth as it is stiled Dan. 10. 21. or rather whether they do not contradict it and themselves also Let it be observed also that R. F. doth not quit himself of that other Self-contradiction of his which I closed this Section with by bare words * Page 25. Thou hast manifested the same therefore take thou the shame Rep. It seems R. F. will take none as one past shame and blushing Where I have manifested my ignorance of the life of the Scriptures and of the Letter as he lets fly against me I am willing to see it and bear my own shame but will he be as the unjust Zeph. 3. 5. that knoweth no shame when his sinful folly and self-conceited Contradictions are detected The words that R. F. hath in his other Pamphlet * Light out of darkness p. 18 are these Herein you shew your ignorance in the life of the Scriptures that are ignorant of the Letter which is without life This he chargeth upon three Ministers for asking a question to this effect If the light wherewith every one is enlightned be Christ what then is become of the person of the Mediator Must they be ignorant in the life of the Scriptures who acknowledge not every mans light to be Christ and must they be ignorant of the Letter of the Scripture who do not understand it as he doth But that which I inferred from his words was If there be life in the Scriptures as he grants there is then the Letter or Scripture is not without life as he saith it is nor are they
the Scripture Rep. 1. How would I have him that believeth born of the Letter my words were these If the Scripture be in the heart of every one sure he that believeth is born of that seed even of the Scripture-promise set into the heart by the holy Ghost hence he that is born of the Spirit is born of the word written and preached which the Spirit useth as the instrumental means of our regeneration as upon that place in Peter 1 Ep. Chap. 1. ver 23 and 25. hath been cleared heretofore Part 1. Sect. 5. 2. The Scripture-promise declaring Christ is the more apt means by which the Spirit begets a soul to Christ or formeth him in the soul 3. That the Letter declareth Christ doth not contradict the Scripture but it contradicteth the Scripture to say the declaration of Christ is not a means of begetting a soul to Christ 4. To say Let all see whether we do not set the Scripture in the heart of every one and yet to deny the Scripture to be a means of the new birth or that the believer is born of God without the Scripture is to say and un-say But R. F. * page 26. would retort this upon my self and why I have not the same minde with them and know not their meaning and so raise lyes as he chargeth upon me by my imaginations Rep. 1. If I have the minde of Christ as it is in Scripture I shall not be ambitious of nor much regard their meaning but as I know it to be cross to the minde of Christ I have according to the grace given unto me witnessed against it and yet studied to put the most candid and favorable construction upon their words 2. If their sense of setting Scripture in the heart of every one be nothing else but telling people they have a light of Conscience within them and stirring up that light which every man hath that cometh into the world First they delude poor people who never heard that Light called Scripture before yet this is more then probably their best Scripture for their Tenents and Doctrines as might be gathered from the answer that J. P. a yong stripling who came into this Town last summer gave to a weak re-baptized woman shattered by his discourse whose question was But may I not read the Scriptures The answer was Read thy heart woman as she told me that was all she could get of him There is a book of Conscience to be read indeed but is not the book of the Scriptures and Gods Statutes to be read according to which beyond the book of every mans Conscience all that have that written rule shall be judged Secondly If every mans light be the onely Scripture in the minde that these men are in why doth R. F. * In his Book entituled A true testimony c. pag. 53. appeal to that which is the alone proper perfect Scripture in our judgement and which he calls for to stand as judge betwixt them and 42. Ministers Will he stand to the judgement of the Prophets and Apostles as it is the minde of Christ the word of God Will he not appeal when all is done to a higher Court of immediate Teachings in the heart If the Scripture be judge it must be so from its own light that is superior not onely to every mans light but also to the degree of light that is in every Saint and that is superior to our meanings and theirs for the Scripture must judge by its own words and meaning together and from its own rule we must not separate the Letter of the Law and the true interpretation of the Letter The Law-makers we say are best able to give the right sense of the Law The great Law-giver gives out his sense of one part of Scripture by another Can any Law judge of Heresie but the Law of God saith R. F. in the Book and Page last referred unto in the margent If he intends there any Law of God but the written word and text of the Bible Gods great Law-book he contradicts in heart what he pretends to in words If he understands by the Law of God the holy Scriptures of God called the Bible then he pretends to that acknowledgement of them as a standing rule and a more standing rule then visions and revelations and if he intends what he pretends to then he must recant what he wrote in the 3. and 4. Page of his imaginary Scripture-vindication or else lie setter'd in his Self-contradictions 2. Head of their Self-contradiction Concerning hearing of the Word Section 10. I Had granted they say and say truly because the Scripture saith so Joh. 8. 47. They that are of God hear his word and they that hear his word hear his voice and yet they deny the hearing of Ministers that speak this word and consequently they do either un-say what truth they spake before or deny themselves to be of God in that they both refuse themselves to hear and call off others from hearing R. F. * Page 26. because I granted the first part of their contradiction to be a Scripture truth runs away with the conceit of an advantage when 't is nothing so Thou says They say and say truly then they lye not neither do they say and un-say and so thou art taken with the lye again and clears them thy self Rep. How weak and giddy this mans apprehension is may appear many ways by the review of this passage 1. I attributed truth to their words no further then they agree with the word of God in Scripture and so far I will acknowledge truth because I love it and the Scripture of truth but this man when I grant an inch will take an ell 2. It followeth not if men say true in one thing that they speak the truth in every thing The devil can speak a truth the more cunningly to put off his lyes That may be a truth materially which will not be found in mens practical experience so acknowledged 3. It is beyond all controversie that in this as many other instances they say and unsay first owning the Scriptures and ministery and hearing of the word and then dis-owning all teachers and teaching but what is within first saying * A discovery of some fruits c. pag. 9. the peoples Teacher cannot be removed into a corner and by and by telling them you will finde your teacher as you lye in your beds Even as customary swearers reproved for their sin will swear they did not swear so men habituated in Self-contradiction will vehemently protest against it but it helps them never a whit 4. It is no new thing to have the reproach of lying cast upon me or others by one who cannot judge or understand what is truth or when 't is spoken truly 5. I am so far from clearing them that I renew my charge against them if they be all like R. F. in this maner and form following The more candidly the
up into the chiefest places in the assemblies and act as in a stage-play and have a glass to act their hour and make a trade of Christs words the Prophets words and the Apostles words and act in the chiefest places of the Assembly taking a Verse and raising Motives Tryals Uses Reasons and Points from it and then say the people He hath handled his Text well and made good matter of it Is not this a Sarcasm a bittter scoff 3. To collect a truth any such way for our own ends which was not mentioned before nor objected till now if we did so we could not justifie but such a collection of truth by Points Reasons Vses c. we can justifie from Scripture and Scripture-precedents onely let the Reader Teaching by doctrine Reason use motive tryals justified by plain Scripture first take notice how slightly again he speaks of the Scripture with Francis Howgil where first I noted it Part 1. Section 2. calling it Other mens words and thus I argue First That which the whole Scripture was given for and serveth for that improvement the man of God is to make of it 2 Tim. 3. 17. 1. Demon strations But the whole Scripture was given for Doctrine in Points and Reasons and serveth for Vse of reproof correction instruction in righteousness in which is comprehended Motives Tryals c. Therefore the man and minister of God is to make this improvement of the Scripture Secondly That which the Scripture tells us Christ the Apostles and Prophets have practised in their ministerial teachings that we may act and justifie when we have done But the Scripture shews us how Christ the Apostles and Prophets have taken Texts and raised Motives Tryals Points Reasons and Vses out of and according to the Scripture And therefore we may do so and justifie the practice against gain-saying R. F. and ten thousand such as he is The major or first of the premised propositions I may strengthen from Mat. 7. 29. Christ taught as one having authority From 1 Cor. 11. 1. Paul followed Christ From Titus 1. 9. Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught 't is spoken of the Bishop or preaching Elder that he may be able by sound Doctrine both to exhort and to convince gain-sayers Chap. 2. 15. These things speak and exhort saith Paul to Titus an Evangelist and rebuke with all authority So as if Christ taught with Scripture-authority in a way of Reason Vse c. and the Apostles after him both practised and enjoyned this way to them that succeeded them in after ages we are to do the like The minor or second premised proposition might be abundantly cleared and for conviction of gain-sayers I shall give a few instances Christ himself took a Text from Isaiah 2. Instances 61. 1. and 2. verses as we have it recorded Luke 4. 18. and applying it to the people at Nazareth he gave them so much searching Doctrine and Use from it that as many of our hearers some wondered others were filled with wrath none scoffed at his handling the Text so well or that he had made so good matter of it but they bare him witness c. Let R. F. or his Reader for him peruse Mark 12. 26. and see if he dare condemn our Lord for raising the Doctrine of the Resurrection from the words to Moses I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob let him read the Reason to demonstrate these words as a proof of the Resurrection ver 27. He is not the God of the dead but the God of the living let him minde the Use of confutation Ye therefore do greatly erre Or let him read Christs Sermon upon the mount Mat. 5. c. and see if he gives not Reasons for the Beatitudes or blessed state of the poor in spirit the mourners the meek c. and the Vses of all ver 12. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad with the Motives For great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets c. Let him read Chap. 7. ver 1. The Point Judge not the Reasons 1. That ye be not judged 2. With what judgement ye judge ye shall be judged The Tryal ver 3 4 5. which amounts to thus much That he passeth not right judgement abroad who begins not first at home but lets the beam continue in his brothers eye Let him read the book of Ecclesiastes and observe how Solomon first takes it up as his Text Chap. 1. 2. Vanity of vanities all is vanity agreeable to that in Job 15. 31. and thence collects his main Point Happiness is not to be obtained by any thing under the Sun which he proveth all along the Book and then winds up with the general Vse of all Chap. 12. 13 14. Fear God and keep his commandments with the Motive For God shall bring every work into judgement c. even R. F. his censuring and disparaging of this kinde of teaching whether it be good or whether it be evil Let him read Acts 8. 35. and he shall finde Philip beginning at the Scripture out of Isa 53. 7 8. which the Eunuch was a reading and preached unto him Jesus not without Reason and Vses nor Motive that the Eunuch might believe Christ exhibited in the flesh and Tryal whether he did believe or no as appears by the sequel of the story Let him read Acts 10. 34. and there he may finde the Apostle Peter taking a Verse or part of it out of Deut. 10. 17. God is no respecter of persons there is his Point already raised to his hand the instance and proof at hand also Cornelius and his company of the Gentiles himself at least with his house already believers and fearing God The Reason of Gods irrespective dispensation ver 36. The Gospel of grace and grace of the Gospel is free to all Jew or Gentile by Jesus Christ The Vse ver 43. Whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins Or let him read Pauls Epistles a little better and he shall meet with plenty of Motives Tryals Points Reasons and Vses as paterns for our Sermons In every Epistle we have the Doctrinal part and the Applicatory part instance we but in that to the Romans Chap. 1. ver 2. Paul writeth as he preached no other Gospel of God but what he had promised afore by his Prophets in the holy Scriptures The great Point of the Gospel which the Apostle holds forth eminently in that Epistle is the Doctrine of Justification 1. Negatively not by the works of the Law written in the heart or in the Book for all are sinners against it Gentiles Chap. 1. and Jews as Gentiles Chap. 2. and part of the third and thence he concludeth Chap. 3. 20. That by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified But 2. Affirmatively By faith in Jesus Christ and his righteousness the price of a sinners redemption Chap. 4 and 5. The great Vse of
perfection of light and holiness then is in every mans conscience And 2. As if the perfection of the Law was regulated by that in the conscience whereas the Law of God is above the conscience Gods Law above the Conscience of man both in its light and holiness and in its authority it being a Rule to the conscience from its superiority of light and perfection of holiness and hence I conclude 1. That if the Magistrates Law be according to the Law of God although it be above the present light of conscience it is neither against the holiness nor true liberty of conscience 2. It is one thing for the Magistrate to declare and ratifie by his civil sanction Laws made by God and Christ concerning Religion which are above the consciences of natural men and above the actual present light of some true Magistrates Laws not to be against yet may â—e above the light of every man Saints And another thing to enact Laws against the true light and principle of the lowest Saint or the meanest son of Adam this latter is unlawful the former warrantable and that which stands with Religion and a good conscience also their own and others But 3. What if his Laws concerning Religion be above the present actual or habitual degree of light that is in the Saints This may be supposed because sometimes the Light of the Magistrate may be elevated higher then the light of some real Saints discerning further into the minde of Christ and understanding his Laws better then many of Christs subjects in as much as he may be more eminently subject to Christs Laws then inferior persons doth the Magistrate sin in holding forth light so agreeable to the Laws of Christ I trow not What then may he compel all within the Nation or Commonwealth to come up in practise to his own light no neither Here the Rule of Equity must take place to forbear as he would and ought to be forborn in the like case forbear whom such as tenderly and Magistrates forbearance of whom and how peaceably dissent for want of higher light forbear how First in love to the Saints and to all men to the Saints thereby to draw them up to higher attainments and actings who are to make that use of such forbearance to all men thereby to gain them in who are of the Lords number to Jesus Christ and to maintain a lawful civil peace with all Secondly not without restrictions over those who deny the common principles of humane society disturb the outward peace of the Saints societies would have Magistrates make Laws onely to binde and manacle themselves from striking at offenders Blasphemers Gospel and Church-disturbers that so the strong man armed still keeping possession and holding men asleep in a carnal and sinful security may have his liberty by naughty and pernicious instruments to vent what he can against the Truth without the least outward check and controlment but however our hope and assurance is that his kingdom divided against it self cannot shall not stand Glory to the most Wise and Holy God Amen AN APPENDIX OF A Handful of ANIMADVERSIONS upon the Pamphlets and Practices of the QUAKERS 1. ALl their Doctrines are raised upon the ruines of the Scriptures Excellency and Authority Witness Thomas Lawson's challenge a Lip of truth opened pag. 7. That light is in the Scriptures prove that or tell me what one Scripture hath light in it He might answer himself from Prov. 6. 23. alledged in part by him page 45. The Commandment is a Lamp and the Law is Light Yet will he dare to ask again b Ib. page 10. How doth the Letter or Scripture shine and what is the dark place it shines in St. Peter will tell him c 2 Pet. 2. 19. That more sure word of Prophecy the Declaration of Gods minde in Scripture is as a Light suppose the light of the Sun darting its beams into a dark cellar so shines that Prophecy of Scripture in a dark place our hearts and mindes the darkest place in the world till enlightened by the Law and pure Commandment of God d Psal 19 8. Yet more bold is he in another Querie e Page 54. What Scripture hath God in it A man might without breach of charity conclude Light is not in Tho Lawson's heart God is not in all his thoughts viz. to fear and reverence him who vents himself in such a gibing and upbraiding way against the Holy Scripture of God Another Instance of Scripture-disparagement we have from Samuel Fisher in his Account of the Scorned Quakers f The scorned Quakers account page 20. Christ by his Light within shews you as in a glass your own faces c. as the Scriptures cannot do But cannot and doth not Christ as much by the Scriptures It seems not For in the Scripture saith he you may read the Right of things and what you should and should not be and do but the Light within is larger then that and of further extent shewing not onely the Right and the Law and what we should be and do but also the fact even what we do and are And doth not the Scripture the same Gen. 6. 5. Rom. 3. 9 10. c. to verse 19. James 1. 23 24. Well may these men be scorned if while they pretend to own and honor they thus scorn the Scriptures Prov. 3. 34. 2. Their corrupt Tenents are built upon false and novel-Interpretations Witness Tho Lawson his doctrine of Perfection which he bottoms upon his Gloss g The Lip of truth opened page 41. on 1 Pet. 4. 7. The end of all things is at hand What is this but Christ If he be the end of all things then of sin Taking it upon trust He is there meant by the Apostle when as he speaks of the Judaical state and worship more strictly and if it be understood more largely it is but as much as if he had said All things are coming to their end in a short time Another instance is Richard Farnworths endeavor h Truth cleared of Scandals p. 29 30 to avoid the dint of that place 2 Cor. 12. 7. and 10. where Paul after his Revelations and Rapture was in danger of being self-exalted and was sensible of his infirmities by feigning the man caught up into the third heaven to have been some intimate friend of Paul when as to the most ordinary understanding it appears the blessed Apostle in modesty speaks in the third person Ironically as of another yet really of himself The after-part of the story concerneth Paul it was He that had the prick in the flesh it was He that had the messenger of Satan to buffet him lest he should be exalted it was He that prayed thrice unto the Lord that it might be removed and to whom the Lord answered My Grace is sufficient for thee c. And therefore the forepart of the chapter story is to be understood of
which is delivered and preached to the Wicked to the Dissemblers and to the Ungodly is even as well Gods word as that which is preached to the good and godly upright Christians And I may adde even so are the Scriptures that word which condemneth unbelievers already But as he again The Sectaries understand not the strength of Gods word read or preached and we may wonder with him that they write and teach so much of the Scriptures or of Gods word seeing they so little regard the same For whatsoever R. F. saith of his and their owning of the Scriptures hearken to what follows in his backing of Scripture-contradiction That the Scriptures are the Word God and eternal The Scriptures are the word of God and truly so called Life as thou wouldest have them thou canst not prove nor all the Magicians to help thee Here is good stuff kitchin-stuff or smoak out of the bottomless pit 1. Take the Word for the Son of God where did I ever attempt to prove the Scriptures to be the Son of God God and eternal Life The Lord rebuke this false spirit 2. Because I with others call the Scriptures as they are and as they speak themselves to be the word of God are we therefore Magicians The Lord again rebuke this reviling spirit R. F. and others may talk of owning and owning the Scriptures as often as they fancy it but they honor them not I am sure who deny them that title of honor The Word of God Shall R. F. his Pamphlets be called his Books his Writings and his Words and shall not that which God hath written be called Gods written Word He answers nothing to that place in Hosea 8. 12. nor could that stripling J. P. * At Coggshall sometime give any reason against the Argument drawn from it viz. That which God hath written is the word of God But God hath written the Scriptures Therefore the Scriptures are the word of God R. F. Objecteth such as witness to the word and Gods power witness against thee to strengthen the new-coyned distinction is it which was given me in Scotland The Scripture is not the word of truth but the witness of Gods power Why I grant it to be both the word and the witness The Scriptures are Gods words and Gods testimonies some make The Scripture is Gods Word and Witness also them two witnesses Revel 11. But I reasoned thus by way of Quere How can the Scripture be Gods witness if not true how is it true if not the word of truth R. F. undertakes to answer That the Spirit of truth in the Prophets and in the Apostles did carry them forth to witness what of Christ is declared in the Scriptures by words that proceeded from the Spirit of truth Had he gone no further he had pretily well quitted himself but he addeth by way of objection The Spirit is not in the Letter neither is the Spirit given by the Letter but by God and Christ and yet he grants presently in the same Page 2. The Letter proceeded from the Spirit By the Letter I meant when I said pag. 22 of my book the Spirit is in the Letter c. the whole Scripture and so I suppose doth he Now the whole Scripture is given The Letter in a large sense and Scripture all one by inspiration of God the Father Son and Spirit who is 1. Where he breathes forth truth holiness c. all along 2. Where he speaketh The Scriptures are the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. Will R. F. by denying the Spirit to be in the Scriptures stop the mouth and breath of God What How the Spirit is in the Scripture-letter profane boldness is this Can he hold the winde in his fist and restrain the Spirit from giving forth himself by the Letter or Scripture when the Spirit will make good his promise to bless the reading of it I think he is not so full of presumption yet he presumes to say The Spirit is not given by the Letter What thinks he of Scripture-promises did he never finde the Spirit warming his heart by the reading of them He speaks as if he knew nothing of the Spirits consolations enlightnings teachings or convictions by the Scriptures And he writes as if he would have none read the Letter of Scriptures in faith of a blessing by them but to think when they are reading of them they are cracking a hollow shell that hath no kernell in it or drinking a draught of dilute wine that hath no spirits in it or reading of his and his fellows Pamphlets wherein the Spirit of God is not present by any gracious operation but the spirit of Satan for the most part unto efficacy of delusion His simple Reader may think the words that follow tend much to the honor of the Spirit of God The Letter proceeded from the Spirit but the Spirit did not proceed from the Letter but such expressions as disparage the Scriptures will never bring honor to the Spirit which is in them and worketh by them what disparagement is there in these words to the Scriptures will the simple-hearted say 1. The phrase Letter is extenuating as if all the The Letter taken strictly is but legal administration 2 Cor. 3. 6. explained Scripture were Law or had a Legal administration as the Apostle useth it 2 Cor. 3. 6. in a strict sence The Letter killeth i. e the bare legal command without a promise of power or pardon as a bare letter void of strength life and spirit it leaveth all men under a killing sentence and curse Now thus to represent all parts of the Scripture is to affright men from the reading hearing or regarding of it 2. The Letter or Scripture is set by R. F. in other passages in such opposition to the Spirit as if the Spirit disowned it after he hath caused it to be written no way accompanieth it with his power The Spirit proceeds not from How the Spirit proceeds not from the Scripture and how he doth proceed from by with it the Scripture-Letter in respect of his Essence or Being he is God of himself nor in respect of his personal subsistence which is of the Father or from the Father and from the Son of which R. F. is ignorant or inadvertent denying him page 8. to be a Person but in respect of his operation 1. Improperly it may be said the Spirit proceedeth from the Scripture as a man goes from his outward shop to work in his inner room so the Spirit proceedeth from that which he hath put within the Book or Bible into the heart to work a sweet ingraven work there 2. Properly and plainly he proceeds by the Scripture and with the Scripture to effect and beget that in the soul which is like himself Spiritual and like the Scripture holy and good That is but a bravado therefore which he addes in the close of his second Page Therein thou hast erred not