and when they have a spirit of delusion and whether the light of the Spirit alone be sufficient without the letter to reveale the Sonne of God the Father and all truth and judge of all spirits whatsoever without any addition to it An Answer to the Fourth Query The New Birth or Regeneration is a repairing of the Image of God once in the first Adam through the effectual working of the Spirit and grace of God John 3. Gen. 1.26 27. Eph. 3.5 8 Rom. 5.18 19. 1 Cor. 2.14 Gen. 3.1.5 Gen. 3.23 24. 2 Cor. 5.20 21. 1 Cor. 1.2.30 2 Thes 2.13 Eph. 5.26 Act. 26.18 1 Pet. 1.2 Tit. 3.5 Act. 5.3 4 1 Cor. 3.16 1 Cor. 6.19 by faith in the second Adam which they that looke unto the first Adam and in their own strength endeavour to renew cannot comprehend for it is spiritually discerned though the policy of the Serpent may so far prevaile as to cast them into a kinde of pleasing slumber of Security and so pretending to lead them back unto that earthly Eden by personal obedience which they lost by disobedience like lambs led to the slaughter they may passe a Celestial Paradise by and perhaps arrive at a perilous disconsolate place of eternal sorrow or if you will it is a remission of sinne and a renewment of sanctity called Sanctification on the whole Doctrine whereof to insist at large would require a greater volume then either I intend to trouble you to peruse or my selfe to compose but for the satisfaction of them among you or elsewhere whose intentions are to be informed out of sincerity not curiosity I shall speak a little unto some particulars of it In brief man hath no hand at all in this work but the spirit of God for even as in the compositure or making of any thing there must two things concurre First the Agent or Workman which giveth the forme shape or being to the Work Secondly the matter whereof the work must be made or formed the which cannot be said to work it selfe but onely to suffer the operation of the Worker This is the summe of Regeneration First the the spirit of God is the workman in this work he is the begetter of this new man the framer of this new creature and the re-builder of this sacred Fabrick 1 Cor. 12.4 5. 2 Cor. 6.16 Isa 6.19 Act. 28.25 John 3.6 Mat. 19.26 John 3.8 Secondly the minde and will of man is the matter whereof this new creature or image of God in man is made not working together with the Spirit of God but onely suffering the operation of the holy Ghost this is the Epitomy of this whole work for Regeneration is nothing else but a sanctified minde and will so the begetter of this new man is God even the Holy Ghost For that which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit So that this New Birth is the work of the Spirit and although by the Ministry of man as the matter yet not any thing that men or Angels are able to conceive but onely the finger of God 1 Pet. 1 13. is able to accomplish it as the worker for with man it is impossible but not with God for though we may heare the word of God sounding in our eares as a whistling wind yet cannot we comprehend the secret motions of it in our hearts and therefore not understand the depth of this unsearchable Mystery In a word the begetting or fashioning of this New Creature the Ministry of the word of God by man is but the instrument whereby the spirit of God worketh without the which it is no more able to form this new creature 2 Pet. 1.21 Gal. 1.11 12. 1 Joh. 4.3 then are the tools belonging to any work able to bring the same to passe without the hand or guidance of the Artificer and he that knoweth it by the Letter of Scripture knowes it not without the light for the Scripture was written by man but revealed by the true light and therefore the words of him from whom it proceeded and God is pleased to reveal himself but two wayes to the best of my knowledge and that either ordinary by his written Word by which we may try and in some sort judge of spirits too that hee which denies Christ as come in the flesh is a lyar and an Antichrist and he that denies the use and ministration of Ordinances mentioned there resists that power that instituted them and he that resists receiveth unto himself damnation a sad word or extraordinary by his spirit which is not commonly usual but still with this limitation he never reveales himselfe to any by his spirit to oppose his commands in the letter And since your spirit is such a one I leave it unto you to examine whether it be a spirit of delusion or no for Christ never resisteth his own will and ordinances and if it seems so unto you remember Satan hath transformed himselfe into an Angel of light and if you be his Ministers as the tree Antichrist is known by his fruits heresie in Doctrine cease to call thy selfe the Minister of Christ 2 Cor. 11.13 14 15. Mat. 7.15 and pull off the sheeps cloathing of your faire pretences that so we may discerne you in your colours and see the Pope in your wolvish shapes Quere 5. Whether the least measure of saving faith in Christ Jesus be not present power above the Devil and all the powers of darknesse which if it be then what is the cause that men must be captivated to commit sin while they live whether it is want of faith or that there is not power in faith to overcome the evil one or hath any faith in Christ further then they have power over sinne and the world or is there any rest to a beleever short of that power An Answer to the Fifth Quere The least measure of saving faith in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.33 34 35.36 37 38 39. 1 Pet. 1.4.5 is sufficient to support us from everlasting misery and from the condemnation which the Devil would by his power bring us under and to build us up to that inheritance immortal which fadeth not away but is reserved in heaven for us and it is present power above the destructive powers of the Devil and darknesse but not against the disturbative power of sinne whose policy hath in the first Adam purchased an interest in all his posterity unlesse that with the second Adam we became one in unity and glory with him and if it were present power to conquer Satan and all the powers of darknesse and by its puissance to wholly subdue him presently Eph. 6.10 11 12 13 14 15 16. this were present victory which is the end of war when as a Christians pilgrimage to heaven is a continual warfare the victory whereof is onely sealed perfectly in death Gal. 3.22 for though by faith in Christ we are free from the
man Reprobate and Saint is not sufficient to lead and guide out of all the wayes and works of this dark world See your letter extant in the Quakers whitest devil unvailed p 1. into the wayes of God without the help or teaching of man confusedly there declaring against and now attesting for the self and the same thing But let me here so far presume on your vitiated patience as to salute you with this one query Is it not as lawful for others as for you to teach and may not their doctrine be as effectual to this end to turn peoples minds from darkness to light as is yours and whether it be not the spirit of Satan in you that cries down that in others which it preacheth up in your self And is it not the spirit of confusion that cries up one while and down another the self and the same thing And are not Scriptures external means and so granted by you to be useless and how then are they means of perfection if they be not useful or doe you mean something not external and so intitle a false thing Scripture But I fear your Ministry is rather misery then mercy for if you had receiv'd the mercy that Paul had you would also renounce the hidden things of dishonesty as Paul did not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully as you do Rom. 10. â—4 And if you look a little further into the very same chapter of Paul to the Rom. you shall find him make it a matter not only of difficulty but also of impossibility that any should believe without hearing or hear without a Preacher by whom Christ is preached even by them that bring the word of God whose feet are beautiful And this is the word nigh us even at our doors not leaving us to travel to Jerusalem as of old to hear the word of the Lord which now is nigh to us though he be in heaven and we on earth by faith in him But if that that light in every individual man and woman be the sure word of Prophesie is there then a Prophetick light in all if so what doth it prophesie of life and righteousnesse for sinners in a Mediator or of death for disobedience and if this be the light that shines in a dark place what is the day-star and the Sun of righteousnesse for though the Apostle hath said 1 Cor. 14.31 1 Cor. 12.29 Num. 11.29 that all may prophecy one by one yet hath he said again are all Prophets no but I wish the Lords people were all such and that Preaching is powerful I believe though you once denied it and I now see truth is no truth till it serve your turn And for every thing that you adde further we know it without your teaching as that every man which comes into the world of nature Christ as God enlightens with the light of nature as reason sense and the like and that he is the Saviour of the world Qu. 5. And if that the external means be useless to what end were those most sacred gifts bestowed upon men Eph. 4.10 11 12. And how the end and intent for which they were given became void Answ 5. The end of those gifts was for perfecting the Saints and bringing all into one faith unto a perfect man which they that teach that none can be perfect by those gifts while they live do set up a faith in people contrary to the end of those gifts and by setting up external things in stead of these spiritual gifts have you lost the gifts and have made them void and so are become enemies to the end and intent of them in others who have them and believe the end of them And thus the end and intent for which they were given are become void to you Eph. 4.10 11 12. Rep. 5. Here also you abuse my intentions wrest my meaning as you doe the Scripture unto your owne will which we are not to query what for that I know as well as you can tell me if not better but if external means were useless and so consequently these gifts how became their end void for which they were given so that you answer not at all to the question but at confused randum and stuffe up lines with lyes First that to teach that none can be perfect in this life by these gifts is to set up a false faith produce a president of one person in all the Scripture that ever was perfect by any meanes whatsoever except Christ if you can or else yeild yourself a lyar Secondly that by setting up external things for those spiritual I have made them void which is another lye and that two-fold First prove that ever I set up external things in stead of spiritual things if you can but have not you and your Ghostly Father the Pope done it in setting up carnal dictates of your own brains for that of the spirit of God Secondly that I have made them void testifie this if thou canst O subtil deceiver Thirdly that I am become an enemy to the end of these gifts in others I declare in the presence of God I honour though you oppose them wheresoever they be which is backed by a fourth lye that the end and intent of them is become void to me when my end is is not yet come but how soon it may God knowes but this I can testifie the fruits of those gifts have I reaped in my measure and by them in others have been both established and instructed in the truth and so I can witnesse the effects though not the end of them as yet But what means Paul by the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven if they were perfect before on earth and whether is Paul or you a lyar herein Qu. 6. If natural light be sufficient without the help of the means what then is become of the work of grace Eph. 2.5 8. Rom. 11.6 and of the growth of faith Luke 17.5 Mark 9.24 The practical use of Ordinances 1 Cor. 11.2 23 24. As Baptism Matth. 8.19 The Lords Supper Reading 1 Tim. 4.13 Preaching Matth. 28.20 and several other places Prayer 1 Thess 5.17 Rom. 12.12 Communion of Saints in publique Assemblies Heb. 10.25 Answ 6. The light of Christ is the gift of the grace of God which brings salvation which teaches to deny ungodliness and worldly lasts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.11 12. And with this light is the work of grace seen but thou that callest this natural light or wouldst make people believe it is not sufficient must needs be ignorant of that spirit whereby that work of grace and growth of faith Heb. 11.6 prayer and communion of Saints Supper and Ordinances is known for without faith in the light of Christ these are not known nor accepted though dark natural imaginations may make an imitation from them in the letter 1 Cor. 2.14 And thus are the
and works of darknesse Act. 9.11 12 17. Acts 10. Act. 8.26 is not this a leading to perfection and if it be so that there is that in every man which is sufficient was it not then a needlesse light that the Lord sent by Ananias to Saul by Peter to Cornelius by Philip to the Eunuch or was it not that there was no sufficiency in them And then do you not lye to say there is in all a sufficiency or was it that it then was unsufficient although it now is sufficient and how came it now to be sufficient more then then it was or was it not this indeed that God thereby gave them Act. 18.24 25 26 27 28. and us and all future posterity an evidential example of his manner and way of conversion by the concurrence of two the ministration of man and the operation of the spirit and if so why doe you resist it or is not your opposing of it a fighting against God and a spirit of delusion in you which calls it selfe Christ and why was it that Apollo though he was zealous in what he knew which was onely the baptism of John Act. 18.26 yet understood nothing of Jesus till he was taught it of Aquila and Priscilla is it not an apparent evidence that there is nothing in man to bring him to that knowledge without either an extraordinary inspiration or an ordinary tuition Qu. 6. And if Christ preached the Kingdome of God within unbelievers as you say he did what then is the difference between the faithful and the faithlesse and wherein doth it consist or is there none or shall both be saved if yes how so if no what is the reason since there is power in all as you say why is not the Redemption to all or is it that the light is sufficient in one and not in another or doth God will all to salvation but some men superwill and so come to condemnation Qu. 7. And whether is your spirit a lying one 2 Thes 2.13 1 Cor. 14.37 which saith the Scriptures are not the words of God but of men or Pauls spirit which saith Of a truth it is the word of God and that what he writ was the commands of the Lord or is a command consistent of words or no if not of what then doth it consist or if yes how can the command be Gods and the words mans Speak out plainly in truth according to Scripture and cease to equivocate sophistically to delude silly souls Qu. 8. Whether it be any better then hypocrisie to prate of and call for Scripture and yet deny the prerogative of Scripture that it is not the word of God and what doe you say unto the commandements are they the words of God yea or not Exo. 20.1 Rom 19.9 if not what is meant by that phrase God spake all these words saying was that God or was it something else that called it selfe God and was not so and if they are the words of God why are not other Scriptures the same and how is it that some of you say the word of God cannot be contained in ink and paper Q. 9. And since you say that Christ only is the word of God I query whether he be meet to be a Teacher of others nay hath he not need himselfe to learn the first principles of Religion that cannot discerne between the temporal expressive word of God and the co-essential and co-eternal word with God for so is Christ Q. 10. And if that the Law written in every mans heart were since Adams fall and now is sufficient to teach us what to do observe as to sanctity wherefore then did the Law in the Letter enter on Mount Sinai Rom. 5.20 and if you say that so offences might abound which were not made manifest in the eyes of sinners this I grant but then how could that Law in mans heart be sufficient if it were in some sort unsufficient and not perfect in every degree to its end and wherefore afterwards entred the Gospel the Law of Faith on mount Sion and to what end if not to direct in a new way by a Mediator which neither the Law in mans heart or on Mount Sinai could doe or was it once of such force and is it not the same still if not how came it to be disannulled Heb. 5.12 Q. 11. What be those first principles of the Oracles of God made mention of by Paul as needful for believers to know what the oracles be whether the Scriptures or what else be the Oracles or the Principles how learnt and after what manner by what means or if the Scriptures be the Oracles of God why not the Word of God also and what differerence between the oracles and the word and wherein consistent Heb. 6.1 and what those principles of the doctrine of Christ be whether the same with those of the oracles wherein different and wherein congruant and what the growing up unto perfection is and when the end and whether in this life or in another Q. 12. What is the Kingdom of God that our Saviour speaks of Luke 11.21 and what that Kingdom Mat. 11. how did it suffer violence by whom and after what manner Q. 13. What is that Election Matth. 24.22 24. Rom. 9.11 11.15 Tit. 1.1 1 Pet. 2.10 Act. 10.24 13.48 Jude 4. Rom. 8.5 23. 〈…〉 Gal. 4.5 Eph. 1.5 Joh. 6.44 what that Ordination what that Adoption and what that drawing so oftentimes spoken of in Scripture and who they be that are capable of it here and after what manner administred and make out your judgement herein by plaine Scripture Q. 14. And since I have proved Scriptures may be expounded why not a verse or a chapter or more or less and since it ought to be divided can there be any division without parts if so prove it if not why may it not be distinguished under the names of Doctrines Reasons Uses and the like as well as to goe without name or doe you resist it because the Scriptures allowes it Q. 15. And since you seem to exhort that none ought to begin or conclude their speech in Preaching till the spirit move them thereunto by irresistable motions did ever the gift of the Spirit exclude prudent reasons so much as to set mens tongues so on going as that they had no power to stop them and is not your tongue oyled with a spirit of confused delusion Q. 16. Whether it extend not unto or come within the limits of the blasphemy against the holy Ghost to cry down that which he hath set up and to belch forth lyes slanders heresies false doctrines and perhaps blasphemy and yet to lay all on this spirit or what is that sinne which is unpardonable Q. 17. Are not the Ministers you now cry down the same that Rome would destroy and with you say they are false Teachers and no true Ministry and were not the holy Martyrs
for I shall promise you no more then the hasty fruits of some vacant yet scanty hours which with the assistance of divine providence led me to compose what I here present unto your perusal And though I seem not worthy of recompence for my labour yet grant me thanks and not hatred for my good will which is the least I can expect from the vertuous and more then I desire from the vicious except it prove as profitabe to their conviction as are my prayers vigilant for their conversion that so those of them which have not sinned unto death may take with them words of repentance and turn unto the Lord and say Blot out our iniquities forgive us our transgressions and receive us graciously that so being purified they may also be justified and so live as to live unto the Lord and in dying dye in the Lord That so whether they live or dye they may be the Lords Thine in all Christian observance to my power JOHN DEACON Decemb. 27. 1655. A PUBLICK DISCOVERY OF A SECRET DECEIT An Answer to Nineteen Quaeries subscribed JOHN DEACON 1. Quaere IF every man that comes into the world have light in him sufficient to salvation how then do you say that I am in darkness for either you must grant your first or second Assertion to be false or prove me not come into the world or not born of a woman Answ 1. The cause why thou art in darkness is because thou dost not believe and follow that light which is sufficient according to Christs words John 8.12 For they that turn from the darkness to the light have the promise but the unbeliever is condemn'd in darkness yet is the light sufficient John 3.15 16 17 18 19. Reply 1. When first I undertook to encounter with thee O subtil Deceiver and secret Deceit though I looked not for the innocency of a Dove but rather the ravening of a spiritual Wolfe yet I find the subtilty of a Serpent though not the purity of Christ yet the policy of Antichrist But as Satan is a Serpent so is Christ Rev. 12.19 Gen. 3.1 Ioh. 3.14 and that a brazen one too and as the Deceiver is a Lyon that seeketh whom he may devour Num. 21.9 1 Pet. 5.8 so is Christ a Lyon and that of the Tribe of Judah and as the serpent to subtil to deceive so is Christ no less cunning to preserve unto his everlasting habitation who hath began a good work of faith in our souls and also will do it the end whereof is everlasting salvation When I quaeried 1 Pet. 1.19 Ephes 2.8 since you affirm that all that come into the world have light in them soul-saving how then I being come into the world and so in general affirmed to be in light that you in particular should conclude me in darkness as if not come into the world at all and therefore I quaeried how the contradiction could be reconciled to a concurrence you put me off with a pretended Answer which indeed is but a Sophistical flash of the Deceivers policy with an uncharitable I had almost said diabolical Assertion that I am in darkness when this I can affirm with joy that God hath so far enlightned me as to see your deceivableness and I fear hellish darkness 2. Qu. If that Light be universal that is soul-saving shall all be saved yea or no Answ 2. All that believe shall but he that believeth not Isa 49.6 Rom. 1.16 the light is his condemnation John 3.19 Reply 2. That all which believe shall be saved we need not you to teach us but since you affirm all have soul-saving light the question was whether all should be saved if not your Doctrine is false which saith there is in all a sufficiency But you pretend private I may say a new light lest your deeds being as dark as Antichristian they should be brought unto the publick light Christ and his Gospel and so by that light that evil be made publique which now lies hid in you under glorious pretences 3. Qu. If you say yea I query further How is it then that you say I am damn'd and where is the Reprobate Answ 3. Thou art damn'd by thy unbelief Joh. 3.18 19. And where Christ the light of the world is not known within but denyed there is the Reprobate 2 Cor. 13 3.5 Reply 3. Here I finde two diabolical satanical censorious uncharitable Assertions both beyond thy spiritual presumptuous determination First that I am damned Secondly that I believe not both which are devilish in a double sense First as presuming to step up into the seat of Gods Tribunal and to define that which only belongs unto him to whom judgement is given But who art thou that judgest another Joh. 9.22 and judgest not thy selfe Secondly as being a lye that I believe not prove this if thou canst or else it proves thee a lyer but if it be so that I must believe your heresies and then be a believer and though I believe in Christ yet still be an unbeliever let the devil be the first and if he will for I will be the latter And here thou abusest the Text in saying that where Christ is not known within there is the reprobate as much as to say he may be there unknown But canst thou hide the Sunne O deceitful Deceiver that it shall not shine forth If thou couldest yet this celestial Sun of righteousness cannot be kept under but will banish all sinful clouds and illuminate resplendently to the obvious prospect of that soul where it is And the Apostle saith Christ is in you Corinthians except ye be Reprobates giving thee the lye who sayest Christ is in Reprobates as well as Saints 4. Qu. If this light ought only to be minded and all external means utterly abolisht I query wherefore you teach and to what end serveth the Scriptures which were for the making perfect the man of God 2 Tim. 3 16 7. Ans 4. We teach to turn peoples minds to the light word which is the one thing needful to be minded 2 Pet. 1.19 2 Cor. 4.1 to the 8th And the Apostle preacht that word to the people which was in their hearts Rom. 10.6 7 8. And their preaching was to open the blind eyes and to turn from darknesse to light and so from the power of Satan unto God the Father of the Light Acts 26.18 And the Scripture serveth for declaring and testifying that this Christ is he that is the light of the world and lighteth every one that cometh into the world and the Saviour of all that believe John 12.46 John 1.9 1 Tim. 4.10 Rep. 4. Here you grant a damnable heresie that all external things are useless none excepted in that you pass it over with a consent of silence and hypocritically say you teach to turn peoples minds to the light and yet elsewhere declare against all them and so confusedly against your self here that say the light in every
large by several reverend pens extant in many volumes to which I refer you And for the power to fulfill these commands and precepts in the word of God I shall be brief there is no power but of God Paul may plant 1 Cor. 3.6 and Apollo may water but it is God and he alone must work with their labours and give the increase Quere 3. Seeing Christ preached the Kingdome of God within unbeleevers and the Apostle saith Luke 17.20 21. Rom. 1.19 2 Cor. 4.6 That which may be known of God is manifest in them and that they came to the knowledge of God and his glory by the light that shone in their hearts which God shewed them c. Deale plainly and let people know how it now comes to be without and denyed within as it is by you Prove your practice and judgement herein by plain Scripture An Answer to the Third Query In this Query I finde no lesse then two lies at the least if not three The first laid on Christ God-man blessed for ever that he preached the Kingdome of God within unbeleevers The second on the Apostle in that you say he saith they came to the knowledge of God and his glory by the light that shone in their hearts Luk. 17.21 And the third on me in that you say I deny that light which declares God and his glory to be within This I term a lye if you speak mean particuarly of Saints and a truth if you speak of Reprobates but I own it not wholly outwardly upon any account but I shall proceed to clear the Scriptures wrested and abused by your spiritual impious impudence and presumption So Leigh so Trap so Major and several others upon the Testam So Pumroy Killit and Glisson against your Society 2 Cor. 13.5 1 Cor. 6.9 10. For the first * I have observed the Relatitions of all the Expositors who have upon any occasion commented upon that place that ever I could procure the sight of who all concur in one opinion and render it thus from the Original Language The kingdome of God is within or among you the word in the Greek signifying both and so you have it in the Margent of your larger Bibles Now if the word in the Original signifie both then the one so well as the other may be used but that must needs bee most proper which most concurs with other places and therefore among rather then within since Paul saith Christ in you writing to the faithful not to the faithlesse except ye be Reprobates and again Know you not that no unrighteous person inheriteth the Kingdome of God where it is cleare that it does not possesse men as inheriting them for this implyes a contradiction but it is to be possessed of men and they to inherit it Luk. 7.28 Mar. 10.15 Mat. 25.21 He might enter into it but it could not enter into him and from this inheritance the unrighteous are excepted and exempted too therefore it is certainly a most notorious lye to say Christ preached the Kingdome of God in unbeleevers though among them for he himselfe and all his excellencies that attended him in his Incarnation were among them but not in them and an error in the Translation makes not an error in Christs Doctrine Thus for the first I come now to clear the Apostle from your falshoods for you speaking of unbeleevers say he saith that all which may be known of God or of his glory is manifest in them Rom. 1.19 This you pretend to be a proofe that there is a light in every man to reveale all that may be known of God or of his glory which I say can be nothing lesse then the Spirit of God when if you read the verse following for the first hath a dependency on the latter you shall see the extention of the former expression Rom. 1.20 Joh. 14.25 The invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seene being understood by the things that are made Now this cannot be the Spirit of God or Christ which teacheth all things needfull for salvation except you can prove him to be made at the Creation and so a creature and not a Creator Gen. 1.26 and therefore it must be something in the creature which can be nothing else but the eye of the rational soule which is reason by which may be seen the invisible being of God and that he is so Cicero Aristotle Plato but meer Heathens have attain'd unto therefore this is humane not divine I shall not stand to state arguments to prove it experimentally because I intend brevity I Come unto the other Scripture which you adde that the Apostle saith that they speaking of unbeleevers still came to the knowledge of God and his glory by the light that shone in them A most notorious lye wresting the meaning of the Apostle unto your owne wills and I leave it to you to examine with feare and trembling whether it be not also unto your own destruction too for the words are these For God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse 2 Cor. 4.6 hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the grace of God in the face of Jesus Christ Where is observable First what it was that shined God that commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined Secondly the persons to and in whom he shined in our hearts Now the word our maketh a separation between Paul and the Corinthians to whom he writ who were Beleevers and Reprobates who beleeved not therefore you must needs acknowledge you have belyed him in saying he spoke of unbeleevers when he spoke to and of Saints in our hearts unlesse you can prove that that Paul and the Corinthians were such as you speak of even unbeleevers Thirdly the intent and purpose for which he shone to give it was not free to all as you say but particularly given to some the light of the knowledge of the glory of God And then Fourthly the manner how in the face of Jesus Christ I intend not to write an Exposition on the words but onely rightly to divide them and so to cleare them from the scandal laid on them by you which is clear So that your Query being thus handled 2 Tim. 2.15 I suppose there can be no more required in answer to it and farre be it from me to hold a judgement willingly any further then is concomitant to and with Scripture proofes and practice Learne to speak truth and cease to endeavour the building of so lying a Babel which is not in that one language of God but that of Satan For every lye is of Satan the Father of lyes Query 4. Whether that New Birth spoken of in the Scriptures be Christ within or some other thing and if not he then what is it and how people may know it by the Letter without the Light when they have Christ
dominion of sin and death too yet is the most faithful not perfectly free from the remnants of sinne Mat. 16.23 Mat. 26.70 72 74. Gal. 2.11 12 13 14. 2 Cor. 12.7 Gal. 2.20 Phil. 4.13 Rom. 7.22 23 24. Judg. 2 3. Judg. 3.1 2 3 4. Rev. 2.10 1 Pet. 5.4 2 Cor. 2.2 3 4. Rom. 7.19 20. Gal. 2.20 which is the sting of death for though the least measure of saving faith in Christ be sufficient to free and keep us from the dominion of sinne yet the greatest portion or fulnesse that ever was distributed unto the greatest of the Apostles exempted them not from the remnant of sinne not onely original but also actual too for Peter he was accused get thee behinde me Satan and after deny'd his Master and then dissembled so as to be contradicted by Paul who also was so far lifted up on the wings of ambition that he needed to he corrected and therefore received a prick in the flesh which was neither through the wants nor disabilities of faith through which he boasted he could doe all things but the law of his members the remnants of sin there warring against the law of his minde brought him captive to the law of sinne and death which remnants are commonly called sins of infirmity which are left as thorns in our sides to prove us whether we will continue faithful to the end that so we may be crowned with glory And who had faith so much and so strong as to be translated in the spirit and give his soule the prospect of that no lesse eternally sacred then incomprehensibly glorious object of the third heavens and by this overcame the power as a Saint but could not shun the temptation as he was a man but both his will and affections were so far subordinate as the latter to those powers of darknesse that saith he the good that I would doe that doe I not and the evil that I would not that doe I but then as the former If any man may boast much more I I live and yet not I but Christ that liveth in me and until the one be separated from the other there can be no perfect perfection 1 Tim. 1.15 Rom. 3.23 Jam 3.2 1 John 1.8 10. Heb. 12.5 Phil. 3.21 for the same Apostle asserts this is a faithful saying Christ died to save sinners of whom I not onely was but am the chief and we including himselfe too have all sinned all none excepted and come short of the glory of God and James saith also the same that in many things we offend all and John that Apostle of love and Eagle-ey'd Evangelist to pry into the secrets of those Mysteries of the Son of glory records this that he that saith he hath no sinne is a lyar and the truth is not in him and therefore you are lyars and void of the truth if then the Apostles who had the most eminent faith above all others were not free from the remnant of sinne nay and some grosse ones too I cannot be convinced that perfect perfection can be in any before a dissolution of mortality and a resurrection unto glorification I say since that they were contented to rest without discomfort in perseverance till Jesus the Author and Finisher of their faith should come to change their vile bodies therefore not pure and make them like his glorious body I cannot apprehend that any one shall attaine any higher perfection until they come to the end of their race eternal rest if they run so as to obtaine and they that content not themselves therewith to sit downe and rest here as did the Apostles For the present I shall leave it to them to examine whether they fight not against Gods Councels and determinations and let them be careful how they grope for a heaven on earth lest they misse it where it is Ps 16.11 even above all Principalities and powers in Christ his presence where there is fulnesse of joy and pleasures for evermore Quere 6. Seeing you say the Scriptures is the ground of faith and that they who can read the Scriptures have power to beleeve as you did the last first day then I say can any beleeve who have not read or heard the Scriptures if yea then is not their faith without ground by your opinion or is there more grounds of faith then one or is the Scriptures Christ An Answer to the Sixth Query Most impudent and no lesse disconsolate and thrice wretched man whether it be properly the fruits of thy spirit to speak truth or a lye seems unto me a matter neither doubtful nor disputable but apparent for the first are as rare to be read in thy writings as to see a blazing star in the Firmament for ought I can conjecture I had almost said as to see a Phoenix in England which was never known but in Arabia for what you relate that I said the Scripture is the ground of faith is as notorious a lye as to affirme James Naylor to be no lyar and both as incomparable untruths as to say light is darkness or darknesse light yet I say the Scritures read and preached is a meanes to work faith for faith is by hearing Rom. 10.17 1 Cor. 3.5 and who is Paul or who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye beleeve And since your brains are tosticated with invention and fomenting of heresie which breatheth forth nothing but lyes and falshoods and hath raised this forgery among the rest that I said he that could read had power to beleeve were thou not led by the Father of falshood to heap up shame unto thy self though thou intendest it for others thou mayest remember I asserted that no man by any native light inherent in him had power to beleeve except he had an augmentation thereof and therefore finding the foundation of thy Quere but thy own invented lyes I shall returne it back unto thee to whom of right it belongs being forgeries of thine own head and no expressions of mine I send thee back thine own and if you please you may send it unto the Devil the father of lyes whose it was at first I deale plainly as you desired me Quere 7. Seeing you affirme that none can be Ministers of Christ but who are called of man and are learned men whether was the Apostle Paul a true Minister who saith he was neither of man nor by man and what he preached was not after man Nor was it but by revelation Gal. 1.2 11 12. Or was Peter John and the rest true Ministers who were unlearned and ignorant men Acts 4.13 And what lets that God may not chuse such now An Answer to the Seventh Quere If ever Satan had the penning of a paper stuffed up with untruths or Beelzebub the portraying of his unexpressible hypocrisie to the prospect of humane eyes with the pen of his falshoods then certainly he or his Agents are the Inditors of this your packet of lyes and particularly this