affirm nor more nor less yet ye own and justifie your selves as owners and deny and judge us as deniers as of of the Scriptures Ye challenge us to dispute it against us that the Scripture is the Word of God the only Rule c. when we meet you before hundreds to that end you confess with us as Christopher Fowler did at Reading T.D. at Sandwich and I.O. doth in his Declartion or Latine Divinity Disputations that you mean not the Scripture formally considered the Letter or Text it self ye talk for not the Writing but the holy matter and doctrine contained held forth testified to therein the Word in the heart of which we say its a Light a Rule denying the letter only so to be yet the same truth when ye tell it is the truth when we tell it as a lye Ye venture upon the open stage against us a vile persons in our Tenets about the Scriptures when ye are there ye verefie the very self-same truth we vindicate against you and say with us the Scripture or Writing which is the formality of the Scripture quae dat esse Rei sormally considered is not the Word nor the Rule nor any thing but a dead letter only the matter and truth of the Text testified to is the Word Rule Light c. as we say it is only Yet when ye go away though from the first to the last ye give us the cause yet we must give you leave or else you will steal it to carry away the colours and boast and brag and vapour as the men that had the victory till by venting your lyes so fast to manifest the Qua. folly ye fling out your own folly to the view of all men T.D. But quoth T.D. p. 30.1 Pamph. All this while you go about to delude the simple as if you denied only this way of writing to have alwayes been the only way of conveyance and you magnifie the Spirit that with more security ye may throw down the letter of the Scripture and if you would speak out plainly that ye call the Spirit will be found to be the dictates of your consciences blinde and corrupt as they are the Lord knows and you are no further bound to obey the letter of the Scripture then you are willing to obey it Rep. As for thy lyes of the friends of truth that light stuff like the chaffe the winde will drive away The Lord knows whose consciences are blind and corrupt yours or ours and as to thy slighting the dictates of conscience which work I.O. is not behinde thee in flouting at what is dictated by the Light of God in it and by the light therein from it to men as Figment Fannaticism Enthusiasm and such like dirty denominations I need refer no further then too I.O. whose magnifications of the dictates of conscience otherwhiles may well serve to the contradiction and confutation of himself and thee too and stop both thy mouth and his own too who â—ayes pag. 42. â—3 44,45 of the conscience and the voice of God therein and the instinct of good and evil and self-judgement God hath placed and indeleably planted therein it declares it self to be from God by its own light and Authority there is no need to convince a man by substantial witnesses that what his conscience speaks it speaks from God whether it bear testimony to the righteousness of God or that obedience which is eternally and indispensably due to him it shews the work of the Law written in the heart and discovers its Author in whole name it speaks and much more to the like purpose so that he and thou too may with shame enough reflect upon your ignorant vilifications of it As for our obedience to the Letter we are by the Spirit so bound to that not so far only as we are willing as thou belieâ—t us but in a cross to our own wills that while we walk in the Spirit which is our Rule we cannot disobey the Letter but fulfill it while your selves who prate of your being bound to obey it walk at large after your own wills and lusts in the liberty of your flesh and through your boundless boasting of that ye as boundlesly break do dishonour both God and your selves As for our going about to deceive the simple we deny all Deceivers and Deceit teaching no other Doctrine nor Gospel then what Paul delivered then which whoever it is that brings or broaches another whether it be we who are hated as Devils or you who are honoured as Angels of light from heaven by such as dwell in the depths and darkness of hell I say with Paul let him be accursed but those are now marked and manifested plainly enough who cause the Divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine the Saints learned of old by the children of the day are avoided also for they that are such serve not the Lord Iesus Christ but their own bellies and yet by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Rom. 16.17 18. What T.D. sayes in his second Pamph. as to this question of the Scriptures being a Rule is no new thing but a Reference of men for an answer to G. Whiteheads Queries which he was shye of saying much to seeing he had not much to say to his old trite trivial Toy entituled the Qua. Folly the very book that G. Whitehead had Routed before and so dry is T.D. pumped that most of his two Butter-flyes excepting the wings it flyes with i. e. His Epistle and his Narrative consists of Repetitions of what he had uttered in the other that was Routed and new References of his Reader to that old one notwithstanding so much is added to to this head in p. 16. of his second Pamph. as more fully gives us the cause we contend for against him viz. That the Truth Doctrine Matter and not the Scripture Text or Letter is the Rule to men I must quoth he again refer the Reader for an answer to these Queries meaning G.Ws. to Qua. Folly in which yet none of them are answered and I adde the matter contained in the Scriptures is a Rule to all men so far as t is revealed to them and was so before it was put into writing and so much of it as is written upon the hearts of Heathens is a Rule to them Rep. Minde Reader how T.D. yeelds the Question to the Qua. again in his late last Lazy labours which Question between the Qua and the Priests is not about the holy Doctrine Truth and matter for the Qua. still own that to be as to the substantials before which the shadowy figurative part thereof flyes away everlastingly the same an inalterable fixt firm inward spiritual Word and Light which neither doth not can ever perish corrupt or pass away but about the outward Scripture Writing Text or Letter which uno ore with one voice all our Priests and people vote to be the Rule Touchstone Word c.
judging thy self consequently enjoying the other but that thou art not in any wise for howbeit by thy own confession there Sect. 16. Capellus grants thee that the full enjoyment of the saving Doctrine of the Scripture is yet to be had or obtained by such as look chiefly after that let the Letter be never so corrupted yet thou art at no hand content with this but piteously pinest after something else which is not this saving Doctrine of the Scripture nor the Doctrine in it but another thing from which this contained Doctrine is distinguished and that is the Scripture it self which thou judged thou hast not notwithstanding thou hast its Doctrine unless thou have the Letter or Writing also and that so exactly and entire without alteration and ablation that not a tittle of it nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be found lacking these are thy words Sect. 17. Nor is it enough to satisfie us that the Doctrines mentioned are preserved entire every tittle and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Scripture in that Writing see Sect. 13 in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we have must come under our care and consideration and to say the truth as thou putest a difference between the Scriptures of Truth and the Truth written of in the Scriptures sometimes as I ever do so it is the Scriptures of the Truth more then the Truth it self of which they are the Scriptures that thou mostly scrawlest for in those thy Scriptures for them which yet as is said above are not more for in shews and words then in deed and in truth they are against them nor is it the most substantial parts of that bare Letter that thou wranglest for so much as for the more accidental parts thereof viz. the points trivial tittles and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So then it is concluded hitherto on both hands First by thy self as well as â—ly by me that the Scripture and its Doctrine are not one but two several businesses whereof the First viz. the Scriptures are the subject matter so contended about between thee and the Quakers As for T.D. he draws his neck out of the Coller here and after he had engaged me to discourse it publickly with him whether the Scripture were the Word of God or not and at the dispute desiring to know what I held about it when he heard how I on the Quakers behalf declared what we meant by the Scriptures viz. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Writing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. the Letter and that we onely deny that Denomination of the Word of God to that not to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word or Doctrine or Truth of God written therein he gave us the Question without more ado saying thus You cannot believe us to be so simple surely as to affirm the Scriptures in that sense the Word of God but we mean the matter contained in the writing whether that be our Rule of Faith and Life P. 26. of his first Pamp. which subject matter or Doctrine and Truth contained in the Writing and testified to in it which was before ever the Writing was and is as to the substance of it eternally and unchangeably the same Christ the Word the Wisdom Righteousnesse of God the War Truth Life both yeaster-day to day and for ever we never denyed to be the Word and Rule and Foundation and what ever else I.O. and the whole School of our English Scribes do ignorantly and falsly say the Scripture is though we are mistaken by most as denying the holy Matter it Treats of so to be but the matter is not the Writing or the Scripture but that which is onely written oâ— in it but the outward written Letter or Scripture much more the Book in which the writing is which I.O. is so busy for and for every point written title and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this not onely we deny to be the Word of God but all our rash reproachers of us as denying the Scripture to be the Word when we come to their faces are fain to fall in and deny the same with us also so Christopher Fowler after a long hot Publick Dispute at Reading with E.B. and my self upon this question Whether the Scripture be the Word of God or no in which he contended a great while together it was at last confessed openly and plainly before all the People and Magistrates there present that the Scripture or Writing and I know not what else is properly and truly the Scripture but the Writing is not the Word of God after which concession of C.F. they would hear no longer dispute but the Quakers were driven out of doors But I.O. standeth stifly to it that the Word of God is the Proper Name of the Scripture and even of every tittle and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it against the Quakers for that the Truth and Doctrine of it or of Christ declared in it is Spiritual Powerful saving Perfect so that Cursed will he be that adds to or detracts from it no Quaker will deny and to fight for the perfection and integrity of that with them is but to fight without an Adversary Howbeit I.O. when thy Brains as it were begin to crow as they often do like a man in a maze thou fetchest another turn back again upon the wheel and as inconsiderately as contradictorily to thy self thou blendest and confoundest these two sundry things that were before so severed by thy very self into one again so that as the two sticks aforesaid became one in the Prophets hands so these two that were sometime put asunder and with thy own hand inscribed with different Titles are joyned Indentically Intituled denominated each of other as Synonymous of two that stood divided made one individual of two sticks become one under thy own hand which writes of the writing and the thing written as of one and in its handling of them handles and feels no such matter of distinction between the Scripturam and the Scriptum the Literam Scriptam and the rem or Doctrinam or veritatem Scriptam the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scriptiunculam Verbi de Verbo and the Verbum Scriptum the Letter or VVriting and the Doctrine or Truth written the Scripture of or concerning the Law Light Gospel and VVord of God and the Law Light Gospel and VVord of God it self of which the Scripture is but a true writing or Declration Yea whereas in that one single Section lastly cited Tr. 1. ch 1. S. 13. thou makes distinction in thy sound no lesse then four times between them first the VVritings and the Doctrine secondly the Writing and the Doctrine thirdly the Book and the Truth fourthly the Book and the Faith in the very Section immediately foregoing viz Sect. 12. which is as small as this thou all things well considered as they stand therein almost if not altogether as frequently dost confound them
my businesse with I.O. lyes into that Name of his Word and into the Authority of the Foundation of Faith the infallible Rule of Interpretation of itself of Tryal and Examination of Spirits Doctrines c. of the Supream Iudge also by which all Controversies of Religion are to be determined the only pure Authentical Standard unto which the Church is finally to Appeal in whose Sentence it is to Rest into which all Faith is finally to be Resolved so if such Synods of men either Antient or Modern as have shouldred out all those at once from sharing with the other Writings in what they can lay just claim to had been as Spiritually discerning as they were Spiritually blind shallow and undiscerning they would have seen cause to have joyned some at least of those Apocryhal Scriptures to an Equal Participation of that Plea of divine Original and inspiration with the rest as without Cause they justled them all out from it by their joynt Consent And though it be the declared Faith of that Assembly of Divines that both Houses of Parliament advised with 1648. and of the Congregational Churches in England whose Confession is put out this instant 1659. as to that Article about the Scriptures word for word in the same words with the other That the Books commonly called Apocrypha not being of divine Inspiration are no part of the Canon of the Scriptures and therefore are of no Authority in the Church of God nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of then other humane Writings yet this I declare to the whole World as my Faith concerning them that though I own neither them nor the best bare Wriing or outward Text or Letter of the other Scripture at so high a Rate as I.O. does who makes the naked Letter in all things equivolent to the holy matter yet whatever is truly to be praedicated of the one or can solidly be pleaded on the behalf of the one which ye call your Canon as to the divinity of their Original the same may be pleaded on the behalf of not a few of the other And as they all that in general are stilled Apocryphal can plead their Authority from long before the Apostles dayes and also the special Care and Providence of God which is an Argument of such weight with I.O. and T.D. pag. 27. as swayes them not a little into their frivolous Faith about the rest in the preservation of them to this very day So that all of them have been kept by the Church that kept the rest bound up and Translated into various Languages and as publickly allowed to be publickly Read as the rest and highly esteemed by Austin and other Fathers ye Divines cannot easily be ignorant And as for sundry of them ye are ignorant with a witnesse if ye see them to be as ye say they are not of divine Inspiration or see them not to be of as divine an Original as some or even any of the other which ye own so to be As for that Fourth Book of Esdras which is but the Second as it stands in the Apocrypha besides that it s acknowledged by Clem Alexandrinus Faber and many more men of Renown among you and by many Holy men in these latter times as well learned as your selves at least in the Wisdom of Gods Spirit to be written by his immediate Inspiration so is it such a plain Prophecy consistent of many Particular Praedictions of things to be fulfilled in these last Ages as the like to it or a least clearer is hardly to be found in all the Scripture besides it insomuch that he who reads it in the 11 12 13 16 Chapters of it and some other places and sees not the beams of a divine Majesty in it and sees not the Matters now managing upon the Stage in the World that are there foretold in it reads not in the Light of that Holy Spirit that moved in the Writing both of that and all other Holy Scripture and may come before he is well aware to feel ere long the dint of that divine displeasure that is denounced against the Sinners of the latter Ages and thereby come to be convinced of the Divinity and Truth of that Scripture which our Divines that usually see altogether by the lump and are loath to see any Truth Sigillatim till they are all made to see it whether they will or no will hardly yield to if they be their Old-wonted-selves till very Necessity forces and frights them into the Faith of it And the same may be said as to the divine Original of Ieremiahs Epistle which was written and sent to them that were to go Captive into Babylon and of Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon which favours so much of the Wisdom of the Spirit that he is yet in that Wisdom only which is from beneath which is Earthly Animal Deceitful who doth not acknowledge the finger of God writing those deep and precious Truths and Praedictions in the heart of him whose hand was the Committer of them to outward Writing which whether it were not Solomon after whom it was so Entituled Nil ultra quaero he uttered 3000 Proverbs whereof scarce 300 are extant in that Book of his Proverbs some of which as standing inserted there in the Hebrew Text are not the Original Copy but a Transcript only at best out of that or some Second hand Copies taken and Copied cut long after Solomons dayes by the men of Hezekiah 8 or 9 Generations from him Prov. 25 1. The 30 Chapter of which Book also are the Words of one Aguâ— the son of Iaketh but sure I am that Book of Wisdom was inspired or breathed into the Penman that expired or breathed it out from no lesse then that Wisdom which is from above The main Argument that ever I have seen against the divine Original of these Books are First Their being not written in the Hebrew Tongue which what a poor pedling piece of Disproof it is he is no wiser then he should be that does not see for what warrant is there that all that was not Pen'd in the Hebrew Tongue is no Scripture of divine Inspiration Or if there be is it not as conclusive against much of the Scripture which I.O. counts Canonical the whole of wch he reckons at random was wrote in the Hebrew Tongue since its evident that much of that Book of Hester 9 Chapters and 3 Verses of which are set among the Canonical Scripture and oh the Wisdom the other 6 Chapters and 10 Verses of the 10 Chapter by you self-will'd Choppers and Changers because written in Greek are reckoned and rank'd with the Apocryphal was written not in the Hebrew but in the Caldee as much of Ezra Nehemiah and Daniel also were And besides if being written Originally in the Hebrew will avail toward the evincing of them to be Canonical this will help some of your Apocrypha into your Canon since that of Tobit or Tobias is not
of God in which he lived and walk'd and out of whose movings he wrote no Epistles to the Churches was fit to stand in no other Account then the Sermons and private Religious Discourses of our Clergy-men and their Common Christians which must stand or fall as they square or not square with the Standard of Scripture And as if the Seniour Epistles of Paul to Corinth and Ephesus must like Prisoners at the Bar receive their Sentence of Guilty or not Guilty worthy or not worthy to be owned as a part of the Rule or Canon by their Iuniours or such as were sent after them to sit as Iudges of them at the Bench And so hereby his Reply is as it were an Affirmative Answer to the First of my Four Queries viz. That Pauls Writings were not all alike of Divine Original and Inspiration but some Epistles to the Churches of his were uttered as he was moved by the Holy Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of private Interpretation or as private Mens Writings Credat Apella And when 't was urged by me that there was no more evidence or Character of these Epistles being a Rule which are then of those which are not in your Books Then T.D. seeing what he had Replyed that way would not hold Replyes by way of Answer to the Second of my Four last Queries affirming that Pauls first Writings to Corinth and Ephesus were lost when those we have are saved and so makes this distinction of the ones being perished the other preserved by Gods Providence watching over them when he did not over the other a signal Evidence that God intended the one for a standing Rule to us and not the other and herein he and I.O. Jump together and border pretty near one another sith I.O. insists exceedingly as an Argument of their being a Rule in the Church on this businesse of Gods preservation of every Tittle and Iota of divinely Inspired Scripture to this day whereby he implicitly denies all the afore-named that are not in your Bibles to be any of them of Divine Inspiration But with this Difference from T.D. that I.O. sayes not a Tittle of the Inspired Scripture is lost T.D. to the confuting of I.O. Confesses being I believe informed of some Holy Scripture at the Dispute which he knew not of before that not only Tittles and Iotaes but some whole Books of which he dares not say expresly though intimate it he doth in the Head next above spoken to that they were not Divinely Inspired are lost and perished out of the World So that the Preservation of what is Preserved is made a Signal Token that it s to be our Rule and the losse of what 's lost that that was not written for such an end To which Signal Token of Gods intending the One and not the O. her for A Rule when I Replyed as 't is transiently done above to I O. touching the Books called Apocrypha that there is more Antient Holy Writ remaining extant to this day preserved for our use by Gods Providence then ye own or honour with a standing in your Standard instancing in the Epistle of Paul to Laodicea then by and by T.D. who rides the Rounds not much lesse then I.O. and is never positive nor steady to any thing he Asserts so as to stand long to it without shifting Proteus like into another shape when he is ashamed to be seen longer in his old one comes out in a clear contrary Gelour and flatly contradicts himself and unsayes what he said but just before And whereas he had made the preserving of what was written and is preserved an Argument of its being designed of God for a Rule affirms That all that was written by Holy Men meaning Paul among the rest or else he speaks not at all to the purpose and preserved also for our use is not therefore our standing Rule Thus one while 't is so and one while no then neither yet both no and so Pauls Three Epistles viz. the Two to Corinth One to Ephesus that we have appear therefore to be our standing Rule because they are preserved to our use to this day but his first of all to Corinth and Ephesus therefore not so because not preserved there 's his first saying His very next of all is this Pauls Epistle to Laodicea though preserved for our use yet is not therefore to be our standing Rule to this day So what ever Pauls Epistles are yet I am sure Pauls Life and Example is no Rule that T. D's walks by nor I.O. neither for his yea was yea and his nay nay he did not use such lightnesse as they both very often do who say nay to that they said yea to just before neither did he speak so according to the Flesh as they with whom now there 's yea yea and anon to the same thing nay nay but as God is true and Christ is not yea and nay in his words and enjoynes us to be steady in our yea and nay so was Pauls word in what he spake And yet the Reason T.D. renders of his saying No to what he said not No but so just before is as Reasonlesse as his self Confutation is for mark then quoth he If what ere was written by Holy men alluding to Paul be therefore our standing Rule because preserved the Discourses of Holy Ministers in former and latter times should be our Rule which they are not but are to be brought to the written Word as our Rule and Test. In which if by Holy Ministers in former times he means Paul among the rest as he must else he misses the matter then some of Pauls Epistles are the Rule and Test which his other Epistles must stand bare before to be tryed by which is absurd If by latter Ministers he intend such as himself who Confesses his Ministry to be fallible I would have him to know and that he shall find more of anon that Pauls Ministry and every true Ministry that Ministers by word of Mouth or Writing as moved by the Holy Spirit which moves and leads none fallibly but all infallibly whom it leads was no such fallible Ministry as his false one is that it need be tryed by his other own holy Writings But now as to the Epistle of Laodicea instanced in T.D. was so hard of belief and difficult to he perswaded that there was any such at all that if one of Sandwich had not stood up and said he had the Book wherein we Asserted it to be Printed we should hardly have gained so much Credit among the Clergy then present such pro and con they made about it as to have been believed that there was such a thing in Being so ignorant are they of some present parts of that Scripture they call their Rule yet at last 't was yielded such a one was extant But for all that T.D. who has ever more wayes then one into the Wood where he loves to
then forbidden at least hidden fruit from you who what light soever ye have from God yet have not learning enough to let you into an intermedling with the open secrets of their living dead letter as for your Scripture which is but Translation out of theirs hear what they say of it who exalt it far above it self into a participation thy the halves of the same high prerogatives with Theirs and a taste of that glorious Title the Word of God yet so as that it must know it self too and not intrude further into it then they give leave by their right or wrong renditions of it ont of their for ever to be adored right-wrong Copies who in the blinduesse of their busie brains vanity and follishnesse of their thoughts and fleshly wisdom that 's enmity against God and enters no farther into the inside of the Scripture than the Eye-sight of a Mole into a milstone may render it as it seems best to themselves and you Lack lingua's little the wiser and if they give your Scripture an Inch it must take heed of taking an Ell for as there 's a Bit so there 's a Knock if it presume too far it s admitted to be the Word of God with theirs but not on even terms theirs wholly and euery Apex of it yours but by the halues or so far onely as it corresponds with theirs from which if it offer to vary by theirs it must be corrected castigated in order to its amendment in time to come theirs being perfectly the word of God yea every Tittle of it the Living Word of the great God though but transcribed as yours is but translated in the Wisedom Skill and Diligence of men yours imperfectly and perfectly too perfectly or imperfectly according as yours expresse the words sense and meaning of their Origina's so that though it can be counted no Robbery for Theirs which is but the fruit of mans Wisdom Skill and Diligence and as now transcribed was not as is confest received immediately from God to be made Equall with that which was at first received more immediately from him as the fruit of his Wisdom Care and Providence yet its Robbery for yours that comes but as theirs doth through the Skill Wisdom and Diligence of Men and within a small matter as immediately from God as Theirs doth to be equall with Theirs and howbeit they may lawfully without pride set up Their meer Transcriptions so as to make them sir cheek by chole with the first hand-writings and set up their own Altar or Altered Copies of Hebrew and Greek with that higher Altar of God even the Letter or first Copy and set up Mans posts by Gods posts even both the first Manuscripts and their own tottered Transcripts too into an Equallity of Titles Honour Power Perfection Authority Necessity c. with the True living Word of God which the first and truest Scripture that ever was was at best but a true Scripture writing or declaration of yet your Posts and Altars and Scriptures must keep aloof and not come so nigh Theirs as Theirs to Gods without a check By all wch that 's here written in this Apostrophe to you O poor deluded people ye may see what a low condition ye are deprest into till you betake your selves to the light of God within which was before any letter to writing was without which the Scriptures cry up call you to while your Scribes cry it down cry out against it and call you from it ye may see how ye are thrust out with a Pueri sacer est locus extra meijete meddle not here ye Mechanicks ye unlearned Laicks from the lines of their communication by your Fanatical Fantastical high flown haughty Haebricians and greedy Graecians that for filthy lucre take the oversight of or rather over you and that take upon them by force to be your guides before whom you are fain to stand like some poor stupified Peasant before his Prince to whom if the one say but Rex sum sic uolo sic jubeo So I mean to have it the other hath no more to do but ineak away nor to say but Amen so be it nil ultra quaero plebeius It follows then that none but Schollars have the undoubted word of God for people understand not Original tongues nor many Priests the Hebre◠and so though they say Hear the Word of God they have no undoubted Word of God to preach out of it while they take their Texts out of English Bibles So people and blind Priests have no undoubted infallible Rule touchstone to try Truth by for if this he so how is the Scripture as they have it the most perfect Rule to them both people and illiterate Priests must either get Hebrew and Greek or else confesse that they live as much by tradition in England taking things on trust from the Priests without tryall as they do at Rome for what difference between having Scripture no Scripture in the mother tongue when notwithstanding that which is so had men cannot be sure which is the Word of God which not but as the Priests tell them so and if Priests be minded to deceive them they may Translate it to their own turn as they please and people ne're the wiser so make the Scripture as a nose of wax to stand to themselves lead the world by the nose as they have ever done which way soever they will So I confesse I. O. that I see the Scriptures as taken for the Translations set somewhat lower by thee than the first Manuscripts and then your Transcriptions in the place above quoted yet entitled too with the name of the Word of God in part but your Transcriptions to an Apex are equalized with the first Manuscripts and both these elsewhere wholly with the light and living Word It is then the meer Transcripts and neither the first Manuscripts nor Translations that thou talkest so exceeding strictly for the non alteration or non-corruption of in a Title the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being lost out of the world and Translations excluded the lists o◠thy Apologetical vindication of the Scripture in the externall Text thereof in vindication of which Transcriptions of the Hebrew and Greek Texts not appearing at all for the English save quatenus agreeing with the other p. 153.174 thou talkst on Argumentatively as follows Arg. 1. To prove the whole Scripture memorandum of old and new Testament to remain entire to this day without ablation or alteration of it in one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Tittle thou urgest p. 175. the providence of God in taking care of his word which he hath magnified over all his name as the most glorious product of his Wisdom and Goodnesse his great concernment in this world answering his promise to this purpose Rep. This leads the Front of that Ragged Regiment of Arguments which follow it at the heels in p. 175. 176. 177. being no lesse than 12. in number
or Syllable without the least mixture or interveniency of any medium obnoxious to fallibility as thou sayest it is p. 10. for in the very next words p. 10.11 thou utterest enough to the confutation of thy self in this while according to thy wonted manner of running round as one borrendo percussus Scotomate thou sayest the wisdom truth integrity knowledge and memory of the best of all men is obnoxious to fallibility and consequently say I capable to give change in the most careful Transcription that can be made by mans hands that is uninspired in much more then the least Iota or Syllable thus art thou contrary to thy self still 5. But I say for all thy reasonlesse rounds and self contradictory conceits more then Transcribers care and diligence is necessary thereunto i.e. to the producing of Copies infallibly conformable in every Tittle Iota and Point to those of the first Penmen and to the begetting of the divine faith which is more then meer humane fallible perswasion that thou oughst to have about the soundnesse universal incorruption certainty integrity invariablenesse and infallibility of that thou callest thy foundation even that immediate manutenentia Dei or undeceivable direction and divine inspiration of God which if it be wanting as thou confessest it was from the first to the last of thy Transcribers such is the weaknesse of men where never so much carefulnesse is in Transcribing of Books that there may be miscarriages and mistakes which if there be in the least Iota or Syllable it 's great enough to lay thy universal grand Assertion to the ground and all thy proof of it from the foresaid care and diligence will prove not worth a pin to thy purpose But alas what do I talk of weaknesse where either the leading of the Spirit of God is wanting or a willingnesse in men to be led by the holy Spirit as it is in all that assert as thou dost his infallible guidance to be gone out of the world in these dayes there 's not onely much weaknesse to such a weighty work as thou makest the Transcribing the Scripture to be but as thou sayest p. 104. so I in this case about the Scriptures so much vanity foolishnesse falsenesse unfaithfulnesse negligence ignorance and sloth love of money for which many write at others appointment being well paid for their plains more then of the matters they are writing as well in Scribes as Printers of the very Scripture it self carelesnesse adding detracting unsuitablenesse of their Spirits and minds to spiritual things losse of all remembrance of what they are and what they do c. that I can give very little credit to what I have nothing but the Authority Ability Integrity Wisdom Knowledge Truth Memory Care and Diligence of such to rely upon for without evidence of their being divinely and infallibly guided which guidance thou denyest to thy Scribes nor can any wise man groundedly believe any other but that the Books of Scripture passing through the hands of many such Transcribers have upon them the marks of their neglects ignorance and sloth and have had as hard of belief as thou seemest to be of this p. 206. the fate of other books Yea I. O. let me but ask thee this Is that faith thou hast that thy Greek and Hebrew Copies are to a Tittle so uncorrupted as thou contendest a divine faith or a fallible perswasion onely if the Latter it 's not worth a figge if thou have no bettr faith then so and art not more infallibly assured then so of the infallibility of that which thou callest thy most perfect Rule and infallible foundation If the former what is it must beget this divine faith in this thing that there 's not a Point nor Tittle varying in thy now Canon standard or adored Copy from the first Copy of the Text that ever was will thy vain confidence hopes conjectures good conceits of thou knowest not what Scribes that wrote thou knowest not when give thee such a faith or the Traditions and Authority and Testimony of honest men saying so and so downward for many generations or some infallible ground of certainty that they were guided to write every word by divine inspiration Not the first for thou utterly disclaimest that as no ground of divine faith about the Scriptures by saying thus p. 105. if numbers of men may be allowed to speak we may have a Traditional Testimony given to the blasphemous figments of the Alcoran But the constant Tradition of more then a thousand years carried on by innumerable multitudes of men great wise and sober from one generation to another doth but set open the gates of hell for the Mahometans and thus p. 114.115 though I should grant that the Apostles and penmen of the Scripture were persons of the greatest industry honesty integrity faithfulnesse holinesse that ever lived in the world as they were and that they wrote nothing but what themselves had assurance of as what men by their senses of seeing and hearing are able to attain yet such a knowledge and assurance is not a sufficient foundation for the faith of the Church of God if they received not every word by inspiration and that evidencing it self unto us otherwise then by the Authority of their integrity it can be no foundation for us to build our faith upon Not the latter for thou disclaimest that and darest not ascribe any such thing as infallible guidance or divine inspiration to thy Trustee Transcribers so where the divine faith about the firmnesse of thy foundation it self stands founded and bottom'd unlesse it be in the bottomlesse pit it self of thy own fancy he must have more Rope to fathom with then I have that will ever find Wilt thou not then I. O. say of the first Transcribers of the Scriptures that the were infallible and divinely inspired I do not say thou dost ill in refusing so to say nay rather thou dost very well and somewhat honestly and ingenuously in that for indeed we cannot tell nor say safely that they were so but art thou then freely willing in very deed to yeild it to us that they were fallible and that 't was not impossible for them to mistake This grant of thine we are as free to accept of as thou art to give it and make good use of it too not so much against as for thy self viz. to shew and instruct thee from thence that there 's rottennesse at the very root of all your Religion and a fearful flaw of fallibility that is in the very foundation of your faith and believing in which thou sayest ye are built on the writings of the Prophets and Apostles T. 1. c. 2 S. 4 that so ye may which is the worst that we wish you come to be better built on a firmer foundation and both you and your foundation and faith and all may stand fast and never as now ye must do fall any more from thenceforth for ever even the foundation of the
true participation of the others essential properties or nature so that â— like the Fisâ— Caepia that being pursued by its adversaries flings a flood of black inky stuff behind it to hide it self from being seen and taken by a blind blending and cloudy confounding of things together which being treated of formaliter and discoursed of divisim each under its own peculiar form and proper name and nature both thy own folly and the falseness of thy propositions should be discovered yea by pidling and pedling and playing fast and loose thou seem'st to puzzle the minds and put out the eyes of such as shall ever prosecute thee for thy rotten principles insomuch that I may truly say of thee what thou untruly utterest concerning the Qua. pag. 69. of thy Latine Tract viz. Quaenam sit horum hominum sententia haud facile quis declarabit c. And so mutatis mutandis turning all thy Verbs out of the 3 d. person Plural into the 2 d. person singular I may safely sing back to thee in thy own words as follows viz. What thy mind J.O. is in this Question Whether the Scripture be the Word of God or no one can hardly declare for besides that thou agreest not with thy self thou dost so foolishly and nauseously prate in the opening of thy mind and meanings and playest about in words of an uncertain and dubious signification and usest for the most part certain forraign phrases containing no sâ—und sence that can well be understood by any that are well in their wits which are enough either to astonish or bewitch unskilful men so that it 's more easie to confute thy Arguments then conceive thy meaning yea when thy Opinion is so foul and dishonest that if the fair pretences and covers be removed and it distinctly unfolded it sufficiently destroyes it self amongst all honest men that are not openly dishonest endeavouring what thou canst so delude either thou speakest is not out openly or else manglest it to pieces in such a sticht and patcht up forme of speech that can signifie well-nigh nothing at all and so darkening thy Counsel by words without knowledge thou seemest to be afraid of nothing more then least thou shouldst be understood In such wise as this I.O. dost thou proceed in thy present Paper Works that are now under Examination having in thy hast heedlesly uttered forth some faucied high-flown falsities about the bare Letter and meer outside of the Scriptures and every Tittle and transcribed Iota thereof viz. That these are the true spiritual Light and Authoritative Powerful Word of God and such like and after fearing the falshood of such forward expressions from which as most of thy fellow wise men are in the like case who though they are foolish and ignorant enough yet of all things in the world are loath to seem and even abhor to be accounted so to be thou art ashamed totally to recede and recant so as altogether to go back which rather then do when ye are once over Shooes thou and thy generation chuse to be over Boots also thou staggerest and reelest now this way now that and to mend and moderate the rigidity of thy Positions about the Scripture for the saving of thy credits sake as far Salva celâ—itudinis ac celeberrimae sapientiae tâ—ae gloriâ as is consistent with thy credit another way thou wheelest about and frequently foisting in the Predicate into the place of the Subject and that Term the Word of God in the room where this Term only viz. the Scripture should stand even while thou art but in thy proof of the Scripture to be the Word thou darknest thy counsel by words utterly without knowledge and rendrest thy self ambedextrously and ambiguously that thy Reader may not well read thy meaning in what thou writest nor whether when thou avowest the Scripture to be the Word of God and powerful c. thou intend'st the Scripture it self that one individual thing call'd the Letter or Writing which alone is the very formality of the Scripture or the other individual thing which is not at all the outward Scripture though so called often by thee viz. That Word of which the Scripture only speaketh for one while thou singlest out that grand subject of thy Dispute i. e. the Scripture and setting it apart from the Doctrine Faith Divine Truth and VVord it writes of seemest as if all along thou wouldest discuss the things thou praedicatest of it under that single notion of its being an external Writing apart from the Doctrine and Word of Faith written of therein as Tr. 1 C. 1. S. 12 13. expressing thy self thus viz. not onely the Doctrine in it but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very writing writings book it self is so and so thereby leading thy Reader up and down by the Nose up into the air into a high expectation of thy handling the Scripture formally quatenus Scripta as a Writing as written which is the onely subject promised to be treated on and for in the Title pages and of thy proving it as suchâ— to be the Word and mighty power of God from whence thou tumblest him down again and frustrating those his former expectations other while conjangletim thou jumblest these two as Synonomaes into one in many such or the like expressions viz. the writing or wâ—rd written the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Doctrine as written and Tr. 1. C. 4. S. 2. the Scripture or written VVord of God and S. 6. Now the Scripture the VVord of God is light the innate Arguments that the Word of God is furnisht withall for its own manifestation contain the full or formal grounds of our answer to that question why we receive the Scripture see how these terms are twisted one into another to be the word of God Tr. 1. C. 4 S. 1. Thus thou usest them so promiscuously as if they being with thee entirely one 't were indifferent and no matter at all which of the two thou expressest thy self by saying sometimes the Scripture is a light a moral and spiritual not a natural Light as Tr. 1 C. 4. S. 8 9. The Scripture makes a proposition of it self as the VVord of God Tr. 1. C. 4. S. 14. for the proof of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures if the Booke be brought to him or them that acknowledge it not c. the VVord there thou goest off again left with them it will evidence it self S. 15. The Scripture it enroll'd among things that are able to evidence themselves S. 16 17. Iâ— i.e. the Scripture is absolutely called the Power of God S. 18. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament do abundantly and uncontroulably manifest themselves to be the Word of the living God so that meerly upon that account of their proposal of themselves to us in the Name and Majesty of God as such without contribution of help or assistance from any thing else without themselves we are obliged upon the penalty of
1. c. 2. s. 3. opened the manner of the Words coming forth from God to prove the Scriptures of the old and new Testament to be the VVord of God much of which makes against himself at large in a long Train of perplexive prittle prattle throughout his whole second third and fourth Chapters from the self-evidencing property and efficacy of the Scriptures which aforehand still he calls the VVord of God but to shut it all up together in short to this purpose viz. That which evidenceth it self to be the Word of God that is and is known assuredly to be the Word of God But the Word of God doth evidence it self unto us to be the Word of God therefore the Word of God is and is known assuredly to be the Word of God The minor in this Syllogisme none denieth it being true in those termes it here stands in◠yet it is false and sophistical as falling from him who by that term the Word of God in the sore part of the Proposition means the Scriptures the utter falshood of which minor and so consequently of the conclusion which is now true but aliud a negato would have too plainly appeared if he had not sophistically placed that subject i.e. the Word of God as it stand formost in both in the room of the right subject i.e. the Scriptures or if he had not changed his minor term but exprest himself thus viz. But the Scriptures do evidence themselves to be the Word of God therefore the Scriptures are and are known assuredly to be the Word of God And to prove that minor J.O. useth another medium viz. Gods magnifying his Word above all his Name by which à minore ad majus i.e. from the self-evidencing power of smaller matters as he counts them i.e. the Works of God and the Light in the conscience the Law written in the heart and the notions inlaid there with his own finger which he calls the voice of God in nature for these are low ◠darke obscure principles and means of revealing God and his will with J.O. in comparison of the writings and letters that are inlayed in parchment and paper with the finger of meer man which low principles yet are able to plead their own divine original and evince them to be of God he argues at large that the Word of God Scripture again he should have said doth much more evidence it self to be his Word and to put his lax and loose words into a narrower room and into a more Argumentative or Syllogistical posture thus viz. If those inferiour Names of God whereby he makes himself known even his works without and his Light his Law written in the heart and conscience to which there need be no other Witness that when they testifie God's Righteousness or Holynesse and call for moral obedience which is eternally and indispensably due to him they speak from God do evidence themselves to be what they are and to be of him then much more his Word the Scripture he should have said which God magnifies over all his Name must evidence it self to be his Word But those inferionr Names do evidence themselves and therefore much more doth the Word of God the Scriptures again he should have said evidence it self to be the Word of God Rep. What a strange story is here as if a man should tell a tale of two things a Cock and a Bull metamorphos'd into one whereof the one having been as confidently as untruly avowed to be assuredly known to be the other viz. The Cock to be a Bull is being denied as Ridiculously as Reasonlesly profer'd to be proved in this illegal and illogical way of Argumentation viz. That which evidenceth it self to be a Bull both is and is assuredly known to be a Bull but the Bull alias the Cock for so he means should say evidenceth himself to be a Bull Therefore the Bull or the Cock both is and is assuredly known to be a Bull. In this shameful manner and sorry sort doth I.O. having once audaciously avouch 't it go about to prove the Scriptures to be and to be assuredly known to be the VVord of God by Anticipation sophistically substituting that subject the Word of God in his disputation for it in the room of the legal subject i.e. the Scriptures taking it perforce from such as give it not for granted that it is so while to them-ward it s yet no more but the thing in Question and utterly unproved so to be which question I.O. not onely begs but also begs so unworthily and basely that I never saw the like to it but once before in all my life and the like to it can't likely be seen again unless a man should beg it on his knees little less then plainly confessing that unless it be aforehand granted him that the Scripture is the Word of God he cannot possibly prove it so to be What wise man that is as willing to do the Truth Right as thee I.O. no wrong can make any better construction of thy own words as they are to be read in the ◠sect of the 4. chap. of thy first Treatise where professing that in the remainder of thy Discourse thorowout that Treatise which is all in proof of the Scriptures being assuredly the word of God thou shalt endeavour to clear and vindicate the self evidencing efficacy of the Scripture and the grounds thereof by such common Mediums as shall as well reach the Reasons of such men as acknowledge not the Scripture to be the Word of God as of such as do thou desirest in effect onely to have thus much first granted thee that thou mayest have leave the Scripture being that out of which thy proofs for and grounds of this self-evidencing efficacy of the Scripture to be the Word of God are to be taken to consider the Scripture as 't is the written word of God or else all thy proofs will be weak and able to prove just nothing This onely quoth I.O. to recite his own words I shall desire to promise that whereas some grounds of this efficacy seem to be placed in the things themselves contained in the Scripture I shall not consider them abstractedly as such but under their formality of being the Scripture or written Word of God without which consideration and resolution the things mentioned would be left naked and utterly divested of their Authority and Efficacy pleaded for and be of no other nature and importance then the same things found in other Books Which is as much as to say Being by the Scripture to prove the Scripture or writing both to be and to evidence it self to be the Word written or the written Word of God let such as deny it deny that their denial of it and but first own it with me that the Scripture or writing formaliter is the written Word of God and let us but under that name nature notion and formality consider it and then let
me alone to prove it to them so to be or else I must acknowledge that all I have to say will be just nothing to the purpose and of no validity at all to the proof thereof Reply But stay a while I.O. and take thy answer from us along with thee though we love thee more then we are beloved by thee and are loath to deny thee in any Reasonable Request Yet for the Truth 's sake which we love and prefer before thee and which is not ours to give away we may not give way to thy Petition of the main Principle from us though thou crouch down to the ground to petition for it we must not give thee leave to run away with the Cause so as to consider the Writing the Scripture under the false formality of its being the Word of God written the Verbum Scriptum while thou art but in the meer way of proving it till thou hast as infallibly prov'd it so to be as 't is infallible to us that 't is impossible for thee to prove it For this is the thing sub judice whether the Scripture be formally the VVord of God or no And since thou confessest thou canst not prove it unless we upon thy begging of it yeild it to thee before-hand so to be thou wert better grant it to us that it is not so Nevertheless not unlike to thy Fore-fathers the Bishops and thy fellow-Clergy-men in other Cases so bold a Lord-Beggar thou art that if we give it not thou wilt take it by force though thou crack thy credit for it and get to thy self less of that earthly Honour thou so hastenest after with thy having it by stealth then thou wouldst gain of that heavenly Honour from above by an honest confession of thy former ignorance and a repentance to the future acknowledgement of the truth For upon that score thou resolvest so to go on in thy proof and accordingly dost run rashly on like him who as aforesaid proves a Cock to be a Bull or like one who because he thought so in the dark having ignorantly asserted an Horse to be a Man will rather then recant as impudently go on to prove it to all denyers of it by begging of them first to grant it and if they will not by beating what he can the belief of it into them by his often calling the Horse a Man and bearing them down that he is a man before he begins and under that very Name and formality of his being so begins and proves him to be evidently so in this following form viz. That which doth evidence it self to be a man is a man but a Man Horse he should say but then the naked untruth of this minor would be too manifest doth evidence himself to be a Man Therefore a man alias Horse doth evidence himself to be a man Risum tenoatis A-cade mici For my part if I were now as sometime formerly I have been Petulanti splene cachinno I should hardly hold from laughing at the nugacity of I. O.'s Arguments But now nucibus faciens quaecunque relictis being turn'd into that which leads into more sobriety and seriousness then so I shall dare to laugh no further then 't is allowed the saints to do at the proud Assyrian that haughtily exalteth his voice and lifteth his eyes on high against the holy one of Israel and his holy ones Isa. 37.22 23. But as for many of those juniors what the Seniors may do I know not or younger sort of Students and Gown-men in the Vniversity to whose use and instruction thou dedicatest part of thy Booke though thou being once a man of some Authority among them they may possibly not be so bold nor so loud as to laugh out at thy hum-drum doings and at thy Idem per Idems yet they will scarce forbear laughing at them in their sleeves Yet this is thy sophistry I.O. call'd among Schollars Petitio principij or a Begging of the Question before one begins to prove it a taking of that to be a Ground Principle or Foundation to build on which is not yet granted but to be debated nor another thing from the thing debated or inquired after but the self-same thing which is in controversie and as unknown as that that is disputed For the Question between thee and the Qua. is whether the Scripture be in essereali cognoscibili the Word of God or no we deny it thou being to prove it so to be wouldest have it first granted or at least takest it ungranted so to be and then out of it self it being granted thee so to be thou wilt undertake to prove it so without which concession consideration and resolution thou even grantest the things thou art to alledge will be naked and utterly inefficacious to that purpose out of which way of Sophistry it seems thou canst not prove it and in which way though de jure thou oughtest not yet de facto thou doest prove it as much and no whit more then as is said above the Cock is proved to be a Bull and a Horse a Man whilst thy Argumentation in many places is no better than this viz. that which is the Word of God doth evidence it self to be the Word of God But the Word of God Scripture or writing thou shouldest say but dost not every where lest thy nakedness too much appear is the Word of God Therefore the Word of God doth evidence it self to be the Word of God In which Syllogism which is thine if the long loyns of thy loose dispute and that stragling multitude of thy matter of proof be girded up close into its own mifigured form thy minor hath subjectum aliud à substrato a different subject from that which was of right to stand there and to be proved to be the VVord of God viz. the VVord of God which is Idem cum predicato the self-same with that which is predicated of it and thy conclusion infers aliud à negato quite another thing then that which is denied for that the VVord of God is by it self evidenced to be the VVord of God is as much undenied as it is undeniable by us but that the writing in which the VVord is but held forth and declared is the VVord of God that is held out and declared by it this I shall make as bold and as warrantably against any one to deny as I should against such a Sot as following a Foolshead of his own should assert such a thing that the Glass window thorough which the Sun shines and the Lanthorn thorough which the light of the candle shews it self are of a truth and in very deed respectively the very Sun it self or Candle-light it self that display themselves thorow the said Glass or Horn or that the Cup-glass by which the VVine gives its colour and is handed out that men may drink it is truly and properly the very wine itself that is given out to be drunk of and that sparkles and
other good work when called by him to it i.e. not without but with such an active obedience as by his Law or Light within they are obliged to not without an active concurrence of rational faculties reduced to their primitive perfection not without but with ability thereto from an habitual light knowledge and conviction of truth and use of their wisdomes and understandings memories not without but with an aforehand containing and comprehending of the truths they wrote in their mindes as things they had heard seen beleeved acknoledged c. God who who is the giver of every good gift and the chief Author and Actor of all good works in his Saints Isa. 26. using every instrument according to what he hath fitted it for a Beast as a Beast a Man as a Man a Saint as a Saint a Prophet as a Prophet and not a Man a Saint a Prophet a spiritual man as a stock or stone but being a reasonable creature and prepared by him naturally with such a soul such faculties and supernaturally and spiritually with such gifts and graces as whereby he is capable to act when by him commanded and a body suitable as a fit instrument to move in such a work as writing his will revealed when it is revealed also to be his will that he should write it he uses him so to write as that though himself be the principal or primum movens not only in act◠primo as he gives the pomer faculties gift graces c. but in actu secundo also he holds the hand of the Scrib◠so that he would else draw but mishapen characters and guides assists and acts in and by him yet he lets the action bear its denomination from its next and immediate Agent which is not God himself who gives the word for the writing of what he will have written in the penning of the Scripture except that little i.e. the ten words as is abovesaid but men as being moved by him to write or to dictate to others whom they willed to write from their mouthes so that the immediate spring and emanation of the Scripture was not from God but men who were the agents in it under him which overturns J. O's Apish opinion of every Apex of the writing being equally divine and as to its original as immediately from God and of the same Authority in itself and to us i e. of being received as his word sub paena c. on pain of peril of eternal condemnation as his voice in the Prophets which indeed was immediately from himself and his own witness whereas the letter was mostly but the immediate work of man witnessing for God as moved by him as first given out and as we now have it by so remote away of Transcription welnigh as far from being immediately from God to us as J.O. imagines it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as it is with Saints indeed when they pray beleeve preach write c. as moved by the Lord it is not denominated ever by the Author of it all which is God who speaks and works all in such and is in such of a truth 1 Cor. 14. but the Saints who are said to pray beleeve preach write so was it in the giving out of that Scripture or writing that was of old called the Bible which J.O. calls his Canon to which no Title more must ever be counted which was not nor is not so immediate from God to us as his own voice is that is at this day to be heard in the heart but onely mediantibus manuscriptionibus yea by the interveniency of mediums and hands of Transcribers and Translators obnoxious to fallibility and capable to give change and alteration in more then the least syllables and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 's but at the first it was no more immediately from God than the writings of his moved and inspired Prophets are at this day whom he stirs up to reprove the madness of the Priests and false Prophets which is as that was but the spiritual mans testimony for God though specially assisted by him in it concerning all whom from the beginning of the world to this day so many as have spoken or written or done any thing for the truth in his name I here say and so conclude as to that above Certum est no ◠velle cum volumus dicere cum dicimus praedicare cum praedicamus scribere cum scribimus facere cum facimus sed Deus est qui facit ut faciamus J.O. Thou addest pag. 26. They invented not words themselves suitable to the things they had learned but only expressed the words they received their words were not their own but immediately supplied unto them from God himself and so they gave out the writing of uprightness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words of truth Rep. And yet it 's said Eccles. 12.9 10 11 12. as concerning the Writings and Proverbs of Solomon the Wise the Preacher which very place thou alludest to though thou quotest it not which if thou hadst there 's few so unwise but they might see thy folly therein for that Scripture clearly confutes thy self who touchest at it that in teaching the people knowledge as he did by those Writings and Books of Proverbs he gave forth he took good heed and sought out and set in order many Proverbs even thousands more besides above a thousand Songs more then are systematiz'd into thy standing-Canon and that he sought to find out acceptable words or words of delight or rather as thy self expoundest it more clearly to the confounding of thy self as if thou wert accustomed and wonted to that work and course of self-contradiction words of will or choice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all which if it be not Tantamount to this He invented words suitable to what he himself had framed whereby to utter and express the wisdom he received to people in writing and yet what was written was upright too and words of truth not beside the spirit of truth and so I.O. consequently confuted by I.O. himself about the Scripture If the Scripture it self had not confuted him then self-confounding which I.O. is so often found in shall pass for me for current confirmation and confusion which I.O. is a most eminent Author of shall go from henceforth for good order and to dance the rounds as I. O. often doth in his shall be held the rightest way of sound Doctrine and of all Divinity Disputation For as if he had not been satisfied with his own gain-saying what he uttered concerning their not inventing of words and non-improving of their understandings wisdoms minds memories p. 25. to order dispute give out what truth they wrote in such words as they saw best suited for the things they had learned of God by saying to the contrary thus Viz. Their mind and understanding were used in the choice of words they did use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words of will or choice I.O. to go round again gain-sayes this latter
God by the writers of the Scripture to the Pedagogie of the Old Testament and times before Christ such as greatly affected the outward man with trembling and astonishment for which thou citest both Habakkuk and Daniel as it the times since Christ knew no such matter as true Trembling or any such Quaking as may affect the outward man but what is fained and from Satan and the force and power of the evil Spirit imitating in his filthy Tripodes and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Dread and Terrour which is by the Power of God upon his people of which said fictitious sort thou falsely and foolishly fainest all that outward Trembling that is found among the Qua. to be at this day pag. 8. Ex. 1. S. 1. I say hadst thou been as well read and skilled in Scripture as by thy scribling pro Scripturis thou wouldest fain seem to be surely thou wouldest have found that Paul and John both were found in as great Tremblings and Astonishments Dread and Terrour to the great affecting of the outward man under the Appearances of the Lord to them in Visions and Revelations of his minde and will to them which they wrote as either Daniel Habakkuk or the rest of the Prophets before Christ that wrote them insomuch that they scarce knew sometimes where they were whether in or out of the body but were as dead with fear Act. 9 6.26.14 1 Cor. 2.3 2 Cor. 12.2 3. Rev. 1.17 But alas J.O. is so taken up and hurried in his thoughts in a hideous talking for the Scriptures that he hath little time to give any very great good heed to the Scriptures themselves he so talks for J.O. Thou addest pag. 6 7. That as far as their own personal concernments as Saints and beleevers did lye in the things they wrote they studied the writings and Prophesies of one another Dan. 9.2 and made a diligent enquiry thereby in order to the investigation of the things which the Spirit that spake in themselves did signifie 1 Pet. 1.10.10 without which though their Visions were express yet they understood them not and that they attained a saving useful habitual knowledge of the truths delivered by themselves and others by the illumination of the Holy Ghost through the study of the Word i.e. Scripture with thee still even as ye do Psal. 119 104. but as to the receiving of the Word from God as God Spoke in them they obtained nothing by study or meditation by enquiry or reading Am. 7.15 Rep. Here is such a parcel of uncouth prate about the Prophets and their Prophesie of Scriptures and the Scriptures of their Prophesies as favours of nothing but that illiterateness and ignorance of the true wayes of coming to the saving knowledge and understanding of the minde and will of God that abounds in Vniversities the supposed Nurseries as well of spiritual learning as any other well nigh as much as in any places of the so called Christian world besides What dreaming what darkness and confusion is here As if the Writers of the Scriptures because they were moved by the holy Spirit to write what they did therefore wrote they did not know what themselves nor in any wise sawingly understood every one his own piece of writing or Scripture pag. 5. whether of Histories or Prophesies or Proverbs or Psalms or Instructions or Doctrines or Laws or Promises or what ever tru he recorded delivered made known given out revealed by themselves revealed to them first from God as to their own concernment therein as Saints or beleevers by the Revelation thereof to them from God which as I said above is the only way of coming to the saving knowledge of any truth and not that of reading it as truth in anothers writings without running out to study and read the writings of some other men in order to their attaining any habitual saving useful intelligence of their own as if Isaiah that Evangelical Prophet did not savingly understand the Gospel Doctrines and Promises and Instructions and his own Recorded History of Senacherib and Hezekiah and other saving truths delivered and written by himself as they were revealed to him by the Lord nor by the voice Spirit and light of God himself manifesting them within him nor as he received the word so revealed and manifested in order to which receiving the word thou assertest also they obtained nothing by study or meditation enquiry or reading but onely as he made diligent enquiry study and search after the things the Spirit signified by him in the writings and Scriptures of some other Prophets I wonder what other parts of Scripture of the other Prophets he studied so to get that saving knowledge by since unless it were the Psalmes the last book of which is judged to have been compiled together by the Maccabees long after his dayes excepting also the three i.e. Hos a Amos and Micah that were co aetaneous with him all other Prophets that are ranked after him in your Bibles though not in the same order of time wherein they wrote wrote long after him and as if Ezekiel Jeremiah Daniel or the rest knew not savingly what they wrote themselves no more then we do as to themselves or any personal interest they had in the truths of their own writings but as they got an useful saving knowledges thereof out of each others writings in proof of which if a man would wrest them as thou doest to thine by the head and shoulders to such a purpose he might almost as easily evince the Pope to be head of Christs Church as draw any such matter as this thou concludest from Scripture That of 1 Pet. 1.10 11. Ministers no more matter of evidence to thy imagination in this particular that the Prophets searched other Prophets writings to finde out each the meaning of his own then Peters being at Rome if ever he were there doth to his being the Popes Predecessor there in the holy Chair 'T is true the Prophets are there said to enquire and search diligently after the salvation and the grace that comes unto the Saints at the revelation of Christ but is there no searching and enquiring after the salvation and the fulness of the grace of God but iâ— the letter is not the most succesful searching after these matters made in the light it self that teaches and shews it and brings the salvation nigh to all that wait for it therein which light or grace hath appeared to all men Tit. 2.11 12. and is tâ—eâ—e any way whereby God gives the knowledge of his own glory but the light from himself which the letter speaks of wherewith God who commands the light to shine out of darkness shines into the hearts of the Saints in order thereunto 2 Cor. 4.5 6. And are not all things that are manifested manifested in the light and is there any thing that doth make manifest but the said light and Spirit which the letter speaks of and which was before the letter was Eph. 5.13
and doth God reveal the hidden mysteries of the Gospel any way but by his Spirit to his Saints which searcheth all things even the deep things of God and doth any know the things of God but the Spirit of God and the spiritual men who in it and not by the letter which letter the world hath yet hath not the other have minde of Christ 1 Cor. 2.9 to the end And in that of Peter coted by thee is there the least hint of the Scriptures or of the Prophets searching the Scriptures or of any signification of the things they ministred to others in their writings by the Scriptures but only by the Spirit And as for Daniel it is true he understood by the books of Jeremiah the cerâ—ain number of seventy years how long the Captivity should last but what of that num ex puris particularibus aliquid sequitâ—â— universale Wilt thou argue from one to all much more wilt thou infer from thence that neither Daniel nor any other Prophets understood their own writings but by the Scriptures of the other Prophets which is the absurdity thou assertest And as for Davids saying Through thy Precepts I get understanding Hast thou got no more understanding yet then to beleeve that the Precepts Statutes â—udgements Laws Commandments Testimonies Word Ordinances Wayes Truth Name one or other of which names is either in the singular or in the plural number used in every individual verse excepting two throughout that long 119. Psalm consisting of an 176. verses no other thing is meant but the outward letter writing or Scripture of Moses five books very little more than which was extant in Davids dayes wherein the ten words which God wrote with his own hand and a few more Ceremonious matters were recorded by the hand of Moses Is not the Commandement or Word or Law of God as the letter speaks the Lamp or Light that the letter only speaks of Psal. 19.7 c. 119.105 Prov 6.23 And if all the other Prophets that succeeded Moses studied the writingâ— of Moses and one another in order to the knowledge of their own Prophetical writings without which they understood them not savingly as thou sillily sayest yet I wonder what other Prophets writingâ— Moses himself who was one of the Prophets not excepted by thee searched and studied that he might get a saving understanding of that truth that was penn'd by himself sith as thou thinkest at least there were no Scriptures extant before him for Enochs Prophesies have no standing in your Standard I wonder Quae colliquia cum Angelis vel ficta velfacta quis enthusiasmus quis afflatus caelestis aut reapse vis mali spiritus did suggest these fantasms into thy fancy Ex. 1. Ex. S. â—8 thou hast little need to detest the Qua. as Enthusiasis that entertainest and utterest to the world as undoubted truths such Amick Enthusiasmes as these Sundry other such shallow furmises and suppositions are very positively propounded and set down by thee in thy first Chapter of thy first Treatise which I shall let pass here some of which may possibly be touch't on elsewhere But this may suffice to give a taste of that untruth which thy two Treatises are under-propt with whereby from the falsenesse faultinesse foolishnesse and unsoundness of thy ground-work and foundation and from the brittleness of thy Basis so thou call'st p. 1.28.30 this Original part of thy Book concerning the Divine Original and immediate manner of the Scriptures coming forth from God to us the reasonable Reader may read aforehand what a Come-down Castle the rest of thy Babylonish Building is like to be for howbeit I grant that the Word of God and the holy truth in its first coming forth from God to the holy Pen-men that heard his voice and so wrote it as moved by him was of an immediate Divine original in which respect it is said no Prophesie of the Scripture is of private Interpretation or to be counted no more upon than a private mans wriâ—ing which writes of his own head as thou dost the figment and imagination of whose heart fancies thoughts are the fountain of all that is uttered but as that which holy men of God were moved to write and the outward Scripture it self may be said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. penned by men as they were inspired by God or the fruit and effect of no self-afflation but according to the motion or inflation of the holy Spirit yet that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou makest such a deal of work about as the Original of the Copies of the Original of the Scripture and their coming forth from God was not so immediately from God to those that lived when they were first given out much less to us now as thou imaginest in thy vain mind who dotest that every Apex of that Text is equally Divine and as immediately from God to us as the very voice of God in the Prophets was to them without the least mixture or interveniency of any mediums or wayes obnoxious to fallibility or capable of giving change or alteration to the least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or syllable thereof pag. 10.30.153 for that came from God at first excepting the Decalogue and that little to Belshazzar which ye have now but remote Copies of not without the interveniency medium and way of mans hand-writing which is it were as being infallibly guided by the Spirit obnoxious to no fallibility yet as it comes to you who own that and no other to be your inalterable Standard it s far from coming immediately from God sith it is not without the interveniency of the hands of welnigh innumerable unknown Transcribers the very first and best of whom were so far from non-obnoxiousness to fallibility that thou thy self sayest pag. 167. that neither all nor any of them were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infallible or divinely inspired so that it was impossible for them to mistake and that religious care and diligence in their works with a due reverence of him with whom they had to do is all thou ascribest to them and p. 10. that the wisdome truth integrity knowledge and memory of the best of all men is obnoxious 〈◊〉 fallibility and also that it s known they did fail Neither if the Question were about the Autographae or first Manuscripts that were far more immediate then thy far fetcht Apographae or modern Copies are howbeit thy main business is about the magnifying thy confestedly mistranscribed Transcripts and fallible Copies and not the other which being acknowledged by thee to be lost perished and mouldred out of the world nemo post homines natos aequè ac tu delerasse censendus esset si pro scripturis ipsis scriptis hisce argumentare statueris thy dotage would justly be deemed of a deeper die than any mans to argue for them if he be a fool of al fool that fightâ— for the non-corruptibility of what is long since corrupted but I say were thy
the things written in this book meaning that particular Writing he was now in hand with not if any man shall write any more Scripture with so high a pretence as by Revelation from the Spirit or loose or shut out any of the Scriptures that are already written by inspiration from the Canon for if he had meant so then as brisk as ye are to breath out Threatnings and Plagues and Curses to such as pretend to write any thing by inspiration revelation or motion from the holy Spirit since the dayes of the complearing and closing of your Canon as you call it which you count from Iohns writing his Revelation though ye are far from adding any inspired Scripture to the Bible but only such Scripture as is the fruit figment and imagination of your own hearts which thou confessest to be the Fountain of all that other men that are not Apostles as ye say ye are not do deliver p. 9. not daring to pretend to the infallible guidance of the infallible Spirit in your Ministry yet yee 'l not scape the taking your names out of the Book of Life and from the good things written in the Revelation for your fault of taking away detracting and diminishing from the Scriptures for ye exclude from your Canon very much of that inspired Scripture that was written some of which is extant at this day too or hath been shewed before But considering the nature and true being of your guilt I confess in this case of varying from the Rule if that were the onely standing Rule of the outward Scripture should be found to be much more in the Ablative than in the Dative Case But of this more hereafter These are J.Os. inartificial Arguments or Testimonies of Scripture used by him as mediums of artificial ones that may be drawn from thence of which Scriptures he affirms that they are as commonly cited so already vindicated à nosâ—â—i Theologis by our Divines from exceptions of Papists and others that hee need not insist any more on them to name them of which say I as he Communiter citantur nonproprie they are commonly but not properly cited but not yet vindicated from the exceptions of all I shall now come to consider his more Artificial Arguments drawn â—rom some of these and some other Scriptures by the Cart Ropes of J.Os. Carnal Reasonings in proof that the inward Light Word Spirit and its Revelations are not at all but the outward Letter Text Writings Scriptures are only and altogether the standing Rule to the Church and all men of all Truthss Doctrines and things that are to be done beleeved tried or determined in point of Gods worship and our obedience J. O s. Arg. 1. The first is on this wise Ex. 3. s. 28. Si Revelatio c. If the Revelation of the will of God in the Scripture be so perfect compleat and every way absolute that there is no need of any other Revelation by the Spirit and Light within Enthusiasm Heavenly breathing discsurses with Angels fained or true to instruct us in the knowledge of God 〈…〉 in order â—o the attaining eternal life then its plain that all those wayes and means of knowing God and his will which the Fanaticks fain to be the means thereof are uncertain dangerous unprofitable and in no wise necessary thereunto and therefore to be rejected and detested But it s so c. Therefore c. Rep. Oh full of all fallacy as well as falsity folly and blindness in the things of God of whom I may truly say Et si non casâ—etamen cause thou art not so little honest in it but thou art well-nigh as much crafty to hide what thou canst the dishonesty of what thou holdest not only from the Qua. as thou thinkest in the Latine language but also from all that would handle thee for thy ill handy-work by thy dark discoursing in words of a double and doubtful reference and signification that thou mayest the more privily pervert the right wayes of the Lord and prepagate thy perverse Propositions the more securely to the prejudice of them what means else thy foisting in of that foolish phrase quae simulant fanatici by the inserting whereof thou mayest either intend thus viz. that all wayes that are fained by the Qua. are unprofitable unnecessary and to be rejected and detested and so creep thy neck out of the collar and shelter thy self from that censure of falshood thou fore-sawest would else befall the minor for meer fained mediums of knowing God and his will wherever found are to be rejected as useless unnecessary and no less then detestable indeed that is true enough who doubts it but then withall how Serpent-like wouldest thou hereby subtilly insinuate it into the younger sort to whose use thou devotest this thy peece of dotage under that Vnive sâ—y vendible Title of Theological determinations Theses or Apologetical exercitations pro Sâ—ripturis as if the Qua. professed means were but a fained Light and Spirit as if thou foughtest against nought but the Qua. fictions and not any true internal Light or Spirit of God or heavenly Revelations or inspirations but only such meer imaginary spiritual Divine motions and notions as the Qua. fain or falsely fancy so to be Whereas no figmentitions matters are found formented or sought for by the Qua. to be the Rule but only the true Revelations Light and Spirit of God himself within the heart Or else thou mayest intend thus as thy words express that forenamed clouding clause being excluded viz. That the Scriptures alone make such an absolutely perfect Revelation of Gods will that there is no need at all of any other Revelation by the Spirit and Light of God within which the Qua. affirm to be useful and needful to instruct in the knowledge of God and his will to the attainment of life eternal but those are uncertain perillous unnecessary means of knowing our duty and so to be rejected and detested in which way understanding thy minde there is so much the less fallacy indeed but the more falsely even so much as amounts to little less then great blasohemy and so thy minor is to be denied with a witness ex duobus malis absurdis hisie unum saltem est elegondum utrum horum mavis accipe if the first which is fallacy and foolery it s the least and the best yet too bad if the last which is falshood and blasphemy it s so bad that its worse then nought yet judging by thy undertaking to prove thy minor which else were true and needing no proof thou intendest the Letter which is the greater of the evils I enter the lists with thee about that and deny utterly thy minor which thou proceedst in proof of by man particular confiderations viz. 1. Of the Author of the Scriptures namely God from whom sayest thou Nothing can come that is imperfect any way much less in respect of that end to which he decrees any work J.O. from a
the perfection of which say they stands in no other thing than in sufficiency to effect its proper end which is with them the most perfect instruction of men in the knowledg and worâ—hip of God so that they may obtain eternal salvation witness I.O. whose Kâ—unds and Contradictions to himself in that point I shal here see down in his own words Englished which were written by him in Latine J.O. God the Author of the Scripture being the most perfect Agent must necessarily act for some end therefore in the Declaratiâ—n of his wiâ—l in the Scripture 't is sure he had some propounded end but â—herâ—as the end is tâ—ofâ—ld â— Vâ—timaâ—e and â—emoâ—e 2. Next and immediate we state the ultimate supream and general end to be his own glory The immediate or next end of his giving the Scriptureâ— and so of the Scriptures themselves we conâ—end to be our direction in the knowledge of God and obedience to be yeelded to him that at length we doing his will may obtain eternal salvation and the enjoyment of himself for this is the end of the worker and of the work What God intends by the Scriptures that they to wiâ— morally and in the way of operation proper to them dâ— effect But when aâ— the perfection of every Discipline consists in relation to its end and that is to be held perfect wâ—ich is sufficent to its next end but that imperfect which cannot obtain it propâ—sed end the perfection of the Scriptures can consist in no other thing then in its sufficiency in respect to its proper end which is the instruction of men in the knowledge and worship of God that they may attain eternal salvation In this sense therefore we assert the Scripture to be the most perfect Rule of the whole worship of God and oâ—r obedience Reply Whether â—â—ere be not a more perfect way of our instructâ—on in the saving knowledge of God then the Scripture appears elsewhere where I shew no saving knowledge of God comes any way but the inward Revelation of himself in us by his Light and Spirit Here only obseâ—ve I O. confusiâ—ns and confutation of himself in this above by that which follows when the Quae. say the Scripture is perfect to its own proper end and its end being obtained it ceases Then quoth he It s most false that the Scripture obtains it whole end in respect of us while we are in the world therefore till heaven and earth pass away not one jâ—t or tittle of the Law i.e. Letter with him shall fail for not only the begetting of faith but also the building up in it while we live here is the end of the Scripture So then its end which is begetting to and building up in the faith is not effected by it here is it then in the world to comes 〈◊〉 no neither quoth he in the self-same Section the use of the Scripture shâ—â—â— cease then being accomodated only to our present state and faith also as founded on it â—â—â—ll be done aâ—ay Ex 3. s. 39. Here then is the round I.O. makes with a Cris-cross in the middle of it viz. The perfection of the Scripture which we plead and affirm and of every thing else is its sufficiency and efficacy to accomplish its own proper immediate end and what ever doth not so is imperfect The immediate end of the Scripture is its direction instruction of men in the saving knowledge of God his will worship their obedience and duty to him the ingeneration of faith and edification up in it to salvation This whole end of the Scripture its most false to affirm that it accomplishes till the world to come it must do it in this world or in the world to come in this world it cannot possibly do it for perfection in the faith in holiness freedom from sin here is not attainable in the world to come it cannot possibly for there both the Scripture it self and also the faith it seâ—f that is founded on it will cease to be of any use at all being of use only here â—nd shall be both done away Verbum sat sapients insipienti plura plus satis Never did I see such Rounds and crosses and confusions and contradictions such self-confutations and Net-works and Checker-work and Webs and Snares as I.O. makes and hangs hampered in himself when he hath done made and woven among any but our wofully benighted Divines all whose works are done in the darke Isa. 29.15 in all my dayes before Is the Scripture then the Power of God to salvation able mighty effectual available to its end that is to save the soul as I.O. sayes it is no quoth I.O. it is not it s most false to say it doth or can avail to its end in this world in the world to come its of no force so if it be the power of God as I.O. affirms it over and over again it is it must be in some world that is past away or some new found world or other for he himself sayes its neither in this present world nor that to come neither now nor hereafter neither here nor there But alas as the world it self wherein he fancies such a thing to be is none knows where but a meer Chimaera of his own coining hatcht no where but in his own head the Shop where and whence many more such like toyes are shapen sold and uttered among such as having sold the truth are willing rather to trade in utter untruths then in nothing at all and not receiving the love of the truth that they might be saved but taking pleasure in unrighteousness more then it are given over to strong delusion to beleeve lyes that they may be damned For seriously that the Letter or Scripture is the power of God to salvation or that Word of God which brings forth any good fruit to perfection among either the Seedsmen the Ministers of the Letter that sow nothing but their own senses and thoughts upon it or in the stony thorny common high-way ground of Parish peoples hearts in which they sow the Letter mingled with their own chaffy cogitations saying Hear the word of the Lord when yet they confess themselves neve heard his voice This however ye imagine Oh ye power less profitless Prophets is a meer no such matter for that is the Word or Seed that is sown by the Supreme Sowes the Son of Man himself in the same Field or World of mens hearts in which the World is where the Devil in the dark night while men sleep and watch not to the light sows Tares among the good Seed which where it lights on honest hearts that hear and heed the Word patiently continuing in the keeping of it brings forth abundantly in some Thirty some Sixty some â—n Hundred fold Indeed the Letter the Text or Scripture declares and bears witness to the Word which is absolutely necessary effectual perfect to the ends aforesaid which is the power of God
fruit only to himself so is our National Gospel Israel an empty Vine fruitful to themselves in temporals and in suâ— gerere in such spiritual also as their Religion lyes in viz. in empty forms of fastings prayings praâ—sings preachings singings of Davids Psalms with Doegs Spirit Text applauding Treatises talkings for Tithes multiplyings of Ministers of the Old Testament not of the Spirit but of the Letter that may labour soundly to the blowing out if they couâ—d tell how of the Qua. extolled light magnifyings of the maintenance for such Ministers as maintain themselvs out of Augmentations by the Impropriations of Kings Bishops Deans Chapters Lands Tenths first fruits and such Levitically legal â—molumenis far better than they are able to maintain either the true internal eternal Gospel which they are utterly ignâ—rant of or their own external Gospel either against the Qu. who maintain the true But utterly as fruitles to God as full of leaves and broad Shews wherein they flourish yea as barren as the figtree that God came three years together seeking fruit from and finding none for which the Word had long since gone forth effectually from the Lord but that intercession is yet made for it by the dresser of the Vineyard who digs and dungs it in hopes of somewhat but hath yet from it as small thanks for his great pains as the unskilful dressers not to say devourers of it have great thanks for their small pains Cut it down why cumbreth is the ground So what thou so pompously utterest I O. on behalf of the efficacy of the Letter in this particular as the All-sufficient All-accomplishing power of God in its self and to us ward to salvation and such like is nothing so nor doth any one of all Scriptures cited by thee in proof thereof evince any such thing they all excepting that in 2 Tim. 3. which as it may relate to an inward Scripture thou yet searchest not if intended of the outward yet not without the Light and Spirit within which said Light and Spirit thou still excludest and damnest down as detestable and no way needful to be so much as concurrent with the Scripture toward salvation as is shewed above intend no other Word or Light then that which is uttered and shines within in the eâ—rt Iam. 1.21 expresly speaks of the wording rafted there which is able to save the soul which 〈…〉 â—innate word for it s there put planted and sowed as his seed by the Lord himself some refuse and reject to walk by whose condemnation it is some receive it hear it mix it with faith in it beleeve in it to the salvation of the soul. In Joh. 17.20 Christ speaks of the same and not of any outward Scripture for by that word their word is intended the Word which they preached or held forth or testified to by their words in their preachings and writings as that which men were to come to hear and beleeve in and do till tâ—eir beleeving in which though they shâ—uld or do beleeve Historically the outward declaration as the Papists do the litteral declaration at this day with their heart and confess it with their mouths that the Lord Iesus was raised frâ—m the dead yet they perish and beleeve not on the Name of God savingly or to salvation Which Word is not the Letter nor their preachings but that which the Letter and their oral preachings testified to that it was nigh men in their hearts and mouths that they might hear and do it even the word of faith which they preached Compare Ioh 17.20 with Rom 10.8 9. Which word that they preached was not their Preachings or Writings or Scriptures but that which in their preachings and writings they called them to hear which was not a word without but the word nigh in the heâ—rt between which Words and Writings of the Preachers and Writers of the Scriptures and the Truth Faith Doctrine Light Gospel Holy matter which they preached and wrote of if our Divines couâ—d keep constant in distinguishing at all times as they do sometime they would come out of their conlusions wherein they are found jumbling things on heaps without heed into the clear understanding and comprehendings of the truth in their heads at least whether it may have place in their hearts and lives or no that is saving their being ashamed to own it from Babes and chusing rather to be ignorant then submit to be taught by them so often told them by the Qua. T D. sayes It s evident the Word spoken of Rom. 10.8 in the heart is the holy matters contained in the Scriptures the things contained there pag. 30 31. of his 1. Pamph. Rep. Who doubts of that But are not the holy matters one thing and the outward Letters that write of those matters another the things written of which the Scripture sayes are in the heart one thing and the Scriptures that write of those things another why then do you jumble these together as one in your blindly busie brains which are so bewitcht that ye either cannot or will not own that from the Qua. without crying out of them as deniers of the Scriptures to be the Word of God which your very selves are forced to confess to the Truth of For T.D. dances between within and without in the fore-named pages as if he could not well tell where to be nor what to say the Word of faith they preached is himself denies not from Col. 3.16 which I urged but that it was within the Colossians but yet because we say its within a light within he will needs say and so he had need or else he could not out word us it s the Letter without also the Word spoken of in the heart is meant quoth he of the holy matters contained 1. Declared of in the Scriptures which are say we the living Word Light Gospel c. and yet in the same page the Word spoken of is without or it is the Letter of the Scriptures quoth he also though at the beginning of the dispute upon that subject when I told him wee denied the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the outward writing or Letter written on paper with inke to be the Word of God himself p 26.1 Pamp. he denied the same with me saying You cannot beleeve us so simple surely as to affirm the Scriptures in that sense to be the Word of God but we mean the matter contained in the Writing c. And p. 30. When I said the Scripture is not the Word of God for that is within but the Scripture is without â—rging Rom. 10. The word is nigh thee in thy heart You read not all quoth he t is in thy mouth too so that it is without as well as within Rep. Oh gross what an absurdity is here as if that which is in the mouth of a man were not within but without him if T.D. should tell mee of a man that is no Monster that his
from it plead for it are proud of it yea who more busie about the Bible and in a more uncessant search of endless scraping for more the Scriptures then licentious luxurious lascivious ambitious unrighteous murderous envious maliciou lying persecuting Schollers and Bible-binders that hate light which reproves their evill deeds which those that love truth in the inward parts love and come to yea our professing Christians that say they are the Iews and are not but do lye and are the Synagogue of Satan are Iews in this pâ—iâ—t at least of searching Scripture and looking into the Letter for life which testifie of Christ as the life to whom they will not come in his own light that they may have it and of talking from the Letter of Christ the Son of God yet refusing to hear his voice when hee speaks to them in their own hearts and thereby leaves them without cloak for their sin and seeing and hating both Christ and his Father in the light that shews them as much as Christ and his children hate the Devil and his deeds Finally as the Text sayes every evill doer in the world hates the light but there are millions of evill doers that neither love nor hate the Letter nor the Bible which they never so much as saw or heard of therefore the Letter cannot be the light here spoken of men cannot hate that they have no way heard of as neither can they love or desire it for there is no odium toward that at all which is no way known at all neither savingly nor otherwise as there is ignoti null a cupido A word lastly to 2 Pet. 1.19 and then I have done at present with I. Os. whole dozen of his own chusing which agree altogether as one to give their Iudgement or juridical verdit against him As to this Text therefore which with the 20 and 21. vers is no less then nine or ten times over rehearsed one where or others in thy book I have had it so often under my eye that I have hardly forbore so long from talking with thee about it and there is yet a place behinde whereunto I thought I might have reserved the examination of it it being there urged with two more in the way thou callest Inartificial â—in proof of the Scriptures being the Word of God p. 65 66. But now I shall here consider it whilst it s under my hand where it s urged in vindication of the Letter to bee the Light which Letter if it be the Light there spoken of then I will yeeld it to be the Word of God there spoken of also for I shall grant its both of these if either and if it be not both thou must needs grant its neither the verse runs thus But we have a more sure word of Propesie or Prophetical word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which ye do well to give heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place untill the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts And the two that follow it thus for no Prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation for the Prophesie came not at any time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Spirit Rep. Thy often repetition of this Scripture upon every occasion imports the great stress thou puttest upon it and how great store thou settest by it as to the proof of the Scriptures being the Word of Prophesie and the light shining in the dark place of mens hearts here mentioned which Text with the Context both which thou improvest to the uttermost will sâ—rve us rather to reprove thy ignorance of Gods Word by and to prove thy heart to bee still a dark place then serve thee from which to prove the Scripture to bee the Word of God or to be the light here said to shine in the dark place there spoken of which is the heart Exitus acta probat From this Text considered together with the Context thou confidently concludest assertest and insistest on five things 1. That all the Scripture Letter or Writing in the original Texts of it which is now bound up in your Bibles and commonly called the Scriptures was written at fiâ—st by holy men as they were acted in it by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God and this I shall neither deny nor put thee to prove though if I should I see where thou wouldest falter and be foundred in it but to let that pass here this I am sure enough of that this place proves no such matter as that as t is above laid down neither in Terminis nor by Consequence for though it sayes holy men of God spake of old i.e. Prophesied as moved by the holy Spirit yet it from thence follows not that all that ever holy men of God wrote in point of History Chronicle c nor Prophesie neither was written by the same immmediate impulse of the Spirit on the spirits of the Penmen of all that is there for some was written from the mouth of such as were inspired by the hands of others that were not the men inspired nor moved to give forth the burden of the word of Prophesie that was on them as Baruch wrote from Ieremies mouth Tertius from Pauls and so others what they spake and was written by and from them was one thing and the Writing or Scripture of that true Word is another which yet I own to bee of God as far as ye can from it or any other rationally assert the Text to be even in matter of Chronicle or Story wherein men may possibly write true Scriptures of things done in their times and times before them from Records and other principles without that immediate inspiration or dictation of every Iota or Tittle to them as thou Tatlest somewhere from the holy Spirit of God And lest thou shouldest not take this for truth to me who am here in contest with thee being prejudiced against me hear what thy felâ—ow-fighter against the Qua. T.D. sayes for I can almost at any time as Paul did the Pharisees and Sadduces who when they were both upon the back of him threw a bone that set them together by the ears between themselves and so save himself add his testimony to the truth from them both Act. 23.6 7 8 9 10. set our Stribes Pharsees and Seducers at oddes within themselves and send them to learn the truth we tell and they will not take from us from the testimony of one another which T.D. saith it follows not that because Books are the Books of Prophets therefore they are divinely inspired for they might as well write from their own spirits or upon human credit as sometimes speak from their own spirits p 43. of his 1. Pamph. 2. That none of all the Scripture Letter or Writing aforesaid is of private interpretation that iâ— neither to be interpreted as meer private mens Writings written as other mens are
on him to make an ill business good yet the utmost thou makest of it if well examined is as little as 't is nought toward the bettering of it and very much of it at least but very little better then what is urged above about the Lanthorn And when thou hast turned every stone and hast wrought a long time till thou hast tyred thy self with talking to have the Letter and every jot and Tittle of it to be the Word of God till thou canst scarcely go one jot further or adde one Tittle more to the countenancing of thy cause thou even givest out and lyest down and as T.D. had the wit to do at first and C.F. was forced to do at last in a manner givest it in and layest it down so very fairly to thy opposers that all thy after strugling for it again is to no purpose to prove thee any further a friend for all thy ample appearances pro Scripturis then the Qu. are with whom thou art fain to fall in one and say as they say in thy Ex. 1. s. 28. s. 40. and as thy fellow fighters with us about it do all confess that the Scripture no otherwiseâ—is nor is to be called the Word of God then Respectu subjectae materiae or divinae veritatis in earevelatae seu contentae non respectu literae scriptae non formaliter quatenns scripta in respect of the matter or Divine truth therein declared and contained only not in respect of the Writing or written Letter not formally as 't is Scripture and that in innumerit paene locis ubi verbum Dei dicitur c. in those well-nigh innumerable places of it where the Word of God is said to be preacht publisht multiplied and received the holy truth or matter of the Scriptures is intended but not the Scripture it self formally considered and when the Word is said to be nigh us in our hearts and in our mouths Rom. 10.8 and the Word of Christ to dwell in us t is confest by thee that that Word of faith is not litera Scripta is not the Writing but the Truth written which is another thing then the Scriptures neither do the Qua. say as thou there belyest them in thy lame laying down of their Argument which is of force to stop thy mouth however as thou rendrest it weakly much more if urged in its full strength that the VVord within is not Verbum Scriptum for it is the same word that is written but it is not the writing not the Scriptura not the litera scripta between which and the Verbum Scriptum thou art or wilt seem so silly as to make no distinction So then if the Scripture formaliter formally considered is not as secundum te it is not the VVord of God then however thou scruest it into that name and thing by secundum quid yet simpliciter really truly it s not so at all nor so properly to be called for forma dat esse rei and is that per quod res est id quod est and if it have not the form of the VVord of God then the Scripture hath not the being or true nature of the Word of God much less is the Word of God as thou improperly sayest it is its proper name CHAP. V. NOw as to I.Os. third Argument whereby to evince the Scripture to be the only most perfect Rule Standard absolutely sole sufficient way of Revelation of Gods will c. and so consequently the Word of God it s on this wise Ex. 3. s. 30. viz. J.O. The Spirit of God most heavily damns and rejects all additaments to the Word of the Scriptures i.e. the Scriptures with him of what sort soever and specially all those wayes and means of knowing God and communion with him boasted of by the Fanaticks chiefly conference with Angels Col. 2.18 Heb. 1.2 4. 1 Cor. 4.6 Luke 10 29. Revelations not only alienas containing different doctrines Gal. 1.8 but alias also 2 Pet. 1.19 other new Revelations of the same Doctrine then those individual Revelations of it that were made to them that wrote the Scripture Rev. 22.18 Heb. 1.2 1 Cor. 4.6 Col. 2.18 And Col. 2.18 And lastly that inward Spirit the Fanaticks talk of or internal light common to all 1 Joh. 4.1 Isa. 8.20.2 Pet. 2.18 Rep. Surely I.O. thou wast in some deep Divine dream when thou wrotest these thy Divinity Disputations or else thou wouldest never have divined out such a deal of darkness and falsehood at thou hast done or have lent such as thou wouldst have to own what thou writest for light and truth a little more of that thou eallest light even a little more of that Letter a of Scripture thou pleadest for to discry it by or something or whether thou deemest I will not say that men seeing a number of Scriptures quoted by the Dozen for so 't is here as 't is in sundry places above spoken to excepting that counting such as are twice over recited here is thirteen to the Dozen of which it might be said nos numeri sumus would make account of them by whole-sale to be all on thy side and take account of them not by weight but number without so much as looking otherwise on them then to see how many they are but not heed either what they say or whereof they affirm but some odde blinde business or other is i th' wind as the reason of it I know full well for there 's not any of all the Texts of thy own tumbling a top of one another that I meet with yet either in this Dozen or those before that hath the least tendency toward such a thing as thou intendest them to in thy meer Nomenclateral citation of them Thou intendest by all these to prove there is now no other way of knowing God of communion with him but the Scripture that there is now not only no other kinde of Revelation of the Gospel save such as was made of it to the Writers of the Scripture but also none of that same kinde of Revelation of it as was made to them to be expected or on pain of damnation and cursing pretended to by any person by any means whether Angels internal spirit that inward light the Qua. talk of or other medium whatsoever but only that very individual Revelation of it that is made in so much of the Letter as is now extant and bound in your Bibles is and must be the only Standard Rule and measure to which no Scripture must be added tho bounds of which no man for ever nor Angel is for ever to inlarge so as to write any more though of the self-same Doctrine or Gospel mark on so high a pretence as from the self-same true inward illumination vision in the same true light or immediate motion or inspiration of the same holy Spirit on pain or peril of utter rejection and execration Do the Texts set by thee in that Section even all of them together
prove that general ignorant audacious Assertion of thine Doth any one of them respectively prove the particulars thereof that it is particularly alleadged to Doth Gal. 1.8 because it is said If we or any man or Angel from heaven bring any other Gospel then what we have preached to you twice over let him be accursed prove him cursed that writes more Scriptures of the same Gospel by the same Spirit if so was not Iohn hereupon accursed that wrote more Scriptures of it after Paul was dead by a new Revelation not the same and was not Paul if he wrote any Epistle after to Galatia cursed out of his own mouth by saying though wee bring any other Gospel let us be accursed if that were his meaning ' that no more Scripture must be written is every new Revelation and new writing by way of Revelation of the old Gospel a new Gospel or doth Rev. 22.18 prove there must be no more Scripture nor Revelation within nor new outward Scripture and Revelation of the Gospel by motion from the Spirit after by Iohn because he saith If any shall adde to the words of this Booke God will adde the plagues of it to him Said he therein any more then what was said long before Deut. 4.2.12 ulz. Prov. 30.6 Adde thou not to his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar were all those adders to Gods Word or words and reprobate and liars as they must be if the Scriptures bee Gods Word and the adding of more Scripture be additament to his Word that added all that Scripture which was written after Deuteronomy and the Proverbs and if the Scripture were the Word of God is not taking away his name out of the Book of Life threatned to him that takes away from the words of that Book as well as plagues to him that addes and so ye in that ye discanonize most of what was writ there by the Prophets are discarded from the comforts of the Scripture by the places of you own quotation Doth Col. 2.18 twice over cited and allowed two votes in this Section vote either of those particulars it is cited for Doth the Spirit there condemn Angelorum alloquia alias called by thee Colloquia Angelica s. 28. all conference with Angels or only that worshipping of Angels forbid more expresly as I hinted to thee before in Rev. 19.10.22.9 where I also told thee of the lawfulness of talking with Angels or receiving of Revelation of the truth from Angels unless thou wilt Tax such as received the Law which was given by the disposition of Angels and Daniel and Mary and Zachary Cornelius and Paul and Iohn that wrote the Revelation and Christ himself who all were spoke to and ministred to by Angels were these all guilty of sin and condemnation Look again I.O. on the words in English which thou Greekest out perhaps to the further hoodwinking of Idiots that ken not Greek lest they should finde out thy folly who settest it for a Cypher if rendred in plain Latine which to give thee the reading as they stand in your Translations run thus Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility or worshipping of Angels Is the talking of Angels to men here deeply damned by the Spirit of God as thou dreamest And 2. what 's that Text to prove there must be on pain of cursing no additament of more Scripture or Writing to that Scripture that is in your Bibles with pretence of immediate Revelation of the same Doctrine Truth or Gospel there taught from the same inward Light and holy Spirit which is the second purpose for which it s cited a second time And again as to Heb. 1.2.4 cited Heb. 1.1 3. for thus thou citest that twice to the 2. same purposes with Col. 2. what hath that in it to the evincing the Spirits damning of either all talk with Angels or addition of more Scripture thereof from the Revelation motion or inspiration of the same holy Spirit to that Scripture of the Truth that is now truss'd up as the close of the whole Councel of God that ever must be declared in writing or counted upon as part of your Canon according to the Clergies Councel who first caused that consignation of it by Book-binders within the bounds of your Bibles thus run the words God who at sundry times and in diverse maners spake in times past the Fathers to the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken to us in his Son who is better then the Angels c. Must not his eyes be out that sees any such things hinted at here as those above the proof of which I.O. intends by this quotation Because Angels are here named inferiour unto Christ therefore Anathematized is he that hears or heeds any thing that shall be spoken to him by an Angel though he reveal the same Truth and not another seeing that truth is already written in the Scripture yea cursed be hee from henceforth even for ever there 's one of I.Os. Concâ—usions who consequently concludes Iohn accursed that wrote the Revelation from thenceforth even after this of Paul to the Colossians and the Hebrews were written from whence forward I.O. drives his execration downward to this day sith the said Iohn had his Revelation immediately from an Angel by whom Christ who had it from the Father sent and signified it to his servant Iohn Rev. â— 1 And because Christ is better then the Angels and God in these last dayes speaks in and by him his only begotten Son the light of the world the great Shepherd and Over-seer of the soul whose own voice his Sheep hear warning all to hear him to hear his voice in all things what ever he sayes on pain of being cut off from among his people therefore the Scripture must have no more writing though of the same truth that is there added to it on pain of damnation for ever there 's the t'other of I.Os. Conclusions from Heb. 1. from which Conclusion I can much more clearly conclude that a cloud of darkness is drawn over I.Os. understanding and that a beam is in his eye then draw such an untruth as that no more Scripture since Iohns time was to be written by the holy Spirits moving and added to that from that Text which tells the truth if I.O. would once heed it viz. that the hour now is wherein God speaks to the Sons of men in and by his own Son whom he hath given to be a Light and Leader to all people wherein the dead must hear his voice before ever they live to God who since God speaks by him and hee by his own light Spirit Voice in I.Os. conscience why doth not I.O. heed him then but scoffe at him in his inward Light and Spirit the Qua. call to as at Christum quendam Imaginarium infallibilem Doctorem nescio quod lumen scu verbum internum nescio quem Deum seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deoforsan quopiam
D. makes no better then dung loss and filthy rags to both the Justification Sanctification and Salvation of sinful men from All their sins then the Quakers do who are by the Parish peoples Blind Leaders most abominably belyeâ— to them as denyers of it And because we do not with the misty Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the meer Letter which the Apostles were not Ministers of but of the Mystery of the New Testament or the Spirit 2 Cor. 3 own the bare External Text of Scripture which themselves confesse to be corrupted vitiated altered and adulterated in all Translations to be at leaâ—t in their Heb. and Greek Transcripts of it entire in every Tittle Letter Vowel Syllable and Jota the self same without any losse as it was at the first giving out but say it hath suffer'd much losse of more then Vowells single letters and single lines also yea even of whole Epistles and Prophecies of inspired men the Copies of which are not by the Clergy Canoniz'd nor by the Bible-sellers bound up in the Bulk and compasse of their modern Bibles and specially because we own not the said alterable and much altered outward Text and Letter or Scripture but the Holy Truth and inward Light and Spirit which the Scripture it self testifyes to which at times that Text and Letter came from to be as to Name and Thing and that properly the Word of God which is Living the only firm infallible Foundation of all Saving Faith and invariable Right Rule of holy Life the most sure sound Balis stable Standard True Touchstone for the due Tryal determination and discerning of all true Doctrines of Christ from mens Tradition and cunningly devised Fables Therefore they cry out against us as Siders with Jews Papists Athiests and All Scripture haters as decrying the due Authority of the Scriâ—tures as such by whom Satan assaults the sacred Truth of the Word of God in its Authority Purity Integrity and Perfection and as Opposers of the Scripture and the Word of God as to both Name and Thing witnesse J. O's Epiâ—t Dedicatory of his doings againâ—t the Quakers to all young Divinity Students p. 28.30 and elsewhere as is seen hereafter Whereas how though Christ and his living Word in the heart which the Scriâ—ture exalts also is Exalted onely on the Throne yet the Scriptures are owned by us in their due place and how though Christs Light and Spirit alone in the Conscience is according to the Scripture asserted to be the only most perfect Rule Foundation c. and not the â—etter as they darkly Divine yet the Letter is acknowledged by us full as much as it is by it self to have been written by men moved of Gods Spirit and to be useful profitable servicable c. to be read and heeded and how all-J O's lying Calumnies against the Quakers as concerning their carriage to the Scriptures and the Word of God and the Foundation and Rule c. are clearly wiped away and cashiered as well as T. D's foul false Aspersions of them in his Narratives as to matters of Fact are in the 1st part of my 1st Exer from p. 18. to p. 38. is to be read at large throwout the 2 d. and 3 d. Exercitations which consist well nigh wholly in vindication of the Truth against their cloudy conceits about the Scriptures And Moreover because we as the Spirit also in the Scripture bids us Jam. 2.1 c. have not the Faith of God with respect of persons as they are high in this world in the Church where Christ is the one Master and all the rest are Brethren Therefore they misrender us as proud obstinate uncivil churlish discourteous disrespecting contemning all mens persons Whereas we truly honour all men in the Lord and what we do in denying those vain Complemental Customs of the Nations as vailing the Bonnet or putting off the Hat which is part of the outward habit and bowing cringing to the ground when we come before men and in our keeping to that plain yet not True Antient and proper English Language of Thee and Thou which is used to God himself to each single person great or small when we haue to do with them who have no law of man neither whereupon to imprison and punish any for doing herein as we do we do it God is witness and will once Iudg between us and them not in a Spirit of Pride Arrogance Disrespect Disdain or Contempt towards any man but in Conscience to the Lord that we may stand clear before him who forbids us to bow to the likeneâ—â—e of any thing in Heaven Earth or under the Earth and in humility onely and that fear of the Lord whereby we are bound to depart from all conformity to all such fond foolish fashioning of our selves according to our former Lusts in our ignorance and to This World which we are chosen out of A more clear discovery of the unsuitablenesse of which Ceremonious services of men to the Saints of God is made as in the Scripture it self so in the 1st of the ensuing Exercitations from page 40. to page 47. And because Christs Headship Kingship and Supremacy alone we together with the True Church which is in God the Father and in Christ Iesus the Light can own in the Court of Conscience and in matters purely Spiritual and of meer Religious and Soul concernment and not any meer mans much lesse the Popes or any Priests in such Sacred Secrets therefore are we mistaken and misranked among such as are utter enemies to the present Kings Supremacy in these Dominions Whereas we do according to what the Spirit requires of us in all civil causes and cases between Man and man submit our selves to every Ordinance of man himself I say in such cases even for the Lords sake whether unto the King as Supream or to such as are sent of him to be a Terrour to evil doers and a Praise to them that do well And if those who have the Sword in hand shall turn it against us for well doing and so act against the good will of God or impose by Gods permission upon us contrary to our Conscience even there where we cannot obey actively we are willing to bear patiently without violent Resistance what God will leave us to suffer from the hands of such as should protect us not reviling nor threatning nor cursing but committing our case in quietness to him that Judgeth Righteously and our Souls to him in well doing And that Passive deportment must be and is judged by All to be Aequivolent to that Active obedience which others yeild for fear to what lawes soever are made among men And because we are no Strikers or Fighters as some men called Christs Minister's alias Servants are though no such should be 1 Tim. 3.3 1 Tit. 7. with Carnal Weapons the Weapons of our War-fare being not Carnall but Spirituall nor such as theirs among whom are found Warrs and Fightings which
Reason why I went so far in a talk comparatively to the Truth of Toyes and Trifles and was so taedious to my self and such as look't long since for an end of this labour and wasted so much paper in a work so worthless as it may seem to some as is fitter for J. O's Iuniors to be busyed in at their Schooles where Pueri tam Puerilia tractant then for men cal'd Ministers to medle too much with whose wisdom lies more if not in forgetting yet at least in forgoing frivolosities that are so Remote to the Souls Redemption then to fight so fiercely and foolishly for them as J. Owen does whom neither For nor Against but About them only I have much to do with so that bear with me in it if it must be deem'd my Folly the Ground of which piece of Folly is as followes In His Threefold Thing I found J. O. 1st in the Theses of his Latine Thoughts Glorying not a little in being on behalf of the Collegians among whom he was then a Chieftane intruâ—ted as he talks with the Task of contending for the Text of Scripture not so much against the Foes as under that name against the Truest Friends of both the Text and Truth as the Word of God properly as to Name and Thing and not only consequently but most expresly also both there and in the 1st of his two English Treatises the only most perfect Rule of all Belief and Holy Life Stable Standard True Touch-stone for Triall of all Truth Doctrines Spirits Speeches yea it s own also and the Sole sure Foundation for all True Faith to stand on and be discerned by from Falsehood Fable and meer Fancy and not only so but also Tiring himself in his Taedious second Treatise to evince the Entireness and Integrity of the said Text to every Apex and Tittle as at first it was given out without Addition Ablation or Alteration in the least â—ota or Syllable p. 153. in the Trans-scripts of it in the Original Languages how ever confessed by him to be Corrupted and Egregiously Adulterated in all Translations and insisting so uncessantly eagerly and earnestly in proof of the said Integrity of the outward Text as for hast to outrun all his own Reason and to Reject also the Uncontrolable Reasons of All others to the contrary putting also so great a stresse upon that poor Punctilio of the Hebrew Punctation as from a self-conceived Imagination and dangerlesse Affrightment to stickle for its Antiquity againâ—t those that on better grounds Iudg it to be Novelty and not Coaevous with the Consonants with such stricâ—ness as to deem all Divine Saving Truth lyes at stake and is Eternally Liable and likely to be lost if it be not as he conceives in these particulars for as is seen at larg in the book ensuing he Trembles to think what will be the Isâ—ue how desperate will be the conâ—equences of such a conclusion that the Text-mens Hebrew and Greek Transcripts are by mistake Mis-transcrbed in a Tittle and that the Points Vowells and Accènts were added to the Hebrew Text by the Tyberian Mastorites A Firebrand is brought into the Churches Bread Corn quoth he All 's utterly undon for ever as to any true Distinct Sound Certain Saving Knowledge of God or understanding of his Mind Will without either Remedy or hope of Recovery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ther 's No firm footing nor Foundation to stand on No abiding Bottom at all to build on No Right Rule for the Faith and Obedience of the Church to be Regulated by No Word of God remaining uncorrupted No more means to be seen of being delivered from utter uncertainty in and about all Sacred Truth Epiâ—t p. 25. Nay though it be yeilded by his Antagonists that howbeit the Copies are Corrupted Altered and found Various in their Lections as to the meer Letter nevertheless the saving Doctrine as to the Substance of it Remains Sound and Entire in the Copies of the Original and the Translations that remain yet this is no Satisfaction to him he deems that the Saving Doctrine can't continue entire and uncorrupt and that their is no Relief against the Absolute Perishing of All Truth one of the World without any Rule or Measure of Iudging and Determining any more of it or Principle of Discovery or Medium of its Rectification or Recovery if every Tittle and Iota be not Preserved Entire or on supposition of any Corruption to have befallen the outward Writing p. 17. 18 19. Yea upon such Supposition that we have not every Letter Tittle Point Iota Syllable Accent c. as 't was in the Beginning of its Writing without Alteration by Ablation of any Apex or Addition of the Hebrew Punctation Gods Promise Isa. 59.21 Mat 5.18 Fails his Care of his Word and Church Fails he leaves it in uncertainties about the things that are the Foundation of all that Faith and Obedience he requires at our Hands so that we know not where to lay â— Sure Foundation of Believing yea 't is impossible we should come to any certainty almost of any Individual Word or Expression whether it be of God or no p. 55. Yea p. 212. out of Jo. Isaac He that Reads the Scripture without Points and so must they Read it â—oho did Read it before Points were say I as they did before Ezraes dayes if the Points were not from Moses is like a man that Rides a Horse without a Bridle and p. 214. 215. on this Hypothesis that the Points are added I know not saith J. O. how Bellarmines Inference can be avoided then which I know nothing in all his opposition to the Truth more Pernitiously spoken that partly by their Addition and partly by the Negligence and Ignorance of the Transcribers the Hebrew Scriptures which are not Uuniversally Corrupted by the Malitious Work of the Jewes are not yet so Wholly Pure and Entire but that Errours are Crept into them Yea they that are otherwise minded then those are who Maintain the Antiquity of the Vowels and Accents and with Radulph Cevallerius whose Opinion he sayes is his own that the Hebrew Language was written with them from the Beginning do not only make doubtfull the Authority of the Scriptures but even pluck it up by the Roots for without the Vowells and Notes of Distinction it hath nothing firm and certain p. 213. Yea so dangerous in the Consequenceâ— of contending for Various Readings though not false nor pernitious that there 's nothing remaiÌ„ning upon that account firm and unshaken p. 219. Without the owning of these Points to be of Divine Original we shall be left unto great uncertainty in all Translations and Expositions of the Scripture p. 292. Yea the distemper that there are corâ—uptions befallen the Text Varieties from the first Copies is dreadfull and such as may well prove mortall to the Sacred Truth of the Scripture These Cuen multis aliis c. are the Extremities J. O. Asserts his Position in insomuch
all for their enmity to the Scripture Secondly to recover both Priests and people as much as may be from under those dark cloudy conceptions of the Scripture which these two men being overcast with themselves labour what they can to beget others into as if all the worlds were for ever utterly undone and under the losse of all saving truth and utterly without any possible way whereby to come to the knowledge of the will of God concerning them in order to their souls Salvation from sin and wrath to come if the outward Letter or External text of the Scripture be not Talkt up into the Throne as the onely Lapis Lydius ex 3.5 33 sure Word of God infallible guide Trusty Teacher Supream Iudge perfect Rule stâ—m foundation stable Standard fixt unerring unalterable measure and such like as I.O. states it to be by which all Doctrines Faiths Words Writings Spirits true or false must be toucht tried and determined or else no man can be at any certainty where to be what to believe how to walk with God which to take for Truth and which to turn from I shall first plainly shew what the Scriptures are and what we mean when we talk of Scriptures 2. Briefly take notice of some of the base unworthy absurd abuses and fowl aspersions and unjust accusations whereby thou I.O. what in thee lies labourest much more abundantly and abominably I must needs say then the other as to this point to render us odious to all men as despisers and deniers of them and then 3 dly addressing to the controversie it self leave all who shall read such Animadversions as are to be made by me of thy unfound Assertions about it to judge by that light of God in their own Consciences whether themselves or we erre most beside the Scripture or most duly deserve the Censure of Anti-scripturists First then I shall here give all men to understand more distinctly yet then I have hitherto done what it is that I intend and what I would be understood as speaking of by this term the Scripture which is to be so often agitated in this Discourse between me and I.O. in whose Book also it is so often agitated and what sort of those Holy Scriptures it is which is the common Subject of which so much is prated and predicated by I.O. that is as utterly denyed by the Quakers That we may not by hanging in universals only which are in no wise or sense truly seen but by considering the particulars wherein they exist conclude of things in a tumultuous mist of Confusion as thou dost distinguishing where thou shouldst not and jumbling things into a kind of Omnigatherum which should be more singly and severally spoken of whose Trumpet gives such an uncertain sound that its hard to know either how or where one must prepare to the battel The word Scripture then though it be an Vnivocal nor AEquivocal as us'd by us yet is it a General Term and so Ambiguous and doubtful unless it be explained by its particulars signifying not only all other kinds of Scriptures good and bad that ever were in the world but also more kinds then one of that kind of Scripture which Abstractively from and more eminently then the rest in regard of its worth we ordinarily call The Scripture and have singled out from all the rest as our Present Subject What thou meanst in thy heedlesse handiement of this more General Subject I can hardly find thou drivest it on when thou Praedicatest this and that of it in most parts of thy Dispute at Randome in general terms and run'st away with the word Scripture at all adventure scribling it over again and again The Scripture is this the Scripture is that the Scripture is written by Inspiration of God the Scripture is the Word of God the Scripture is entire to a tittle perfect c. scarcely shewing which of those Three several sorts of it which thy self hast divided it into thou wouldst have us to understand thee as speaking of when thou denominarest these high things of it viz. Whether first thou mean the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as thou caliest them pag. 13. I The individual and immediate Manuscripts of Moses the Prophets and Apostles and such holy and honest men as were the first Pen-men of the sundry Parcels of that holy Scripture which was copied cut the Copy whereof is bound up in the bulk now called the Bible Or secondly the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I the transcribed Copies thereof whether first immediate that were at first hand taken out of the first Copies Or secondly those mighty mediate and far remote ones taken by thou knowst not whom out of thou knowst not what Copies that were handed downwards successively not without some mixtures mistakes and for ought though knowest losse of much of what was at first throw all the dark Ages since then to this of ours by men that were some faithful and some unfaithful but none of them infallible by thy own confession p. 167. or divinely inspired so that it was impossible for them in any thing to mistake which uncertain Copies ye have as your only Rule and Canon at this day in which Copies neverthelesse of the Originals yet remaining that may secundum te I.O. according to thy Concession be more or lesse crooked as it happens and thy self granting there are varieties among them cannot be all true Thou dost not blush p. 173. to adde and say That the whole Scripture entire as given out from God is preserved without any losse and within them all is every Letter and Tittle c. Or Thirdly Whether thou mean the several and various Copies of the Translations of those various and several Transcriptions into several Tongues and Languages What thou meanest I say or which of all these Three sorts of Writings whether the first Manuscripts only or the Transcripts and Translations also or the Two first only and not the last or all the Three which are all Three commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Scriptures When thou Praedicatest these glorious things of the Scripture thou dost not very distinctly declare but goest on in generals and that Dolus latet in universalibus thou art not ignorant so that he had need to be wise that very easily discerns thy mind and what thou meanest yet this I know full well and 't is the more shame for thee if thou be ignorant of it that some things may be said tru'y of some one of these that cannot without falshood be affirmed of the other Two and some things of Two that cannot of the Third and he understands neither what he saith nor whereof he affirmeth whosoever he is that without distinction denominates all the things that thou dost of the Scriptures of these Three sorts all alike or of any Two of them either most of which will upon due examination not be found duly
applicable to the very best But whether thou intend one or two only or all these Three throughout thy Book when thou contendest for the Scriptures to be now entire to a tittle as at first giving forth to be the Light Word Power of God and such like is not easie to learn If ever we hear of thee again about the Scriptures I desire thee to speak home as to these particulars and to write thy mind more fully and plainly and singly out as in all places of thy Book thou hast not done but as one that hates the Light and is not willing to come to close pinchest in thy mind and winkest and twinklest and triflest and keepest back as if thou wert afraid as no doubt thou art though he that doth truth is not Ioh. 3.20 21. to look the Light too fully in the face or Ex. 4 S. 14. Subtilius Disputare to dive too deep in thy Dispuration about the Light or as the Elephant to drink more then needs must in fair water for fear of seeing a foul face but veritas non quaerit Aâ—gulos For my part I shall deal ingnuously with thee in this There are some things thou affirmest of the Scriptures which I can grant to be true of some one of these Three viz. of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that are not true of either the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Translations And there be some things to be said truly of these two that are not true of the first and some things of the second that are not true of the first nor of the third and somewhat of the third that 's not true of either of the other But when thou scarest so high as to affirm the Scriptures as thou dost in general to be the same in every tittle syllable and iota as at first to be the Word of God the Living Word the Spiritual Light the Power of God and much more as will appear when I come to Reckâ—n up and rank the things thou Praedicatest of the Scriptures in Order in order to my Answering of them I who shall ever put a difference between the Writing of the Word and the Word it self Written of do absolutely deny all these things of all the Three sorts above mentioned and if it stand so as that thou understandest all these Three as thou dost of one of them at least and that of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transcriptions if but of one the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or first Manuscripts being all lost and mouldred and Translations all corrupted by thy own confession when thou affirmest all these things of the Scripture then so let it stand for me till I have tryed the truth of thy Positions after which I hope all that stands not upon good ground will of it self to the ground come tumbling down And as by the Word Scripture I mean excepting where such things only are Praedicated as are peculiar only to either One or Two of them and not to all the Three no less then all these three sorts of Scripture in the main Controversie with thee so no more then these three sorts and these not one jot more not yet any farther then quâ tales 1 So far only as they are Scriptures properly truly and formally so called and considered or outward Writings Expressions or Declarations ad extra by Letters legible to our bodily eyes however extant upon what ever outward matter capable to receive their impression Tables of Stone Walls Skin Parchment Paper by the finger of God or hands of men whether Writing the issue of which is Propriissime stiled Scripture or Cutting Graving Stamping Printing in which way since that Art came up the Scriptures are now most extant the effect of which though most properly it be called Print or Scuâ—pture yet not to be too close and curious in Criticizing about Cockle-shells shall be allowed by me as to our purpose properly enough to passe under that name of Scripture I say then 't is the Letter and not the Matter the Writings and not the Subjects Things Truths Doctrins or Word written of that is the Subject to come under Consideration between us whatever those things are that are therein declared though 't is like we shall not passe them by neither without taking some useful notice of them yet that makes nothing to us in the State of our Question as it stands before us nor will all thy tumultuous hudling it over in haste hinder this nor thy shuffles about it shuffle it off it is the Declaration that thy Disputation with the Quakers is about considered as abstract from what is thereby declared for by the Scripture I intend not the Law it self written nor the Gospel nor the Light nor the Faith therein exhibited to us and held forth to be read of in the Writing for these are not the Scripture nor is the Scripture any of these but the Writing it self that holds these forth I call no other thing the Scripture then that which is truly the Scripture and that is no other thing then the Scripture it self I call the Scripture or the outward Declaration no other things and by no other Names then those it calls it self by or are truly answerable to its nature and that is no other then the Scripture a Declaration of those things that were believed and of the Word of the Faith that was preached a Letter a Writing Holy Scriptures Scriptures of Truth Books of Writing that consist Treat of and Declare in forms of plain true suitable and sound words various true things sound Doctrines by which many unsound Doctrines of Divels of false Prophets Priests Scribes and Pharisees of false Brethren ungodly Men that creep in and turn the Grace of God into lasciviousness of false Apostles that brought in Doctrines contrary to that at first delivered and served their own bellies and not Christ Taught for Doctrines Traditions of men of Iannes and Iambes that resisted the Truth of Baldam the Nicolaitans of Iezebel and Satan which are all written of and declared in the Scriptures of Truth as well as those of God Christ the Spirit the Light and Truth it self do stand not approved but reproved and condemned useful Histories of what was done and spoken in sundry times and ages past by God and Christ and the Divel himself and Men good and bad and by Balaam and his Asse also Pretious Prophesies of things viz. of good to the good of bad to the bad Comfortable Promises to the seed that is the Heir of them Terrible Threatnings to the seed of Evil doers and Woes to the Wicked Profitable Epistles to such as they were Wrote to Blessings Curses Prohibitions Commands Copies of Psalms and Songs that were sung Proverbs that were spoken Letters that were written from men to men some by good men at the motion of the Spirit of God some by Evil men out of malice against Gods Servants at the motion of the Devil Some not without
the Spirit by such as lived and walked in the Spirit and were in all they did led by the Spirit to some private Christians about some worldly Affairs as that of Paul to Philemon Some by Chief Captains to their Presidents and by Presidents to their Princes about Prisoners and Tumults and divers other sorts of passages So that as written in the Spirit the Holy Scriptures may be said to be Homogeneous Writings all of one kind but in respect of the several businesses written of therein they are at Heterogeneous I a body or bulk of as various Writings as any extant in the World-besides them Now by the Scriptures I mean these Writings that contain the matters abovesaid and many more and not the matters themselves therein contained And if thou mean by the Scriptures any other things then the Scriptures themselves as like a Reed shaken with the wind thou seemest sometimes to do and again sometimes not to do and which things the Scriptures are not or by any other things which are not the Scriptures when thou speakest of them viz. the Law Word of God the spiritual Light c. meanest the Scripture as sure enough thou dost well-nigh throughout thy confused discourses and disputations about it then thy meanings are too mean to be any otherwise at all then meanly accounted on among any that mean honestly and plainly and know the Truth as it is in Jesus By us when we talk of the Scriptures to use thy own words onely vice versa Ex. 1. Sect. 26. non sanctissima ista veritas seu materia Scripturarium sed scriptura formaliter considerata intenditur honestly and plainly we intend that onely which is so even the form of writing it self and not the matter or holy truths of the Scripture the Scripturam and not the Scriptum or at most the Litteram Scriptam not the rem scriptam not the Verbum Scriptum the Declaration and not the Doctrine declared the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the letter in the oldnesse of which thou art yet serving who knowest not the newness of the spirit the Scripture or Writings of the Prophecy and not the Prophesie of or contained in the writing nor the Prophetical VVord the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the writing for so the word is there translated truly 2 Chron. chapter 21. not the VVord Written or word of Prophesie that came to Elijah and was sent in a Writing to the King which thou falsly sayest p. 12. that Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for in that Text and every wise man that is truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 especially in a dispute where the Question is whether the writing of the Word of God be the Word of God Written of or no while sub judice lis est will till the thing in debate one way or other be clearly determined remember still to keep these two things as two asunder So thou dost thy self while thou art well in thy wits witness thy words above cited by myself Ex. 1. S. 28. where thou puttest a plain difference between the Scripture it self formally considered and the most Holy Truth or matter therein delivered yea when ever thou keepest in any measure of sober-mindednesse thou keep'st these two as distinct in thy discourse as the two sticks of Iudah and Ioseph Ezek. 37 19 17. that were superscribed with two several superscriptions vouchsafing to each its own proper name and not communicating the name of either unto the other but clearly dividing between them so as that any one may see thou thy self dost not believe one of them to be the other nor yet darest affirm them to be Synonymous witness p. 12 13. where thou makest them two and writest of one of them all along as in contradistinction to the other in these Terms viz. not the Doctrine in it but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it self The Providence of God no lesse concerned in the preservation of the writings then the Doctrine contained in them the Writing it self being the product of his Counsel for the preservation of his Doctrine Satan hath no lesse raged against the Book then against the Truth contained in it it was no lesse crime of old to be Traditor libri then to be Abnegator fidel which sour last Assertions of thine though they are all four false tales for Providence is not so much concerned to preserve the Writings as the Doctrine neither is the Writing so necessary for the preserving of the Doctrine that as thou there hintest it must it must needs perish if the Writings perish for it was before them and may be without them and will be after them Neither thirdly is the malice of Satan so much against the Book called the Bible as against the Doctrine of the truth for he is willing to let hypocrites alone long enough to carry gaudy Bibles under their arms so be they serve him and abide not in Christs Doctrine nor in the Truth the Scripture tells of neither 4ly is it or ever was it so great a Crime to betray the Book called the Bible as to deny the Faith and the Word of Faith therein written of for the Book is not worth a Pin as to salvation without the Faith but the Faith is sufficient thereto without the Book and was so before the Book was witnesse the Worthies from Abel to Moses whose sufficient faith is written of Heb. 11. and would be if the Pope and the Devils rage should reach so far as to burn all the Bibles in the World so here 's four utter untruths asserted together neverthelesse as they are Tru-lies yet are they true enough to serve the truth I here summon them in proof of viz. that thou thy self who countest it as bad not to be as trusty to the Bible as to the Truth that 's in it as it is to betray the Truth and deny the Faith dost deny the Book or Scripture the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Writing to be one and the same with the Faith Truth and Doctrine or the Doctrine to be the Writing or that these can truly be denominated each of other I say then that here being more sober minded as to thy discerning between the writing and the written verity though drunk enough elsewise to lay so many lyes or at least so many tales that are not true upon the top one of another in so small a space as one short Section thou art freely willing fairly to distinguish them into two Yea further yet that thou dost not judge these two to be one it may appear plainly to thy self or any that are free to peruse the places in the 16. and 17. Sections of the same first Chapter for if thou didst then in the enjoyment of the one thou wouldest be satisfied as
and write as if with thee they were as one for besides thy stiling the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Writing or Scripture which is well-nigh the total Subject Treated on in that Section by these names viz. the Prophecy of Scripture the word of Prophesie the written VVord the Word of God and thy loud lying in saying that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is above fifty times in the New Testament put absolutely for the Word of God not proving it to be so put so much as once not being able sure I am to prove it to be half so often if thou couldest as I shall shew elsewhere prove it so to be put an hundred fifty times all that would prove nothing to thy chief purpose which utter untruth must be more talk't with in another place thou twice there makest one of them as explanatory onely of thy mind and of what thou meanest by the other in these Terms viz. the writing or written word the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it self or which or is there more conjunctive then disjunctive the Doctrine as written also thou makest the one but explicatory of the other in many other places viz. Ep. Ded. P. 20. Tr. 1. ch 4. S. 2. S. 19. and Ex. 1. S. 24. where thou writest of them not Sâ—orsim as of two but conjunctim as of one and the self same thing thus Scripturam sacram seu verbum Dei scriptum the Scripture or written Word of God sacred Letters the written Word Nâ— so incogiaant art thou as not onely both to divide into two and confound again into one these two distinct Subjects viz. the Scripture and the Word of God the writing and Doctrine of Christ therein declared within so small a compass as the space of two small Sections standing both together but thou both dividest and confoundest them within the little corner of one single sentence witnesse the last clause of the twelfth Section of the first chapter of thy Treatise above cited where thou expressest thy self thus viz. not onely the Doctrine in it but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it self or the Doctrine as written is from God 1 as his Word for so thou meanest still by that term from God in the first part of which the Doctrine written in the Scripture and the Scripture it self are made two in the latter the Scripture the Doctrine written as written in it are made one which is the same Doctrine still as well when considered as written as when considered as not Written and is neither more nor lesse of God whether written or not written and under both these notions a distinct thing from the writing evermore If the Serpent can hansomly and fairly twine himself out here from the just censure of a self confounder let him scape scot-free this once and in this one thing for me but if he cannot do it without dawbing and dribling and shuffling and shifting and cutting and lying against the Light within then let him hang there for me in his Fetters of darknesse till he learn to speak without confusion for I know not how in a way of honesty to help him out or take him down CHAP. II. HAving shewed what truly and properly the Scripture is and what we the Quakers intend and I.O. also if we may take him as meaning what he mostly sayes by that Term Scripture when we deny it to be what thou contend'st it to be and pleadest against us for as its Proper Name viz. the Word of God c. I come next to those base abuses put upon us and false matters charged against us partly by T.D. in his first Pamphlet but principally by thee I.O. as concerning our carriage toward the Scriptures Principally in thy Latine Legend wherein thou lyest more at liberty then in thy two English pieces of emptinesse and the more securely by how much thou seemest to thy self at least to lye more hidden or more obscurely out of the reach of their rebuke whom thou reproachest in that Latine Language then in the other insomuch that by thy own speeches we may conclude that thy whole work as relating to the Quakers which is fronted but fronti nulla fides with Pro Scripturis Adversus Fanaticos for the Scriptures against the Fanaticks with which new nick-name the Quakers by many more besides thy self who Arbitrio Diabolico wast one of the first Imposers of it on that truly enlightned people begin now to be abusively branded seems to be designed more to the sporting thy own and thy School-fellowes leâ—d spightful Spirits by playing upon the Quakers in secret in your dark Divinity cels among your selves then either to convince them to their faces of such errors as thou erroneously accusest them of or by thy crude Theological Disputations Determinations tumultuarie sane fatis conscriptas as thou callest them ad lectorem to confute the Quakers plainly and openly before Plain-hearted people witnesse thy own saying to the like effect which I shall first enter at as it lies in thy little Latine Lecture Ad Lectorem J.O. The Fanaticks or with thee the Quak who are in these dayes most notable in their errors and foolishnesse we here Principally assault But no man could be deemed to dote so much as my self if I aimed at the convincing of them by what I here write sith they no more understand the speech we here use then we at any time can perceive that indigested sound of words void of all sound sense whereby they when they speak seem to noise it out to not onely one another but all others also Ex. 2. Sect. 23. They the Quakers are well nigh all unlearned and skild no further then their mother Tongue Rep The more shame for thee I.O. if the Quakers be all so unlearned and utterly unintelligent in the Latine Tongue as thou sayest that thou talkest therein against them as thou dost and chargest them with much more error in Doctrine and evil in life then will ever be made good against them by thy self or any of thine Abetrours or stand approved for Truth while the world stands among spiritually understanding and honest minded men when they come to be divested as hereby they are to be our of that disguise thou dressest them our in to thy Iunior Ieerers at Christs own Image which is seen upon them Was it not enough for thee to have belved them in English as no lesse then twice ore thou hast done in thy Epistle Dedicatory of thy Dean-like doings to thy Reverend Friends the Prebends and Students in Divinity in that Society so called of Ch. Church Col. in Oxford where thou wast lately Dean but quo jure divino I yet know not but thou must likewise needs lay at them and lye in ambush and talk and take on against them in a Tongue wherein if thy surmise of their Vniversal ignorance of thy Latine Lyes had been as sound as it seemed to be they
hollow holes and cavernes throw the several Sections or lesser Rivelets thereof as throw so many dark Cells till driving downward still throw that least and last Head-lesse and Tail-lesse piece of Envy against the inner Light they issue out into the outer darknesse and at last all empty themselves headlong into the bottomlesse pit from whence those Exercitations for the most part were at first exerted and so downward still into the most dismal Lake of all even the Lake of fire that burns with brimstone which is the second death where the strong Warriour who is as â—oe and his work which is as a spark and every Lyar and his Lyes must lye and burn both together for ever and not be quenched And as for thy boasting thy self and glorying over the Quakers as learned no farther then their meer Mother tongue and such as understand not so much as the Latine tongue wherein thou cowardly enough encounterest them nor know how to speak sound sense to your understandings in their seeming bâ—bble to each other and to all others Alas poor man this is no newes to the Quakers to see Sanballats and Tobias's High Priests Scribes and Pharisees Doctors and reverend Rabbies superstitious Athenians University Philosophers Epicureans and Stoicks who worship an unknown God A generation of Arteficial Fools and Scholastick ignorant Ones that of old encountered Paul a better Schollar in Christs School a wiser builder then themselves Acts 17. count Gods Prophets Christ and his Apostles bringers of strange Matters and New Doctrines to their Ears medlers beyond their line measure Rule and Call doers and speakers of bald businesses no newes to hear the Opposers of Truth in their Science falsly so called say of the Quakers What will these feeble folk do Will they fortifie themselves Will they Sacrifice Will they make an end in a day Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the Rubbish that are burnt That which they build if a Fox go up he shall even break down their stone wall Neh. 4.2 3. Oh thou Seer that confessest thou wast neither bred nor born a Prophet but an Herdsman com'st thou to Prophesie at Bethel at the Kings Chappel away hence to thy own Countrey eat Bread and Prophesie there if thou wilt Prophesie but come not here dropping thy word thou art not a fit man to minister here the Land will not bear thy words Amos 7. Whence hath this man these things he pretends too this boldness to teach us having never learn't at our Schooles being never brought up at our Nurseries of Learning and Religion and such like But miserably wretched and deluded men that ye are ye little consider though the old Priests and Scribes as bad as they were took knowledge of such a thing in Peter and Iohn Acts 4. that as outwardly unlearned and ignorant men as the Quakers seem to you to be yet they have been with Iesus from whom they have learned that by looking to him in his own Light which all your meer sublunary literature can never lead you into the knowledge of even that hidden Wisdom of God in a Mystery which the Princes of this world are not acquainted with that Crosse of Christ the Wisdom Power Righteousnesse Image and Glory of God which is foolishnesse to them that pâ—rish Ye glory in your Fencer-like Faculties of Disputing in Form and Mood and Figure over the Quakers as a sort of Rusticks and Russet-Coats disorderly Disputers unruly and vain Talkers because they are not Regulated as your own blinded People are in all things implicitly by the Rules and wordly Rudiments of you Renowned Rabbies but ye forget that the Lord hath rejected the Scribe and Disputer of this World and will confound and make foolish and bring to nought all his strong and wise and mighty Matters that Are by the weak foolish base abject Contemptible things that Are not and by stammerring lips and another Tongue then they wot of and by Precept upon Precept line upon line here a little and there a little make the Drunkard of Ephraim stagger and stumble and go backward and fall and be broken and snared and taken and weary these vain wise wild-Asses out of their Academical Niceties and Punctilio's out of their Accute Astutenesse and Astute Accutenesse out of their witty Wiles and wicked wrestlings against the Truth by a foolish Nation that are even as no People in their eyes Ye tell the World that these People know not the Law and are accursed as your Fore-fathers did saying Do you see any of the Rulers of the Pharisees believe as they do they are un'earned and unstable a giddy headed People that wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction But ye heed not how Christ tells the Scribes that were as well skilled in searching into the Scripture as your selves that they Erred and knew not the Scriptures nor the power of God and how even ignorant and unlearned Peter himself as to that Science of yours falsely so called or Wisdome of the flesh which is ever enmity against God and is never subject to his Law nor can be speaks of another kind of un'earn'd and unstable Ones then those ye count so who are a thousand fold more spiritually discerning then your selves that being out of the Light and spirit in which Paul and holy men gave them forth wrest both Pauls Epistles that are hard to be understood by the learned'st of our Letter-lauders and also other Scriptures to their own ruine The Quakers Preach Christ his Light and Crosse the Power of God the Wisdom of God to the Iew outwardly a stumbling Block and foolishnesse to the Greek the Quakers know not the Originals say they How can they Expound and Open Scriptures They know not the language we here use quoth I.O. whose Lyes are most in Latine against the Quakers who busies himself about the back-side of the Book and tangles and turmoyls himself in tedious Tattle about the External Text about the integrity of the Hebrew the Greek But ye say I know not what is talked of in that Text it self ye so much talk of when it tells of a time wherein the Eyes of all Israel as of one man shall be toward the Lord who will bend Judah for himself and fill the Bow with Ephraim and raise up the sons of Sion against the sons of Greece and make them as the sword of a Mighty man in his hand Yea who so blind about the Scripture it self as well as about the things therein written as the great Scripture searching Scribes and Scholastick Scriblers thereupon who come not at all to Christ himself whom the Scriptures testifie of that they might have Light and Life who never at any time hear either his or the Fathers voice or see his shape so far are they from coming forth into his likenesse or Image which in their own imaginations these Spiritual men of God so called pretend to appear in more then any others Now as to
men as the others was before them both yea as thou savest of thy so called poor deluded fanatical Quakers Fanatici 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. So say I of these poor deluding Fantastical Anti-quakers Fanatici 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt erroribus stultitia bisce diebus notissimi quos hic inprimis aggredimur These Fantastical self-conceited Seers whom I here primarily Plead against are in these dayes most notoriously known by their errours and foolishnesse already not to a few of their own former followers and will be to ten times as many more in the dayes that are immediately hereafter following Thy many Taunting Terms wherein thou both belyest flingest and quippest at the Quakers being thus not in the same Taunting or Twitting way but in a way of true judgement turned upon thy self and thy own fellow-flouters at them I shall more closely examine what thou falsely accusest us of more particularly as concerning our deportment toward the Scriptures whom thou falsely declarest to be so grossely opposite thereunto as duely and deservedly to be denominated by those Terms by which thou also miscallest us of Fanatical Anti-scripturists p. 147. Ep. p. 28.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ex. 3. S. 26. i.e. Haters of the Scripture and to be rankt among the rudest Reproachers of them in such words of thine as are hereunder Repeated and Replied to I.O. Thou sayest Satan in these dayes assaults the Sacred Truth of the Word of God in its Authority Purity Integrity or Perfection especially in the poor deluded Fanatical Souls commonly called Quakers c. Ep. p. 28.30 That to this sort of men the Quakers it was not enough to joyn in with those in Ages past who cast Reproaches on the Scriptures and approve of all the opprobrious speeches that have been cast out against them but they also rejoyce that the care of this matter viz. of spoiling the holy Scriptures of its proper name that glorious Title of the Word of God is by Satan confer'd upon them That they the Quakers who would seem to bear away the Bell from all as to the stout opposing of the perfection of the Scriptures Thou principally encounterest and as 't is an honour to thee that God hath pleased to confer on thy unworthy self this Task of fighting against those enemies of his Word the Quakers so what thou shalt perform in prosecution of this function thou oughtest to ascribe to his grace c Reply Herein thou not onely shewest thy sâ—l to be of that sort of men to whom it is not enough to joyn with those in Ages past who cast Reproaches on the hearers of the Word of God and Tremblers at his Word Isa. 66. 5. now in scorn called Quakers and cast out by their Brethren for his Name sake as then they were and to be an Approver of all the opprobrious speeches that are cast out against them by this adulterous and sinful generation who bend their Tongues like bowes for lyes against the Truth which lyes thou shouldest be a valiant Reprover of but also to rejoyce that the care of this matter of fighting against the truest friends in the World to God and his Word the Quakers and of Raising such Reproaches false Reports scandals and opprobrious speeches as the Rabble of Junior Rabbies Reproach them with is confer'd upon thee by the Devil for thou egregiously belyest the Quakers in this particular who deny not but Purely and Perfectly own all that Authority Purity Integrity and Perfection of the Scriptures which the Scriptures Ascribe unto themselves and rob it not of any proper name or any Title at all which by it self is either Attributed or appropriated to it self as that of the Word of God is not as is seen hereafter much lesse are they such enemies to the Word of God or that Sacred Truth written of in the Scriptures as thou most abusively and blasphemously belyest them to be that thou needest to stand up as thou dost in thy meer demi-â—â—â—gested demications against them for the Scriptures and the Word of Truth between which and the Scriptures in which it is declared they divide aright so as to give its own proper name to each of these whilst ye Divinity Doctors in your deep dotage making no due distinction betwixt them for all your pretended friendship thereunto are found very enemies to them both So that whereas thou who in other matters then this gloriest in thy own shame seem'st to glory in this function of fighting against the Quakers as in some great grace peculiarly given of God to thy unworthy self more then any as if Praemium strenuae contra Trepidantium Perfectionem ac â—anocentiam oppositioni debitum nemini mortalium tibi Praereptum velles thou seemest to thy self to bear the Bell before all others in thy stout opposing of that Innocent Seed of God to which grace of his thou Ascribest what ever Relying on his help and assistance thou performest in thy function aforesaid I conclude against thee to the contrary thus in short that 't is Satan himself who set thee at work against the Quakers and helpt thee as well as he could and furnisht thee with many a lye both against the Quakers and the Truth and led thee in a meer fools Paradise to prate with malicious words and speak evil of thou knowest not whom nor what and left thee to bewray such weaknesse folly and false hood as falls not at all from such as have help and assistance from God but ever flows from the father of lyes and his children with whom thou wilt have thy reward J.O. Whatsoever the Jewes whatsoever the Papists have been bold at any time to utter in disgrace of the Scriptures every whit of that these impure men the Quakers stricken as 't were with some direful inordinate motion or rapture both say and assert so that its a shame to relate the horrid and most foolish Titles of Books the chief Vagrants and Ringleaders of this Flock being urged having spoken wickedly and blasphemously against the Scriptures What their Common Opiniin I have thought good to set down as taken and Collected from their own Books and set Conferrences held with them c. Reply 1 Here 's a most palpable Lye related of the Quakers on whose behalf I here openly professe against thee before the World that we own all those Writings not only of Moses and the Prophets of the Old but those of the Apostles and Evangelists also which are commonly called the Scriptures of the New Testament to be Scriptures of Truth written by holy men of God as those of the Old also were as they were moved by the Holy Spirit whereas the Iewes who own value study and stand for those of the Old to this day as zealously as your selves in words do for both do malitiously and lyingly affirm them to be false fictitious and full of lyes Reply 2. Whereas we say no such thing nay nothing at all in any disgraceful way
of the Scriptures but say only in words of truth and sobernesse that they are not to be so exceedingly Adored and Idolized by men as theyâ—â—re by you who make them little lesse then All in all things to the Church the Papists speak much in disparagement of the Scriptures in which we say they do but blasphemously babble against them viz. That they are inferrior to the Humane Traditions of their Church or at least to the unerring breast of their Ghostly holy Father without whom opening and authorizing them they are of no more use nor authority then Aesops Fables and such like Reply 3. Whereas thou art ashamed to Relate the horrid foolish Titles of the Quakers Books in proof of their blasphemies against the Scriptures I believe that 's true indeed though all the rest are palpable Lyes for if thou shouldest Relate the Titles of the Quakers Books in proof of the Truth of this thy Charge of them which is utterly false then thy Lye which is plain enough already would be seen more plainly then it is for in all the Titles of the Quakers Books that ever I read who have read Ten times more of them I believe then thou hast done as I have seen Christ only exalted on the Throne and the Scripture owned in its place so I never saw and am perswaded also thou never hast seen any thing Written by the Quakers that borders on the foresaid Iewes and Papists blasphemings of the Holy Scriptures and therefore as I cannot much marvel at it that thou art ashamed to do it so I do not much blame thee that it doth so much shame thee as thou sayest to Relate the most foolish of them If it were true there was malice enough in thee I.O. to provoke thee to have instanced some Particulars in proof of this parcel of Scandal to the fuller shame of the Quakers whom to scandalize what thou canst is thy chief design and to have named those blasphemers and their Books but pudet referre sayest thou I am ashamed to Relate c. Thou art loath to be too punctual in thy Proof lest it proving too short of thy Charge the stain thou wouldest have stuck upon the Truths Friends should be stricken back upon thy self and the Lye come to lye at thy own door for if sounded out too loudly and distinctly it might Eccho and rebound home again to thee the Author and so redound to thy dishonour so thou fold'st thy self like the Serpent whose seed thou art in indefinite complexes or at least lapest thy self up in Universals and darest not lay thy self out at length nor grow too far into Particulars for dolus later in universalibus quae nunquam bene sentiuntur nisi ex particularibus suis as Deceit lyes most securely and keeps best hid in Universals which are not clearly perceived but by the Particulars in which they exist so by being beheld in the said Particulars both they and the Lyes that lye often in them undiscerned come more unavoidably to be discryed Reply 4. Whereas thou saiest thou thinkest meet to set down our Opinion as Collected out of our own Books and Speeches and accordingly dost declare what we hold as concerning the Scriptures thou most plainly Confutest thy self as to the Lyes thou tellest of us for thy self acknowledgest of us that we own that the Scriptures do contain a true Declaration of the Will and Mind of God proceeding from the spirit of Christ inspiring the Writers that thus far we are right and that we stand to this Confession without any renouncing it only that we would have wholly rejected the Scriptures without doubt but that things have not fell out according as we could wish do deny them to be the ordinary inalterable perfect and standing Rule of Gods Worship and our Obedience without the Revelations of the spirit and such like And this sayest thou is the summe of these mens Iudgements c. Which if it be where 's the wicked Blasphemy all this while wherewith thou Chargest us For there 's none as shall appear in the worst of this which yet thou settest down as gathered out of the Quakers Books and Speeches which thou sayest bear blasphemous Titles against the Scriptures but pudet referre I blush to set them down must answer all These things I O. do convict thee of telling many notorious Lyes against the Quakers even too many for a man to tell that calls himself a Minister of Christ and D. D. though not all by very many which thou tellest in thy Book some of which lyes yet left they should not be loud enough ' to come under every ordinary Readers Observation if told but once are either expresly or implicitly two or three times over related J. O. The Jewes Papists and Quakers differ among themselves it so falls out that they who in all other matters are most different in Opinion conspire altogether in this blasphemy viz. against the Scriptures The Papists and Enthusiastical Fanaticks do perpetually War against each other they mutually devote each other to destruction They are not acted by the same Reasons but those for their Traditions these for their Enthusiasms and Revelations Contending tooth and nail and so like Sampsons Foxes with their Tayles turned to each other bringing fire-brands on the Churches Bread-Corn they all attempt together very friendly to thrust down the holy Scripture from its Place The Papists do earnestly endeavour to detrude the Scripture out of its proper Place in the Church our Fanaticks tread in the same foot-steps with them into which wickednesse those among the Papists that are called the Spiritually have led them the way And elsewhere thou Reckon'st us up among the rest as Enemies of Gods Word and haters of the Scriptures Reply 1. Howbeit I. O. thou who in thy Epistle pretendest it to be thy aim and intention in thy Discourse to discover the Reproach that is cast by many upon the Scripture to its disparagement and to vindicate it therefrom dost as in most things else wherein thou bend'st at us discharge thy Bow at a venture so as at Random to rank us as joynt Abettors with them in grosse in that one grosse and common Cause of Caluminating Vilifying Decrying Denying the Scriptures among Atheists Pagans New Testament Contemning Iewes Papists and the whole Rabble of Rude Reproachers thereof whether in Whole or Part as if we were if not the Ring leaders yet at least the Rere-ward of the Ragged-Regiment of Anti-scripturists of what ever sort yet in this thou hast most grosly abused us and thy self also by thy false Accusing and Belying of us to the world in that Particular and must most assuredly come into Condemnation in â—he Judgement for Condemning the Generation of the Just for however thou mis-reportest of us to the causing of many to mistake us yet of a truth we are no such manner of People as thou wouldest make men believe we are but such as shall manifest our selves
thou liftedest up thy self as thou dost in so vain a way of lifting up and advancing the Letter over all that which is to be preferred before it and was before it as that it came out from and points men to even the living Word and inward Light and spirit which as held out by the Quakers not in any way of that Devilish disparagement of as thou intimatest Ex. 1. S. 3. or spiteful disrespect to the Scripture thou settest at nought with all the Calumny thou canst likely cast on them yea as thou sayest of the Pope Ex. 2. S. 8. Papae Tempus erit c. So say I to thee Non Papae solum sed tibi tempus erit cum magno optaveris emptam intactam Scripturam And that I am no Iesuite nor sider with them about the Scripture so as to agree with them in upholding their seigned infallible Chaire besides what many can witnesse who have been Eye and Ear witnesses of my opposing them in other Nations I adde this as my Final Defence of my self as to that Aspersion of T. D. He that will give heed to it let him if otherwise let him chuse Non cum Jesu Itis qui Itis cum Jesuitis So then as to Evince it that I am none of those Idiots that Idolize any meer mens Writings as many do the un kilful scriblings of their Scribes for the Scriptures little lesse then Israel did the Golden Calves after which they dotingly ran from God himself saying of these Imuges in their own Imaginations These are thy Gods c. Nor yet any meer Writings of those holy men that wrote the Holy Scripture it self as most of our misty-Ministers and their people do because they were written by Divine Inspiration little lesse then Israel did the Brazen Serpent because it was hung up by Divine Institution I shall First take occasion to thrust down that enthroned Calf of thy Anti-scriptural Triobulary Treatises Theses and Atheological Thoughts upon the Scripture from that high place it hath in the Thoughts of such as fall down before it as Moses threw down that Molten Image which the High Priest made and ignorant people made a God of and stamped it to powder And Secondly As Hezekiah not without Gods own approbation took down the Brazen Serpent which had its being as the Holy Scripture it self had not without Gods own appointment when once men began to do Homage to it and called it no more then Nehushtan that is a piece of Brasse that they might know it was no God So shall I take down the dead Corps and bare Carcase of the best Copy of the Scripture since men begin to go a Whoring after it from God and Christ and the Word of Life it self out of that high and stately Throne wherein thou I. O. statest it and from those surpassing and lofty Titles of the Living Word of God the most glorious spiritual Light in the World above the Sun the most perfect Rule and many more such like with which thou as hereafter appears dost invest and exalt it over all even over the Light it came from which is by thee unjustly put behind it and dehased below it though both in time and worth 't is far before it and stile it by its own true Name of Writings of Truth or Holy Scripture that so men that seek to it more then to God himself for Salvation and search it and therein think to have eternal Life at the old Scribes did that never came to Christ the Light above whom they prefered it may recollect themselves and see that the Letter gives not the Life but doth only testifie outwardly of another whom being lost from him by looking to the Letter which bids look to him they never look to nor never yet came to that they might have Life So withal to evince it that I am none of those Popish Ignoramus's that deal so ignobly with the holy Scriptures as to set them at nought and pluck them down as they do not only below themselves which have as Real and Great an Excellency as any such thing as is no more then an External Writing of an External Truth can possibly have but also below that which is worse then naught viz. their leaden Legend of Lyes their trashy Traditions their mouldy Massora their invented Oral Law their vain verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that meer imagined Moon calf the unerring breast of their most erroneous holy Father and such like I shall in this Work before all the world prefer the bare body and letter of the Scripture which is legible to mens bodily Eyes far before that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as thou truly callest it for all their Abominations before that whole Body of Fools bawbles that bottomlesse pit of Paultrinesse that boundlesse bundle of Baby clouts that endlesse Ocean of Omnigatherums that dirty puddle and deep dunghil of Devility rather then Divinity which the more it s dived and raked into the more rotten it renders it self like some for did sink that stinkes the more the more 't is stirred in for such is the Traditionary Treasury of that saltlesse unsavoury Sea upon which therefore the plagues of the Vials which must be filled upon you also are fallen falling and to fall which Sea of Rome is as the blood of a dead man lifelesse putrid and corrupt so that every living Soul dies that lives therein Yea Consider the naked literal Aspect of the holy Scriptures nor in its highest not in its primitive best and purest as at first given forth but in its meer derivative in its lowest meanest and most altered and adulterated capacity wherein it stands at this day wrested and torn and like a Nose of Wax twisted and twined into more then twice if not ten or twenty times twenty several shapes by mens untrue and tottered Transcripts and Translations for Oh that vast variety of Lections besides the Infinity of Senses throw mens misrenderings corrupt copyings correctings of and commentings on it c. that the World is now loaded with and led out into yet as meer a graven Image as that is with Ink and Pen on Paper or skin of parchment for 't is so though I reject their jeers as improper and impious by whom it is scoffed at as Chartacea Membranae c. for 't is not so and as dead a Letter as it is bear with me in that Expression I. O. till I come to shew where thou so callest it as well as Papists and Quakers whom thou quarrellest with for so calling it and as very a Nose of Wax and Lesbian Rule and no certain stable standard as it is for I know not why what they wickedly because Tauntingly we may not honestly sith truly seriously and soberly so call which may so easily so endlesly be altered by the wills of men as they self I.O. shewest us in the 20 21 22 23 24. pages of they Preface the Scripture may and made to stand which way
your opposite Expositions and that in such very places which to any save such light haters as standing in their own light cannot see Wood for Trees are as plain as the Nose on a mans face If to claw it and call it Lydium lapidem a true undeceivable fixt sure and inalterable standing Touchstone and disown those as dishonourers of it who in words compare it to a Nose of Wax a Lesbyan Rule and yet in your own Works so to make it by bending and bowing it every one to his own blind Invention so as to cause it to stand Nine wayes at once and to propound not only how possibly but also how facile it is to wrest it into as many various Lections by the advantage of the Hebrew Character as can be in the most flexible Writing in the World or any Critick can invent as thou I.O. teachest in thy Epistle If to play Legerdemaine with it so as in a presence of valuing It to say great matters of it and then to depresse it so as to unsay them again and then to run the Rounds and say them again as thou I.O. often dost If to boyse it up into that honourable Title of the Living Word of God and again to hurle it down into that more temperate Term which yet ye will not endure others to Term it by of a Dead Letter and yet to go round again Horrendo percussis scotomate after that to say its Living and no where said to be Dead If to deal so worthily with it as to affirm it to be perfect as to its own end and fall out with such as deny it so to be as no Quakers do that I know of and then from the same Hand-writing that before affirmed it to deal so unworthily with it as to deny it so to be as if I.O. doth not my Eyes are out but if he do he will surely say his own were not well open when he did so If to say its profitable to its end and that its end is to make men perfect and yet to say no man is made perfect in this World in which only the Scripture is confessed to be of use nor till the world to come where it s granted to be of no use cannot profit at all If thus to tosse it to and again like a Tennis Ball in a confused self-contradictory kind of talk sometimes telling the Truth about it sometimes belying it sometimes giving both it and the Lyar himself the Lye who so belyed it sometimes yea often lying against and alwayes living beside the holy Truth and Doctrine itself declared by it If to exceed in setting forth its self evidencing Excellency in avouching its Divine Authority and Power to Command men in the Name of God as his Word and yet never to come under the Power of its Commands so as yield Obedience thereunto If to call it your Rule and yet never submit to be ruled by it If both to overvalue and to undervalue to lift up and cast down to honour and dishonour it be truly indeed to value exalt and honour the Scriptures If all the particulars above enumerated and many more of the same sort that might be instanced in by Induction be in heart word and deed so to do then I shall yield the Scripture to be as much so valued honoured and exalted in this ever-Reforming never-Reforming Nation of England as among Papists or any other Nation whatsoever and by our self separating sensual literal Antiscriptural Anti-spiritual high Notional Professors as well as by the best National Protestants that are therein and by I.O. himself and his Reverend Fellow Students if they study and value it at the same rates with himself as much as any I know Finally If this be very highly to value it to be alwayes charging challenging and calling out for the Allowance of large and liberal Maintenance Augmentation of Means by all means possible out of all mens possibilities for the Ministers not of the Spirit but of the Letter only as those of mens making are who steal words enough from thence cut of which together with what of their own they patch them up with into one or two hours piece of work in a week to pick out a Living by And if that be to value it or esteem it or prize it or rate it high or set much by it or make much of it to sell every Sermon so stole and made but on some one verse of it and yet some make so much of one verse as to make many Sermons on it stretching it out for ease-sake to hold out the running of many Glasses for 20 shillings a Sermon and more Money and to have and to hold some Hundreds at least one Hundred of pounds for at most one hundred of Sermons I say if this be to make much of the Scripture there is more made of it in one year by our Divines and Doctors of Divinity amongst whom I.O. was once none of the last nor least as to valuing and making much of it then ever was by all the Quakers in the World since that Nick-Name began who yet if to make much of it be to live in the Light as the Letter itself exhorts to do do make more of it that way in a year then all those Priests and Prophets that preach it for Hire and Divine out of it for Money or ever have done since the World began or ever will do while it hath a being So that howbeit thou I.O. in thy hostile mind representest the Quakers as hostes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enemies and haters of the Scriptures there 's no such matter for if they be haters of it that hate to be reproved by it and cannot endure the sound Doctrine delivered in it which is according to Godlinesse the Letter hath no such haters of it as the very Ministers of the Letter are who are ever enmity against the Life Light and Spirit it calls to walk in And if they may be said to love it who are livers according to it the very Letter itself hath no such true lovers of it as the Quakers who are in thy blind zeal hated by thee as haters of it for living that Life it calls for As to thy Tale of our striving to thrust the Scripture from its own place in the Church of God it s as true a Tale as its fellow false ones for though we set Christ and his inward Light living Word and Life-giving Spirit only on the Throne in the Church yet we own and establish the Scripture which is but the meer Letter in its proper place wherein it is to stand since it had its being as so from the other as subservient and subordinate to the other which are its betters and its elders and not as such a Dominus fac Iotum as thou makest it as if those that gave being to it must now come under it so as to stand barely at the Bar before it to be tryed
by it while it sits in supream Authourity on the Bench as the most perfect infallible Touch stone Lydius lapis and standing Rule for no lesse but much more thou wouldest have it even Light Rule of Trial Iudge Witnesse and all to which all Spirits even Gods own that gave it out as well as all false ones must stand or rather stoop and submit to be judged by and the foundation which the Church or World in the World or Wheel in a Wheel must stand or else fall and fail for ever for as there was a time wherein the Church which is but one from Abel till now can have but one and the same Rule bottom and foundation for ever and one Rock on which its built which is neither Peter nor Paul nor any of their Writings nor of any Prophets that wrote afore them but Christ the Light to the Nations and the Rock of Ages and Generations was without it and not placed upon it so there was a time of thousands of years together wherein it had no place nor use at all in the Church nor so much as any being in the World and as for such high place as thou in thy own will now alowest it as it s own as wise and quick-sighted as thou art to know and see non Entities and things that never were at all I know no such Place that God ever set it in nor time when he so super-eminently exalted it and though I acknowledge and am not ignorant as thou art that meer men and blind builders as seeing as thyself have Canonized it into the Head of the Corner laying him aside whom God hath made so yet I am to learn and so art thou for all thy hasty teaching it as Truth to others where ever the bare Letter or Scripture which is all one was created into such a Lord as thou lookest on it to be over his inward Light Spirit in the heart and authorized so infinitely as thou imaginest over all things by the Lord God of Heaven and Earth the only Author and Creator of all things J.O. Not only to detrade the Scripture from its place but also that by that one only device of denying to the Scripture that glorious Title of the Word of God the Quakers aim and endeavour to divest Christ himself of his Personality and divine Being Reply Was ever man left of God to shew his own Folly by more palpable apparent absurdities then thou here utterest who by that very thing whereby we seek to invest Christ with the proper and peculiar Right both in Name and Nature whereof your selves rob him belyest us so as to say we thereby seek to divest him of it Is not the Word of God not only the proper Name Ioh. 1. Rev. 19. but also the proper Nature and divine Being of Christ which he had before he was made flesh from the very beginning before the Scripture was that declares of him before World it self was which was made by him and all things in it so that without him nothing was made that was made And because that we will not take this glorious Title of his to whom only of Right it belongeth viz. the Word of God who hath no corruptible Word that I know but only one that 's incorruptible and liveth and abideth for ever and is both essentialiter and effective and enunciative too the Word of God and invest such a corruptible thing herewith as the mouldring Letter a Writing with mens hands which Worms may eat and mens Hands blot out deface and destroy and because we will not attribute that everlasting Name of his to that which in Nature is not everlasting as ye do but decaying dost thou say we divest him of his divine Being Dost thou not beget this bastardly businesse of divesting Christ himself of his divine Name and Nature Excellency and Existence in thy own brain by ascribing these to the Scriptures and giving the glory thereof to another under that high Prerogative Title of the Word of God due only and alone to him and not to any Letter that man as moved by him writes of him and then lay it at the door of the Quakers Art not thou the man that appropriatest that Name and Nature which is proper to Christ alone to the Scripture by disputing as to Name and Thing in esse reasi cognoscibili that it is the Word of God that glorious Title is its proper Name and is not this what in you lyes to dethrone Christ who only is so and place another ever him as the only most perfect Light Foundation Touchstone by which his Spirit must be tryed and yet accusest thou the Quakers of displacing him Doth not the Scripture say that Christ is the Light which the Church Ministerially is to hold out bear witness to Ioh. 1 in all her Preachings Administrations and Walkings and the Scripture is written out for the sake and Instruction and profit or use and service of the Church 2 Tim 3.15 16. 1 Cor. 10. yet settest not thou the Letter above the Church and Christ too saying Page 76. The Scripture is Light it is the duty of every Church to hold it up almost the whole of its duty and this Duty it performs Ministerially not Authoritatively A Church may bear up that Light it is not the Light it bears Witnesse to it but kindles not one divine beam to further its discovery All the Preaching that is in any Church its Administration of Ordinances all its walking in the Truth hold up this Light Thus magnifying the Letter above all and making it the main businesse of the Church to magnifie and hold it up much what as the Iewes do whose Work in their Synagogues is to lift up the Letter while they loath the Law and the Light it came from and is but the meer Letter or Writing of J. O. The whole Truth of the Words of God is as to Name and Thing opposed by the poor Fanatical Quakers Satan in these dayes assaults the sacred Truth of the Word of God in the poor deluded Fanatical Souls among us commonly called Quakers Reply It was none but Satan himself that is a Lyar the Father of it who told thee so and in thee tells it out for Truth to the whole World For 1. The whole Word of God which is but of one not of many kinds that I know of as thou wouldest make it as if God had one Living one Dead one Fallible another Infallible one Corruptible another Incorruptible one Eternal one Temporal Word one that 's only Letter another that 's Spirit and Life one Written and another Unwritten one within men and another that 's not the same in Nature without men that one and the same Individual Word of God I say which is the same whether within or without Written or Unwritten neither of which the bare Writing is as to both Name and Thing we own and honour as that which from
everlasting to everlasting is unchangeably Authoritative over all inviolably pure every way entire and absolutely perfect as God is whose Word it is and so we assault it not in its Name nor in the Thing as thou sayest for we know and never did yet deny unlesse 't were before we knew it and while we were the same with you who yet know it not nor never heard it from his own mouth the Word of God to be the Word of God And also though thou Scandalize us so grossely as to say Satan sets us on work to bereave the Scripture of the glorious Title of the Word of God as its own Proper Name That 2. is also false for at the Will of God and in service and obedience to him and not of Satan we strip the meer Letter of that Glory wherewith thou unduly dost invest it and take it down from that high Throne and Authority wherein Satan sets thee on work to set it up â—that men may do homage to it and so run a Whoring after it from the Word of Life it only points at as Israel did after the Brazen Serpent and dance about it in their Idolatrous hearts as the God that must save and deliver out of Egypt But 3. Were that true yet howbeit we own the Word of God to be as truly and properly called the Word of God as in truth it is so and give to that still its own due proper Name of the Word of God somewhat more then yourselves do who call that by the Name of and make that Title of the Word of God the very proper Name of another thing which is not it but as inferiour to it as the Effect is to the Cause it came from viz. the outward Letter or Scripture that came forth from it and is but a Copy and Declaration or Images of it as much in worth and dignity below it as the painted Picture of a fire or a man on a Wall is to the true fire or Person which they do but outwardly represent And 4. As for the Writing or Scripture which thou sayest we deprive of its proper Name because we call it not the Word of God and by all those glorious Titles and Epithites thou stilest it by which we confesse are due to the Word viz. Light Living powerful Quickning Foundaiton most Perfect Rule and many more as we shall see anon thou sayest most falsly in that for these are as truly due so properly due to and the Proper Names of the Word it self only of which the Writing is but a Writing or meer Scriptural Declaration and not the Proper Name nor Properties of the Scriptures I.O. Thou tellest Ep. pag. 30. That the whole truth about the Word of God which thou falsly Slanderest us as confusedly opposing thou hast endeavoured to comprize in thy Theses Reply Thy Asserting that the Scripture ought to be called the Word of God as its proper Name and that it is in esse reali cognoscibili the Word of God and known so to be and consequently the Light Foundation Rule and whatever else the Word is known to be which is the main matter thou affirmest and puzlest thy self to prove against us is so far from being the whole Truth about the Word of God that it hath no Truth at all in it but in plain Truth is wholly a Lye in esse reali cognoscibili also to all but such as know not as thy self dost not in this point either what they say or whereof they affirm J. O. Thou sayest thou compleatest in thy Theses the Doctrine of the Scripture concerning the Scripture Reply Thy Doctrine concerning the Scripture which is that it is the Word of God and known so to be and is to be called or else it s stript out of its own proper Name this is not the Doctrine of the Scripture concerning it self but thy own Doctrine which though thou dignifie it with the Title of Pro Scripturis in thy Latine Title Page is more Con Anti then either Cum or Pro yea much more against then either according to or for the Scriptures I.O. Thou speakst of the Quakers as altogether rejecting the Word of God i. e. with thee the Scripture as to its whole use of spoiling the holy Scriptures of All Vse Authority Perfection And as those who if things had succeded according to their desires would no doubt long since have have utterly rejected them Yea as those who wish them quite blotted out that all men might more attend to the Light within themselves Reply Though what Use Authority and Perfection the Scripture is owned by us to be of will appear more anon in its proper place yet that we deny it not to have an Authority and Perfection and precious Use I here declare to the undeceiving of such as are deceived by thy Deceits and Lyes much lesse do we reject as thou falsly objects against us the Word of God it self which is a greater matter and of more moment then the Scripture as to its whole Vse and in proof of it against thy self that we own the very Bible and Letter to be of use and do also much use it as occasion is I shall here Cite I O. to give account to I.O. of this Lye that against I.O. I O. himself hath forged Yea I shall go no further at present then to thy self who as in at least Twenty things more in thy self-confounding Fardel thou dost confutest thy self as to this Lye in those very parcels above quoted For mark Art not thou the man who as brisk as thou art in bedirting us with this Slander of rejecting the Scripture which thou falsly callest the Word of God as to all its use its whole use and that altogether could we have had our Wills yet to the Contradicting of thy self which is as ordinary with thee as to eat and drink confessest and Commendest us thus far before all as follows in thy Latine piece where thy words Englished are to this purpose Ex. 1. S. 7. That the Quakers professe the Holy Scriptures to contain a certain Revelation of Gods Will and so far to have come forth from God as it proceeded from that inward Light which was from Christ in those who wrote those Books which ye name the Scriptures And Ex. 5. S. 18. That the Quakers acknowledge the Scriptures to contain a Manifestation of the Will and Mind of God both in respect of those who wrote them and of those also to whom they were delivered from the beginning and that this Declaration therein held proceeded from the Spirit of Christ which was so with the Writers thereof that they could declare the infallible Truth and that the things written therein are an undoubtedly true Declaration of the Mind of God And dost thou not add thus much That thus far we are right and that none that own them thus far can altogether reject the Scriptures unlesse he will declare himself to be
the Scripture is so far from hindering any from coming to but only that the blind Porers in it with their natural Eyes cannot see Wood for Trees that it sides with us in helping to call People to the Light in the Heart which thing is as well the end of its being written as it was the end of Paul and Iohn's and all the Prophets Ministry by word of mouth Act 26.17 18. 1 Ioh. 1.1 5 6 7. And is the end of all our Ministring now as we are moved of the Lord by Voice or Writing the Letter bids look to the Light as that which leads on to the Life but both Letter and Light are a cloud to the Egyptians that pursued them which to Israel that obeyed it was a help And as it serves with us to call to the Light so before it passe away it must be used against them to send them packing first that have Abused it as thou hast done and to accuse as a Witnesse against them such as have owned it as their Rule and Foundation yet lived and built so much as ye have done beside it And as Christ said to the old Scripture searchingScribes Joh. 5. that would never come to him the Life whom they Testified of so say I to you of the same Seed Do not think that Christ by his Light within you only whereby ye are made as all men are who have not the Law in a Letter a Law before God to your selves will accuse you to the Father ye have another that accuses you for your Vanities and Deceits even Moses and the Apostles and Prophets Writings in whom ye trust to get Life for if you had believed them you would not have belyed but beleeved in and obeyed the Light and Word in the Heart which they call you to for the Scriptures testifie of that but fith you believe not their Testimony to the Light how can we look that by our Words ye should come to believe in the Light it self So that ye stand Condemned and must be Judged by the Law or Light within as well as such as are without the Law in a Letter without and fining under and against the Law in the Letter by the very Letter of the Law throw boasting and yet breaking of which ye dishonour God much more then the Heathen do Rom. 2. Ye must be condemned also So that the Scripture is of much use yet and we are free it should stand and not be blotted out that by the Testimony of it which is one and the same with ours to the Light ye might be if yet it may be brought to look to the Law of Christ which and not the Letter is the Light and Life but if you will not come to Christ and his Light in you that ye may have the Life it s all of a price to you whether the Scripture stand or be blotted out for your Names are not while ye are Enemies to the Light written there for Life but as yet blotted out even by the Scripture while it abides unblotted out from under Heaven I.O. Ex. 2. S. 26. Thou sayest The Quakers little regard the understanding of the Scripture and this is one of their Eminent Deceits so long as they have the Words they are well enough without the sense as nothing appertaining to them Reply Saving I. O's fine figment in this matter which may be more manifested in its proper place howbeit we are well satisfied without so many several silly Senses and mis-meanings of it as are ministred cut by the unlearned Ministers that know not the Mind of the Lord nor ever shall while they lean to their own meer Natural empty Understandings and lye-poring in the Letter as they do without the Spirit which only Receives and Reveals the deep things of God and opposing the Light that only opens it yet we are not against the true sense and meaning of the Spirit which expounds the Mysteries and shews the Secrets thereof to those few Babes that fear the Lord which are hidden from the worldly wise and prudent but whether the Renowned Rabbies Preach for prize or hold their peace we neverthelesse still have true meanings and mind of Christ. I.O. Ex. 2. S. 21 22. That they affirm it is not lawful for any to Interpret the Scriptures or give the sense thereof And S. 22. That altogether with the Interpretation it self they reject damne curse all Mediums of Opening Scriptures the weighing the Words and Phrases and daily Prayer and comparing of divers places together that the Opening of hard Places the clearing and proving of the Truth the Conviction and Confutation of Heresies Errours false Doctors and Doctrines the Edifying any by Instructions and Exhortations and all the other ends of lawful Interpretation of the Scriptures are odious and abomination to them they not only prosecute with Enmity all Expositions of the Scripture by word of mouth in private Families Meetings Churches Schools of Believers to the Opening of the Sense of the Word and the giving of Knowledge by the Scripture it self but also as little esteem and most Childishly defame both Commentaries and all other Books wherein part of the Scripture is Interpreted or any Truth cleared or confirmed out of it or the Faithful perswaded by Exhortations to Holinesse and Gospel Obedience or men are Instructed in any other manner whatsoever in the Knowledge of God Reply Whether all these stories of I.O. which I have here put together do more savour of the French Galimafrey or wild-Irish bonni-clabber I 'le not determine but I am sure they are an unsavoury Mess of Omnigatherums made up of many sorts of lying Reproaches that have no Consistency with the Truth which would far better have become a Doctor of Divinity to have told of the Devil himself had he been accusing of him who is the false Accuser of the true Brethren rather then such a legend of Lyes as lye here legenda legible to all that know them of the Quakers I cannot say of this indeed as of T.D. his doings in his way of sharp shooting out his false Tales against us that it will sound much to our shame in a Countrey Church because it s well nigh all laid out not to say lyed out in the Latine Tongue though only Englished here but it will ring such a Peal in the University Colledges among the Iunior sort of Haters of whom God loves and among all save the lack-Latine-Country-Clergy men against the Quakers as will make them prick up their Ears and listen that they may learn how to lye against them also more then ever they did to the Quakers themselves that of them they might learn the Truth but the best on 't is though here 's a Nest of them together if that would do any good to I.O. or hurt to the Quakers yet by Lyes and Deceits none ever did or ever must prevail against the Truth Yet to all this thou addest That we turn the Church of God into a
Hogsty And that we are great Reproachers of that Divine Goodnesse that gave it in setting so slight by Interpretations of the Scripture in order to the understanding of it To all which yet I shall answer no otherwise then thus briefly and soberly as followes Viz. We acknowledge Gods goodnesse in giving it and deny not all exposition of the matters in it provided it be by them as they are so moved that live in the light and spirit of God that gave it forth by holy men which onely opens it aright and knows its own and searcheth the deep things of God that are laid down in it in the writings and meetings and Churches and Schools of the Saints and Believers which wot you well are not your Christ-Church Colledges nor Academical Covents but the Quakers Publick Congregations where I have sometimes had and heard more Scripture truly opened in an hour than in some Steeple houses in a year any more than we do any true Translations of it out of our Tongue into another of which matter about Translation sith thou sayest we covertly conceal our counsel thou mayest have it more fully perhaps anon when I have first wiped away all thy lyes of us out of the way But because we do indeed though owning the spirit and spiritual mens expositions yet deny the naturally wise mens cloudy conceptions mysty meanings shallow-brain'd senses and excentrick Expositions of the things of the spirit which he knows not as they lye in the letter which he knows as little as useful or profitable much more as so necessary as thou wouldest make this natural mans mighty doings about the Scripture who is he indeed and not the Quakers that for want of such spiritual learning as naturally unlearned Peter had wrests it into strange senses to his own ruine and because we do not childishly as thou sayest we do but soberly and justly complain of those vast confused Bombasting Bumbles of blindnesse of the cloudy Clergies composing viz. Comentaries and other Books thrust out upon pretence of clearing the Scripture which is clearer then they are but in truth to the thickening of the Ayr that the Sun shines not clearly thorow it thereupon to say that we reject damn and curse all manner of opening Scripture and that of daily prayers to God this is a businesse of thy own bruiting about whereby to render us odious among thy Oxonian fellow students that they may reject and damn and curse them thence whom God hath not cursed and against whom none of Baalams inchantments can prevail for we own the daily prayers of such as God owns who pray in the spirit though we know God hears not sinners nor the prayers of the wicked nor of such as turn their ear from hearing his Law which is Light in their own hearts their prayers are abomination to him and we own the openings of the Scripture by the spirit that gave it forth when he opens the mouth or guides the pens of any that have the minde of Christ to utter any of it as it lies in the letter hid from the natural mind unto others and to say this is to turn the Church into a hogsty as if there could possibly by no Religion nor good manners nor sheep like innocent demeanour nor any thing but meer bruitishnesse beastlinesse and swinishnesse any where in the World but where men sit under the Ministry of the Preachings Logical Expoundings Writings Ecclesiastical Rhetorick and other Reacks of those fleshly and earthly minded spiritual men Doctors and Commentators c. that have long ago got the parent and ingrossed all that work of expounding Scripture for money to themselves this I utterly dény and I also affirm that if that Crew and their Creatures be the Christians and the Church of God as they call themselves as if the Quakers were all Hereticks that do not own them then the more ado men make to be Christians in name the further off from the nature of Christ and as the old Proverb is the nearer the Church the further from God there being nor such fordid stinking sinks for wickednesse filth pride lust persecution scoffing hating God and good ungodlinesse and all manner of uncleannesse to be seen in all the Christian World again as are easie to be seen in Cathedrals Colledges Academies c. where men sit at the Fountains and Well-heads of Divinity and Nurseries of Learning and Religion as they call them and directly under the daily dispensations of their Doctors Oral and Scriptural Divinity Disputations and Expositions And whereas I O. makes a challenge to have it tryed between them and the Quakers saying in the next Section after that wherein he saves the Quakers sleighting their Interpretations do no lesse than turn the Church into a Hogsty thus J. O. For if the Experience of all Ages of all Christians that ever were if those things which themselves see behold or hear daily were of any weight or moment they the Quakers would blush to deny the use necessity and fruit of the solemne Preaching of the Word Interpretation of the Scripture made whether by word of Mouth or Writing Let us take a view of each Flock both that which although they enjoy the Word yet is destitute of its Interpretation and also that which together with the Word of God enjoyes also the other means of Gods worship which consists very much in the Interpretation of the Word if now the Tree be so be known only by its fruits then that will appear the good one which hath brought forth those fruits which the legal Interpretation of the Scripture hath every where produced or brought forth Reply Let it be well heeded First That by the Word of God here I O. intends the Scripture And Secondly That by Legal Interpretation he intends not such as is as I said before used and own'd by the Quakers viz. That which is only in the Light and in the Spirits movings that moved to write the Scripture but such as is made among the Naturalists and Schollars in their Academical Imaginations and by the Priests in their Parishes and then I am here ready to answer his Challenge and I say a Match let it be so First Let both Flocks be viewed the Quakers and the Parish People I will not say but that among them that are called Quakers that frequent the Places of their Publick Speaking there are many not only by reason of whom but also by whom the way of Truth that the Quakers walk in is evil Spoken of but I O. either hath or should have more wit and sense and reason then to account the Routs that are made by a rabble of rude ones that frequent the Quakers Meetings to render them odious with their odious Carriages to the Quakers themselves that he ought Non Trepidantibus sed Tripudiantibus vitio vertere qui vertunt seria ludo ludunt cum sacris c. to impute not to the Quakers but to Schollars and
had never done so before till then Did not God speak in his Prophets and by them to the men of their several Ages from Moses upwards as well as from Moses downwards Did he not speak in Enooh the seventh from Adam in Noah in Abraham Isaac Iacob Lot and Iob who lived before Moses if Catholick Tradition be to be Credited in one thing as well as another and whose Book who ever Pen'd it whether himself or some other for ought thou knowest was written before Mosâ—s who thou thinkest wrote the first of the Scripture either lived or wrote and by them who were upright righteous just and walked with God to the wicked unrighteous Worldlings and wantons who walked with the Devil in their Generations who all were before Moses as well as by Moses and those that lived after him 2. Why sayest thou downwards to the Consignation and Bounding of the Canon in Ezra's days as if between his dayes and the dayes of Christs flesh the Spirit of the Lord was straitned as it never is Mic. 2. and God had limitted and bound up himself from manifesting his mind cut of his own mouth to any men at all for so many Hundred years together because some Prophets had been moved by him to commit to Writing or at least to permit to be Written by others some few of those things they saw and said concerning partly their own and partly the after times and other Nations Doth not Wisdom say of her self That in all Ages entering into holy Souls she maketh them friends of God and Prophets Wisd. 7.27 And were there no Holy men of God in those dayes wherein ye imagine all Gods speaking in and by any Prophets then was ceased in and by whom he manifested his Mind as he moved them to speak and write as immediately as he had done others before them And who told thee That the Canon as thou call'st it or full standing Rule of Tryal or infallible Touch-stone of the Old Testament Scripture to which nothing must or might be added after it till the time of Christ in the flesh was Compleated and after its Consignation and Bounding by them delivered to the Judaical Church in the dayes of Ezra alias Esdras and his Companions the men as of your own heads ye are pleased to term them of the great Congregation Whence hast thou these fancies of thine Or suppose they be not simply Suppositions but real Truths whence dost thou fetch or take them to be so but from the untrusty-Traditional-Tales of thy Forefathers and such Iewes as are little lesse then unerring Oracles with thee when saying ought that suits with thee yea thou callest pag. 203. the Assertion of Iustin Martyr of the Iewes corrupting the Bible out of their hatred to Christians An Incredible Figment yet little better but much worse then ordinary Infidels men feeding themselvns with vain fables desperate cursed Opposers of Truth mischievous in their devices against the Gospel of a profound Ignorance in all manner of Learning and Knowledge but only what concerns their own Dunghil Traditions addicted to monstrous Figments bewitching bewitched with Traditions Idolaters Magicians blind crafty raging fools sets full of deceitfulness froth venome smoke nothing but faithlesnesse and infidelity it self what not that 's nought where any thing issues from their most Catholick Testimony that makes against thee Pag 241.242.244.303 Yea whence knowest thou who art easily apt to Question when it serves thee so to do whether there ever were such men as the 70. and such men as the Tiberian Massorites in Rerum Natura pag. 243.336 that ever there was such a thing in Rerum Naturâ as that Great Congregation thou art every where in thy Book so greatly taken with and ever and anon betaking thy self to for Refuge but only from thy putting more confidence in thy own uncertain Conjectures together with the Catholick Tradition of the with thee creditlesse Iewes and Christians then in the Conjectures of the Prolegomenâ as Learned as thy self at least who oppose thee in it For there 's not so much as any Scripture at all that mentions such a set Sanydrim of Ezra Nehemia Ioshua Zacharia Haggai c. as thou settest it down in the Book of thy own Brain and the Counting-house of thy own conceit that there was pag. 302.303 And let it be as it can be no more then imagined there was such a great Congregation which it being as not possible to know it so nor here nor there to mine or any mans Salvation I 'le not search into so far as to put my self into any Capacity of either saying or gain saying it that there was and to ground any as I. O. does many things upon its being so as he but thinks is as he sayes in another case pag 293. to build Towns and Castles of Imaginations which may be as easily cast down as they are erected yet when all 's done whence had that Sanydrim such Authority as to confine and bound out that Canon and Canonize some of the Writings of such Prophets as ye wot are Canonical and Cashiere the rest of the Writings of the same Prophets and all the Writings of some other Prophets as of no such divine Authority as to Command with their fellows in Gods Name as his Word and to abrogate them as Apocryphal as ye speak and disband them from the bench of Iudicature and to bind the sweet Influences of the holy Spirit so as to say O Spirit of God be silent now blow no more nor make any more Prophets now for these many hundred years to come but become subject thy self to be tryed by the Touchstone of the Writings of such Prophets as thou hast already moved to write Gods Mind or so many at least as it seems good to us now to Authorize and Establish into a standard for the Tryal of thy self as well as all false Spirits And if I. O. say as he does pag. 303. That was not called the Great Congregation from its Number but Eminency of Persons yet I say are any Persons so Eminent if I.O. be not a Lyar pag. 35. as to have Authority from God to Authorize and Canonize casting aside what they like not what seems good to them into the Name to bespeak I. O in his own feigned phrase of the Word of God that they themselves must be subject to the Authority of and of the Rule that themselves must be Ruled by and of the Foundation that themselves and all others must be built on and of the Basis of their own belief It is indeed quoth I.O. pag 35.36 a Contradiction for men to say and if for other men then for I.O. say I who sayes the same yet sees it not They give Authority to the Scriptures they Bound the Canon and deliver to the Church what it shall be which it hath antecedently to their Charter and Concession And again Moreover to say the same of his supposed Sanydrim that I O sayes to the digrading
of the Septuagint from that high Conceit some have of them and eminent Account some have them in pag. 339. If the Ability of the men be granted yet what security have we of their Principles and Honesty Oh much every way thinks I.O. for though when he is pleased to speak diminitively of men the Care and Fidelity and Pains of whom in Translating we have as good ground to believe was as great to the full as any of that of those he Commends in Transcribing he disparages it into Oscitancy Inadvertency Negligence Ignorance the Wisest not seeing all and such like pag 319. yet when he speaks of the Care Pains and Fidelity of men in Transcribing which is a Work as lyable to mistakes as the other that he may keep up the honour however of his infallible Transcripts to this day then he utters himself more Hyperbolically and as for Ezra and his conjectured Companions he makes their labour to Reform the Church and all the Corruptions crept into the Word as he speaks though if the Letter were the Word it were not lyable to Corruption little lesse then Monstrous and their care in restoring the Scripture to its purity mark extraordinary pag. 171 308. Yea of the Points which yet he is to prove Coaevous with the Consonants and as old as any Scripture I doubt not quoth he but of that we shall yet manifest that they were compleated it should seem then that every Tittle is not now a◠at first giving out of the Letter if the Vowels were incompleate till Esdros dayes by the men of the great Synagogue Ezra and his Companions guided by the infallible direction of the Spirit of God I might as I. O. does often beg or take it crave leave to Answer this Conjecture with another pag. 146. and fling back I. O's as well as T. D's Fortè ita with so much at least as Fortè non but ipse dixit J.O. sayes he doubts not their infallibility so I who had rather be silent then disparage Ezra will add no more to I. Os Rex sum then nil ultrae quaeio Plebeius And now I am upon a Consideration of the Canon of the Scripture let me here make an end with thee I.O. as concerning this Cogitation of thine about the Consignation of the Canon of both the Old and that thou callest the New Testament of which New thou sayest pag. 27. That what thou hadst spoken of the Scripture of the Old Testament viz. as to its immediate emanation from God and its being canonized together with it into a standard the same must be also affirmed of the New with this addition of advantage and preheminence above the Old That it began to be spoken by the L O R D himself And as for thy Canon of the outward Scriptures of both sorts one of which thou callest the Old the other the New Testament after the Bounding Compleating and Consignation of which in their Respective Junctures and Seasons and the delivery of it so Canonized to the Church or Churches Respectively as their Eternal Infallible Touchstone Rule Foundation Testimony Standard no more must be owned on such a high Account as it s Authorized into as of divine Original nor be added by either God or man while the world stands I would sain find from thee if yet thou art able thy self to fathom to the bottom of thy own Faith or rather Fancy in this point where thou findest and whence thou foundest all thy confused Communications and crude Conceptions about this Canonization of such and such outward parcels of holy mens Writings into a Rule or Standard and disfranchizing such and such of others as holy as those from a standing within the Bounds of this Magna Charta that certain Synods and supposed Sanydrims of thou knowest not whom have given and do as thou deemest give and grant thereunto together with them Where learnest thou all these Lessons but from the Lectures and lying Legends and voluminous Lexicons of the illiterate Literatists of the world that are alwayes laying on and loading one another with their endlesse boundlesse and bottomlesse Scribles about the outward Original Text and Transcriptions and Translations of the Scripture in their tedious Tomes Talmuds and Talmudical Traditions till they are lost from the very Letter much more the Life it calls to so that they have no leasure to live or learn others to live thereafter in the inextricable laborynth of their own Labours about it Who leads thee into the vain Imaginations of these things but thy own and other mens well nigh innumerable and invincible inventions What Tangles thee and others in such trifling Talkings and Treatings one to another of things that none of ye all can have any infallible Evidence or yield to any infallible Assurance of but a croud of Conceits and Catholick Traditions with which the world and ye in it are so overcharged that ye cannot contain them now without infinite frothy and fruitlesse contendings about them and obtruding your own Observances imposing your own Supposings and thrusting each upon other your own bare thred-bare Thoughts of things that ne flocci facit it amounts not to the value of a lock of Wooll as to Salvation whether they be known or not till being throng'd and thrust into the thorny Thicket of your own Thoughts you there tear one another to pieces about the Scripture insomuch that I truly may and plainly shall be so bold as flatly to Contradict what thou sayest falsly of thy Canon and Standard since the closing and compleating of it that t is a means to end all strife it is rather throw the folly of its Ministers the means of all strife and Confusion in the Christian World Thou sayest indeed of the Writings of the Old Testament that the Canon thereof had its Consignation Bounding and Delivery to the Church as its Rule so that from thenceforth nothing Written either from Moses upward or to Christs time downward must be admitted to be owned as Canonical or inspired Scripture And thou sayest pag. 27.28 That God who himself began the Writings of the Word with his own finger after he had spoken it appointing and approving the Writing of the rest that followed i.e. from Genesis to the Revelation as they are ordinarily numerated in our Bibles except the Books called Apocrypha for I reckon all those are reckoned by thee as the Books thou speakest of Epist. Ded. pag. 3. Never indited by the Holy Spirit as remote from being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth lastly command the close of the immediate Revelation of his Will to be written in a Book Rev. 1.11 and so gives out the whole of his Mind and Counsel unto us in Writing as a merciful and stedfast relief against all Confusion darknesse and uncertainty but what a Relief it is against Confusion I shall shew more hereafter And as to thy Scriptures Canonization or the Consignation compleating Bounding of the Canon of it a few words here
about the manner and means and true bounds thereof for as to the Question whether it be a Canon that is a Rule at all yea or not I may defer it also to another place let me Expostulate with thee I O. yet more about it yet how and by whom your Standard comes to be so Bounded as ye say it is and to be limited to those Demensions of Latitude Longitude and Profundity that ad amussim exact Measure Heighth Depth Length and Breadth that is allotted to it as without the Apocripha it stands bound up within your late bound Bibles I mean that such and such Parcels Prophesies Proverbs Histories Epistles Holy Sentences Sacred Sayings shall stand Owned Honoured Signed and Authorized with the Sacred High and Holy Titles of Gods Word Gods Witnesse Foundation Rule inalterable Standard and not one piece of Holy Writing more or lesse then those already so Consecrated and Canonized so that such and such puta those that ye now commonly call Canonical shall shand as the Standard and all others viz. those called Apocryphal and whatever are mentioned in that Scripture ye so own shall stand out of and off from it as no part of the Standard while the World stands Who was it Was it God or was it Man that set such distinct Bounds to the Scripture so as to say such and such a set number of Books viz. Those those that are sum'd up together before your Bibles excepting the Apocrypha which stands between them shall be owned as Canonical and the rest though such as were of the same divine Inspiration be rejected as humane and no otherwise accounted on then other meer mens Writings not to be received with such high respect as the other Whence hast thou this Conceit that God himself Commanded the Close of the Canon of the Old Testament to be Malachi and the bounds of it to consist of such Books of the Prophets as ye now have exclusively of such Prophesies therein mentioned as ye have not and the Close of the Canon of the New to be the Revelation and the bulk of it to be those few Histories and Apostolical Epistles as ye have exclusively of such even therein mentioned as ye have not Who was it that said to the Spirit of God O Spirit blow no more inspire no more men make no more Prophets from Ezra's dayes and downwards till Christ and from Iohns dayes downward for ever But cease be silent and subject thy self as well as all Evil Spirits to be tryed by the Standard that 's made up of some of the Writings of some of those men thou hast moved to write already and let such and such of them as are bound up in the Bibles now used in England be the only means of measuring all Truth for ever Who was it God or Man the Spirit in the Scripture it self or the Scribes in their Synods Councels and Consistories that so Authorized or Canonized these and expunged those Was it not meer Men in their Imaginations Doth the Scripture do the Spirit and the Apostles therein give any order for or make any such mention in the least of such a matter Is it not meer man in his Imaginations that hath taken upon him according to the good or ill Conceit that he hath taken to him of these or those respectively to say which thou sayest is a Contradiction to say he will give Authority to the Scriptures Is it not man in his proud mind that comes in with his sic volo sic Iubeo so I 'le have it thus it shall be Saying to the Books of Scripture as God sayes to the Waves of the outward Ocean hitherto shall ye come and no further So many of the Prophets and Apostles Writings shall be in the Authority Nature Vse and Office of the Supream Determiner of all Truth for ever and all others even such as are written by the same men in the motion of the same Spirits shall be but as common mens Writings and be look'd on afar off as Apocryphal i.e. hidden or unknown Writings that no such notice shall be â—aken of as of the other And as for the Books which ye sprinkle with that Name of Apocryphal and give leave to to have a standing with it but not so as to make any part of your Standard What think ye of them upon second Thoughts Are they fit for nothing but to be Cashiered and cast out of your Canon by whole sale by Tradition one from another without trying them Is there nothing among them that may be judiciously Iudged to be of as divine an Original and Authority as some of those particular Letters to private men as that of Paul to Philemon about private personal or Domestick matters which ye own in such a transcendent manner as ye do Surely if some of hem be fictitious or fabulous or but humane so that ye will say no better of them then Vox hominem sonat yet is there none or nothing among them all that is to be noted or counted upon as of divine Authority and Original and of as self-evidencing Efficacy as some of those ye own None that ye can see cause to sign meliore lapillo with some better Name then ye vouchsafe them and standing in the Church then ye allow them As if they were a certain mongrel seed between that of Canaan and Ashdod that ye know not well what to make of nor how to entreat so ill altogether as not to afford them a middle place in some of your Bibles between the Old Testament Writings and those ye call the New nor yet so well as to entertain them into your Canon neither Surely there be some of them which when ye look them over again not so cursorily as to over-look them as ye ordinarily do ye may find ground to receive as such as have as fair a stamp of the beaming Majesty Truth Holinesse and Authority of God and his Spirit as some at least not to say the most of those ye ascribe to God as their main or only Author and that do favour as much of I. O's so much insisted on Theo-pneusty as some other Historical Doctrinal and Prophetical parts of your acknowledged divinely derived Scripture do of which what Infidels soever ye are as concerning them yet I together with many others whereof some are as Booklearn'd as your selves can say Credo Equidem nec vana Fides genus esse Deorum 'T is indeed the Faith or rather Infidelity of such as call themselves Reformed Churches that all those Books called the Apocrypha without exception are in no wise of such divine Original as them ye call Canonical but who first set the one upon the Bench and the other at the Bar I am yet to learn but this I know that howbeit ye second their depression and digradation of the one so far below the other yet as neither one nor t'other were ever Canonized by God himself if we speak of the Outward Text only about which
only as that of Baâ—uch also is the Holy man that wrote much for that Prophet and of that Prophecy of Ieremiah most pretiously both Doctrinal and Prophetical but also extant in the Hebrew as well as Greek and Latine and that of Ecclesiasticus was written Originally in Hebrew witnesse Iesus the Son of Syrach who himself confesseth in his Prologue he Translated it out of the Hebrew Text and if ye say that 's but a Translation then at best and so not Canonical Scripture I Reply Two things thereto First This argues ad hominem against I O. then Tittles and Iotaes of the Hebrew Text are lost since the giving out thereof at first Secondly That either Translation must be owned as Canonical with you as well as the first Original Manuscripts and your Original Transcripts or else it must be concluded what ever you Linguists have yet the People that live upon your Lips not being able to read Hebrew and Greek have no Canonical Scripture at all to read The Second Argument that is supposed to be of weight against the Divine Original of the Apocryphal Scriptures Broughton in his Sinai Sights touches upon them both is because no Writers in the New Testament Cite or Quote any of them any otherwise then they do Heathen Authors But I marvel not fith the wise men are to be befooled that prudent Broughton should be so blind as not to see how Paul Heb. 1 3. quotes out of Wisd. 7.26 And Heb. 11.5 quotes Wisd. 4.10 And 1 Cor. 6.2 quotes Wisd. 3.8 And Heb. 11.35 quotes 2 Maccab. 7.7 Yea and Christ himself Matth. 23.36 37 38. quotes 2 Esdras 1.30 And Rev. 7.9 answers to 2 Esdras 2.41 42 43 44 45 46. besides many other Passages in the Scriptures of the New Testament but especially in the Revelation relate to their Paralels in that Second Book of Esdras which is the Fourth at least of that man Ezra or Esdras his Writing whereof that some should be received as of divine Original and some that have as truly spiritual a Tincture on them as the other or any in all the Scripture as that Fourth of Esdras hath wherein also he declares his Visions and Revelations he had from God in which he would not sain and Lye for then he were not fit to have his Two First Books owned as from God should be rejected as meerly humane I see not any solid Ground for it Yet such is the divine The-anthropical Wisdom of our meer humane Divines that Two of that same mans Books who wrote all the Four for the Identity of the Person that Pen'd them all every Believer may easily believe are Canonized as divine and the other Two Condemned as but humane Thus though I.O. prates so much for the whole Book of Gods being providentially preserved so that we may have full assurance that we enjoy the whole Revelation of his Will that is with him all the Writings that ever were written by Inspiration from the Spirit fit to stand among those that he makes the Standard in the Copies abiding amongst us and contends that the whole Scripture entire as given out from God without any losse of so much as one Letter Tittle or Iota remains and is preserved in the Copies yet extant among us to this day which is that Arch-Assertion in which having at first over shot himself in blindly bolting it out rather then endure that honourable shame of owning his own Ignorance he as blindly posts on to maintain pag. 153.162.169.181.203 Yet upon I know not what frivolous Conceits and prejudicate Surmises possessing the minds of himself and his Brethren of both the Convocational and the Congregational way among which blind Custome more then clear sight I believe to be none of the least which are so far from enjoying the whole Book of Scripture wherein the Mind and VVill of God lyes declared by his own Inspiration of the Penmen that no small part of that Scripture that was written by men divinely inspired and so providentially preserved he refuses to enjoy or own as of such divine Descent from God as other parts of the Scripture are but Rejects and Contemnes it as Apocryphal that is so altogether hidden from him that he knows not very well what to make on 't But suppose he should own and take all the Apocryphal Writings into his Standard and Canon as he calls it of the Scriptures does that and all the rest both Old and New that are bound up in old English Bibles with it Constitute the utmost Bounds of his Canon Doth his Standard stand in so little room Is it Closed within so narrow a Corner Consists it of so few so small a Company of Holy mens Writings and Scriptures as are Comprehended in no greater a Compasse then that Book called the Bible contains to Is that the whole Book of God the whole outward Declaration of his Will by the Writings of Holy men at his own motion The whole Scripture entire that was ever so given out from God without any losse of any of the Integral parts of it so much as of one Letter Tittle or Iota Is all Extant All Remaining All Preserved to this day that was Written by Holy men as moved by the holy Spirit And is that all of the Inspired Scripture which we now have and enjoy in our present Bibles Was there no more of the Old Testament Scripture then the Apocrypha and that which is commonly counted to the Canon And is the Revelation the Close of the immediate Revelation of his Will to Holy men and of his moving them to write it out by his Holy Spirit Num tam Pellibus exiguis arctatur Spiritus ingens Two things I.O. at least I have to say to the Contrary First That is not all of the Old nor all of the New Scriptures that were by Inspiration Written before Christ and after him to the same use ends and purposes as the rest were Written until Iohns Writing the Revelation Secondly That as there was much more then that ye wot of which was Written as the Spirit moved from Moses to the Revelation so there hath been more since then so Written and more is and will yet be in time to come before as near as it is to it the World that now waxes Old towards it be at an end First There 's not all in your Bibles by much and by how much who knows That was given out upon Inspiration of God when as to say nothing of the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs now extant there is not all the inspired Scripture by much which that inspired Scripture ye have makes mention of Where 's the Book of Nathan the Prophet the Book of Ahijah the Book of Iddo 2 Chron. 9.29 the Book of Shemaiah 2 Chron. 12.15 the Book of Iehu the Prophet 2 Chron. 20.34 1 King 16.1 the Book of Gad the Seer 2 Chron. 29.29 the Book of Iasher 2 Sam. 1.18 Of which it may well be supposed that he was a
very Antient Writer since those that wrote Ioshua who ere they were for himself it was not that wrote it all at least as Moses not all Deuteronomie unlesse he wrote of his own Death and Burial before he died See Iosh. 24.29 do quote him Iosh. 3.10 Where 's that part of Ieremiah the Prophet wherein he spake that which Matthew cites Matth. 27.9 10. about the giving the 30 pieces of Silver the price that Christ was sold at for the Potters field for howbeit Zachary the Prophet Zach. 11.12 speaks of the same thing who was in his work an Exalier of God in his time which the Name Ieremiah seems to signifie and so may be called Ieremiah which is not likely to be Matthews meaning yet in all the Prophesies of Ieremie extant in your Bibles there 's no such thing spoken And for you to say either that Matthew was mistaken quoting throw forgetfulness one Prophet for another or that the Transcribers of the Copies of their Original out of Matthews Original Copy failed so fowlly in their Transcribings for all your Copies that ever I saw so read as to write Ieremie for Zachary will be for I.O. upon his Principles who stands to plead every Letter Tittle and Iota that was in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be now in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as sorry a shift and miserable remedy as he makes for himself and finds who leaps out of the frying pan into the fire Where 's the Prophecy of Enoch spoken of Iude 14. out of whose Prophesie the Iewes can tell you more then ye wot of from that of Iude And as for Ezra or Esdras and his true Companions of whom thou sayest truly enough if not truer then thou art aware of that their care in restoring the Scripture to its Purity when it had met with the greatest Tryal that it ever underwent in this world considering the Paucity of the Copies then extant was great and that the Consignation and Bounding of the Canon delivered to the Judaical Church was in their dayes and that they did labour to reform all the Corruptions crept into the Word of God And that they compleated the Punctation the compleatnesse of which then was not Coaevous with the Text as at first Written in Hebrew as thou contendest to the Consuring of thy self here and that they were guided herein by the infallible direction of the Spirit of God Pag. 177. 211. 302. 303. Did not they in the Spirit and Power of God Write many more Books even 204. most of which are not in your Bibles Read 2 Esdras 14. throughout the Chapter Where are all these and sundry more Scriptures some as and some more Antient then Moses of which I will not now speak particularly And as to the New Where is that First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians mentioned in the first of those Two that we have 1 Cor. 5.9 And that First Epistle of his to the Ephesians for its evident he wrote One to them before That mentioned in that One which ye have Ephes. 33 And that Epistle of his to the Laodiceans mentioned Col. 4.16 Besides several to Seneca Neros Tutor and other of Pauls Writings who was doubtlesse far more Voluminous in his Writings then that poor pittance of Epistles to Churches and Ministers and the Letters to Philemona Tradesman about a Domestick businesse of Receiving his Servant Onesimus that had ben unserviceable to him amounts to of whole Spiritual Scriptures and Speeches that fell from him at his Martyrdom that were taken by such as were present at it some in these dayes have seen more then that which was Written of him by Luke in the Acts and Written by him in the Epistles ye count a part of your Canon And whether that which Iohn wrote to the Church mentioned by him in the 9th vers of his Letter to Gaius were no other then the first of those Three Recorded And whether that of Iude whereof Iude 3. he sayes in the Praeterimperfect Tense When I gave all diligence to write unto you of the Common Salvation it was needful for me to write unto you c. were not One he wrote before This which was now but under his hands is more then all you Sayers of what ye think only are able groundedly to gain-say And whether Clements Epistle whose name was in the Book of Life and that Church of Rome to Corinth wrote 30 years after Pauls may not Challenge to be ranck'd among the rest is worth your enquiry And what think ye of that sweet shorr pretious Reply of Christ Iesus himself in his Letter to Agbarus King of Edessa who wrote so loving'y and beleevingly to him about the Malady that lay upon him as it stood Recorded in the Roles of that City and may do still for ought ye know which is to be read and many other pretious passages about that businesse in the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilius Is it not as Christian as Divinum Spiritum non hominem sapiens and worthy as particular as it is to stand in your Standard and claim a room in your Canon as that particular Letter of Paul to Philemon What is become I say of all these and more then may now be mentioned none of which is within the Confines of your Congregationally Constituted Synodically Composed Ecclesiastically Authorized Clerically Conceived Canon 1. Were they not divinely Inspired That were to Render doubtful your undoubted Divine Original of what you have Since some of them are quoted in these you have 2. Are they all utterly lost That were to loose himself much more in his Cause who is lost too much already for I.O. to say so sith more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one jot or one Tittle is then passed away and perished from the Law if the Letter be it not one jot or one Tittle of which Letter quoth I.O. wofully mis-interpreting that of Matth. 5.18 for the lotaes and Tittles of the meer Text and Letter which Christ utters only of the Doctrine Truth and Holy Matter of the Law is to passe away till Heaven and Earth which are yet standing are past away 3. Or did not God Himselfe intend to Dignifie these with the same honour and Crown them with so high an Account as those though as well descended and as immediately derived from him as the rest or did he not design them to the same Spiritual Ends and Renowned Uses with their fellows 4. Or were these Books out of the way and not present at the time and place of the first setting up of your Standard by such Synods and Sanydrims as took on them to stablish Sign Seal and Authorize what Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles should and what should not stand under that honourable Title of the stedfast Standard and so were Censured and Sentenced for ever for not appearing at that sacred Session and high Court of Iudicature which was to Iudge what Books should be from thence-forth
the Supream Iudge to which all should Appeal in all Cases and in whose Sentence all should rest and all Faith be finally Resolved and not coming in at the Compleating Consignation Bounding and Final Closing of the Canon should for ever Iure Ant-Ecclesiastico or Apostatico and in foro hominum forfeit that Originally Equal Title which in foro Dei Iure Christico and Apostolico they else had to be Canonized with their fellows Ah poor men It pities me to see how ye Dream together in the dark and mope up and down in your own misty Imaginations about your Original Texts and external Letter leaving the Original Truth it self which was before your Texts were ever talk'd on or had a being in the World turning your backs on that internal Light in the heart which all the Tendency of of your Letter is to turn men to and from which your Scripture Originally had its being It irks me to see how for want of betaking your selves to the measure of the Light that shines in your own Consciences that infallibly would lead you to that which is the end of all Scriptures and words spoken or written as from God viz. honesty and righteousnesse truth and acceptation with God and Holy men ye trace to and fro till ye tire your selves in the perplexing Cris-Cros Track and endlesse Round of your own meer Thoughts about a thing which the more ye try the more ye Tangle your selves about it and the more ye look after it and in it in the way ye look into your beloved Letter the more ye loose your selves in it and about it till at last you will eternally loose both it and your selves too by not looking to the Light at all even no lesse then altogether See Epist. Ded Pag. 30. I. O's Preaching on that Subject the Scripture and his publishing of it is said by him to be but his Thoughts so pag. 146 147. what he delivers about the Prolegomena and Appendix to the Biblia Polyglotta was but what his own Thoughts had suggested unto him sutable to other learned mens Apprehensions So Pag. 149. He runs the Hazard of giving his Thoughts on them Pag. 151. He discover his Thoughts on the things proposed by them So Pag. 163. What he gives out concerning the Purity of the present Copies of the Originals of the Scriptures he so Scribles for is but an account of his Apprehensions So Pag. 225. He purposes to manifest his Thoughts on the Epistle to the Hebrews So Pag. 278. He desired Dr. Ward to give his Thoughts on the difference of Apert Sounds and Vowels which he did accordingly And Pag. 177. He sayes when he shall Communicate his Thoughts to the World about an Vniversal Character it will doubtlesse yield much if not Vniversal Satisfaction unto learned and prudent men O ye Wise and Prudent Vain Thinkers and Senslesse Surmisers that sit down Universally Satisfied in the shadow of your own and one anothers shallow Thoughts When will you come to busie your selves about that which is infallibly clear and certain and let your deep infinite Disputings about dark and doubtful matters of small moment to you too altogether alone When will you wash your Hearts from that Dunghil of meer deemings and divinity Dreamings with the untempered Morter of which ye are all to be-dawbed so that one can discern little or nothing that savours of more then dubiousuesse and disputablenesse it self descending or flowing from your Well-heads and Fountains of Forgery and Fabulosity little or none from the Breasts of your Nursing Mothers of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plain purely reasonable sincere Milk of the Word whereby the growth is into the Life of God but such as is mangled and mingled with the Mire and Mudde of your putrid and puddlely Opinions and Opinations Will you never cease from Teaching for Doctrines your own Conceptions Apprehensions and Conjectural Conclusions of things for Truth taken from no surer Topick place then that self same that ye Condemn in Papists viz. the Traditions of men Will you never give over filling and feeding the vain World for filthy Lucre with such perishing Food as the thin froth and Foam of your own Fancies instead of the Bread that comes down from Heaven and that Meat which endures to Eternal Life Oh thou European Athens or Academical Minx thou manifold Mother with thy Children for whom t is as easie for the Blackmore to change his Skin and the Leopard his Spots as for thee who hast been accustomed to Apostarize from the Councel of God and erre from the Mind of Christ to with-hold thy foot from wandring after thy own Images and Imaginations wilt thou not be made clean When shall it once be How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee Now as to the Four wayes by way of Query above propounded which of them all I.O. means to Answer by who talks so much about the Closure Compleating Consignation and Bounding of the Standard and Scripture Canon ◠I cant well say But as for T.D. with whom I have somewhat to do and to deal alittle here he Replyes Affirmitively to the Third among them saying Pag. 26 of the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians mentioned in that First of Ours and so consequently of all the several Scriptures that are not bound up in your Bibles which I asserted to be as much a Rule as those ye have that they were not intended as much for your Rule as those in your Books To whom when I Replyed at the Dispute with him as he there Relates Thus viz. If that Epistle was wriiten to the same end with those we have as it was viz. to Instruct the Corinthians how to carry themselves to grosse Sinners I Cor. 5.9 compared with vers II. I wrote unto you not to Company and now I have written unto you not to keep Company And the same was said of his First to the Ephesians i.e. that it was to the self same End as that we have Ephes. 3.3 As I wrote before that ye may understand my Knowledge in the Mistery of Christ so now then 't was intended as much for a Rule as the other But it was Written to the same End Ergo If one a Rule then the other T.D. Denies the Consequence Saying Sermons private Religious Discourses have the same common End with the written Scriptures yet the Later only are our standing Rule the former our Rule but so far as they agree with the Later in the Scripture Reply Which Reply of T. D's is so unreasonably ridiculcus that he is scarce Animal Rationale Risibile that receives and entertains it seriously as the Truth For First it supposes as if Pauls First writing to the Corinthians were not Written Scriptures as well as the Rest we have but an Orall Discourse Secondly It supposes Pau's First Epistle of all to that Church which was cited by himself in his Second as written to the same End and was written in the same Spirit
wander when he is bedged out of it one way will find or make himself a Gap into it by another and as to this matter of PAVL to LAODICEA he hath Three or Four shifts for fear one fail affirming after he had found it Translated into English not to but from Laodicea First That for ought we know it might be that First of Paul to Timothy the Post-script of which sayes it was Written from Laodicea of which Post-script which its notorious enough to every Novice that neither it nor the other Post-scripts were Pen'd by such as wrote the Epistles themselves when I Asked T.D. Whether he owned it and the Rest as Canonical or no As Canonical quoth he for ought appears yet to me as your Epistle to the Laodiceans of which Epistle yet he had said but just before It might be that of Pauls to Timothy which yet that it was is so unlikely that t is little lesse then to be like a Child to Assert it A likely matter indeed that its Pauls to Timothy meant Col. 4.16 That which Paul wrote to Timothy was to Timothy a particular Person about particular Matters concerning him as in that Capacity of a Church-Officer I Tim. 3.14 15. What should he Charge the Colosians so much to look after that for Or if he had Would he not have said See that ye read the Epistle to Timothy Had not that been plainer Secondly But seeing that Snap T.D. fits another string to his Instrument and then Fidles on in this fashion denying it to be Pauls Epistle at all either to Laodicea or Timothy or any one else branding it with the Name of one of the Brats laid by the Popish party at the Apostles doors which they will not Father and me as a Brother of the Popish party and an Abbettor of them in their wickednesse for Fathering it on Paul at all And then Thirdly That he might seem to say something though no better then nothing to every thing rather then own any thing for Truth before the World be it never so plain that the Quakers tell him he bethinks himself and upon Second or rather Third Thoughts adds having perused the Judgement of some Learned men about it that 't was neither Pauls to Timothy any more then to Laodicea nor yet altogether such a Brat or Bastard brood as a metr Chimaera hatcht and bred and sained in the Fancies only of the Popish party but at least a Real Epistle yet one that was so far from being Pauls to Laodicea that it was rather one Written by the Laodiceans to Paul himself a more incredible pigment then the first for all t is his Reverend Dr. Davenports Opinion on the place Thus Oh the twistings and turnings and chopâ—ings and changings and piecirgs and patchings and shiftings and shufflings of T.D. to wind himself away from the Truth which is to him so Intollerable that with I.O. heeâ—l bear the shame and run the hazard of giving his incongruous self-overturning Thoughts thick and threefold against it rather then truly turn to it when it s truly and uncontroulably told and laid before him As it is in this Case about the Epistle to Laodicea about which he traces to and fro two or three false wayes and yer can scarce tell well which of the Three to fix upon or steadily to stand to or stand still in Neverthelesse notwithstanding T.Ds. advance in Three Motions against the Truth of Pau's Writing to Laodicea yet they help him not but for all his two strides and a Iump yet he leaps too short to reach the matter of Truth he would resel by it for Quid verbis opus est quum facta loquuntur there need no more words in proof on 't the Epistle of Paul to Laodica is extant and speaks out it self and its Author whose it is as well by the stale and majesty of it as by the Superscription being both Translated and Printed in English as it was found though not in your Testaments yet in the Oldest Bible that was Printed at Worms And also in a certain Antient Manuscript of the New Testament Text which I have seen and can produce written in Old English 340 years since or above before the Art of Printing came up here by which its evident that it was owned as Canonical in the Church of England in those dayes and was however it came to be since left out bound upamong its fellowes And howbeit it be filled in our English Translations of Col. 4.16 the Epistle from Laodicea besides the genuine sence of the Greek which as is shewed above will much rather bear it to then from Laodicea yet let it be read from that nothing lessens the likelihood of its being Pauls for though he wrote it to Laodicea yet if the Colossians would read it as Paul bids them do as that the Laodiceans likewise should read what he wrote to the Colossians they must read it in a Copy from Laodicea whether it was sent or else not at all as the Laodiceans it they read that he wrote to the Colossians must have it first from Colosse or at least a Copy of it For as for the Scriptures of the New Testament quoth I.O. who helps us in this though he hinder himself another way by it as to his Canons Constitution out of the first Original Copies pag. 166. it doth not appear that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the several Writers of it were ever gathered into one Volumne there being now no one Church to keep them for the rest the Epistles though immediately Transcribed for the use of other Churches Col. 4.16 Mark how he Quotes the very Place too we are upon as if he owned Pauls to Laodicea which if he do he wounds himself to death in his Arch-Assertion that not a Tittle or Iota of the inspired Scripture as given out at first is lost but remaining every Apex of it in the Copies w now enjoy fith here 's a whole Epistle of Pauls lacking as well as his first to Corinth and Ephesus in which were many Tittles and lotaes were doubtless kept in the several Churches to which they were directed From those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there were quickly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given out to faithful men whilst the infallible Spirit continued his guidance in an extraordinary manner Here T.D. said no more but was ad Altum srlentium and at his Non ultra as to opposing the being of such an Epistle of Paul to Laodicea legitimate but rather fell under the weight of what Evidence was brought to prove it so yet when after long striving against this Antecedent which was urged in proof of this Conclusion viz. That there 's more Holy Scriptures extant to this day which are as much a Rule as those ye have in your Bibles and call your Rule exclusively of all others to shew himself to be one of those I.O. speaks of who are as like I.O. too as ever they can look that are to
English J. O's Latine so unhappily stupid or self-will'd that they will be indoctrinated by no reason nor experience but as if themselves aboue must over-top all being puft up with a vain perswasion of their own Faith they obstinately persist in the contempt of such things as they understand not and so with the Comedian cry out Let who will say what he will from this Opinion we will not be removed T.D. at last denyes the Consequence saying pag 28. Suppose we should grant you there were such an Epistle legitimate yet it will not follow that it was intended for a Rule to us And why so may any Rational Reader say For this Reason quoth T.D. which Reason is as silly as if he had said because it will not for we have already as much as God thought sufficient God did not give order for any more then them we have to be our Rule what Order he gave for any writing at all to be the Rule or Canon will be seen anon or whether man did not give order for the Canonizing of that that is Authorized as the Rule but how appears it that God gave order for some Holy Scriptures and not some some Holy mens Writings some of Pauls Epistles and not othersome hereby quoth T D. Read Iob. 20.30.31 and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his Discip'es which are not written in this Book but these are Written that ye might believe c. Reply In which Scripture T. D's Reason why Pauls other Epistles are Authentick and Canonical but that of his to Laodicea though as legitimate as the rest must not be so lyes so close hid up that a man may sooner find the way of a Bird in the Air or of a Serpent upon a Rock or a Fish in the Sea then find it or any thing that hath the least Iota of a Reason of such a matter Quis nist mentis inops c. Who but a man besides his wits can see either Sense or Reason in this Reason Iohn sayes Christ did more things then he Wrote of in that Book therefore Pauls Epistle to Laodicea i not so Canonical as his other Epistles But to take it as it comes consider first Iohn speaks of that particular History that he was then in hand with Secondly He speaks of Signes and not of Scriptures Thirdly Though he affirms that more were done by Christ then were written in his Book yet many might be and were Written by Matthew Mark and Luke that were not by him so that every way that Scripture makes against T.D. For first If Iohns Writing that Book were Exclusive of any of Pauls legitimate Epistles it must be of them all and of all legitimate Scripture that was wrote after this and so of his own Three Epistles and of his Revelation also from the Canon what mad work will T.D. make that way and what a fowl flaw will he make in his Canon by medling to exclude one Book of the New Testament excluding well nigh all Iohns Book was sufficient therefore no more need be written this is the Inference according to T. D. and not Iohns was sufficient therefore Pauls to Laodicea only so illegitimate that it must have no room in the Rule nor standing in the Standard though all other his Epistles now extant may 2. Iohn speaking that all the Signs Christ did were not written is no Argument to prove that all that was Written by the Spirit was not as equally useful as some of it and all alike designed and ordered to the same Ends so that if some were intended for a Rule the rest must be yea faith not the Scripture thus Rom. 15.4 1 Cor. 18.11 Whatever was Written aforetime was Written for our Instruction that we by it might have Hope Saith it not All Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is profitable for Doctrine Exhortation Instruction in Righteousnesse c. 2 Tim 3.16 2 Pet. 1.20 Saith it not that no Prophecy of Scripture which with I.O. is the Scripture of the Prophecy must be Interpreted as private Discourses that all Holy men of God spake as moved of the Holy Spirit Was not all then that was Written before Christ and since intended to one and the self same End though all that was done was not Written I understand not therefore the force of this Argument of T. D. All that was done was not Written Therefore much of that which was Written is of no use or not intended to the same use to the Church as the rest was 3. It perfectly confirms against T. D. what we Assert against him viz. That Pau's Writing to Laodicea and whatever else of Holy mens Writings that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and can be found have Caeteris Paribus One as much Authority as the Other being all alike legitimate For Iohn sayes of what ere is Written if T.D. will stretch Iohns saving beyond the bounds of that individual Book he was then writing it was written All to the same End i.e. That men might believe which with you not us is as much as to say to be a Rule of Faith One thing more I must not let slip here though T. D. did in his Account of the Dispute viz. That when T.D. had no more to say against that Argument from Paul Epistle to the Laodiceans one of his Associated Assistants R. Wilkinson asked Whether we had more Scripture in the Greek Tongue now extant then is in their Greek Testaments For that to Laodicea being here but Englished it would not down with them Reply was made Yea so naming a Verse between the 5 and 6 Verses of the 6 Chapter of Luke which is in some Greek Copies not theirs and a Verse of the Original Text wanting makes still against I. O.'s Arch-Assertion of the Scripture of both Testaments remaining in the Copies they now have entire to a Tittle as it first given out without any losse pag. 173. I repeated it in English thus out of the Greek in which Greek Tongue I have also read it Iesus seeing a certain man Working on the Sabbath day said unto him O man If thou knewest indeed what thou dost thou were happy but if thou knowest not thou art accursed and a Transgressor of the Law And so I have proved against T. D. That there 's much Scripture of Holy men which was as much designed in its first giving out to be the Rule as 〈◊〉 which is in modern Bibles wanting and lost some whereof yet is Extant in some Bibles at this day in which Confutation of T.D. I.O. is further Confuted as to all those many places of his Book wherein he avers over and over again with exceeding earnestnesse his Arch-Assertion viz. That not one iot nor Tittle of divinely inspired Scripture is lost but every Apex and Letter of it as at first Writing is Transcribed downward to us and preserved without any losse in the Copies we now have pag. 13 19. 173. And so this might stand
I. O. I am to Answer him in else-where So say I to I.O. T. D. or any other Thinkers or Seemers to themselves to see Proferant Fantastisi c. let these Pretenders to the Vision of this matter produce but one place of the Holy Scripture or any Testimony from Heaven but such a one from above they can't who deny Gods Spirit so speaking in these dayes as of old wherein God Christ or the Apostles set out the distinct bounds of their Canon Directory or Standard of the Old or New Testament by such a precise parcel of Books as are in your Bibles and exclusively of any other holy Writ whether mentioned or not mentioned therein and wee l not say but they have Cause in this Case though if 't were as they say they must hang down their heads with shame in 20 more to triumph in earnest Si autem de suo tantum loquuntur mendaces sunt neque verum est eorum Testimonium if they talk of their own heads of things about the Scripture which the Scripture Testifies not of it self they are Lyars and their Testimony is not true As to the Canon as ye call it or Standard of the Old Testament there 's not the least Tittle of Tendency to any such thing hinted there that it should consist of so many Books and such shall stand in it and such other though as legitimate and mentioned to be of God therein as well as the rest shall be shut out and stand by And in very Ezra alias Esdras his dayes when there was such a Paucity of Copies as thou well sayest I.O. Pag. 177. That in very deed the who'e Law was burnt as to the Originals its like at least 2 Esdras 14. 21 22 c. The Care of him and his Companions was great as thou sayest as to the Restoring of the Scripture to its Purity when it had met with the greatest Tiyal that ever it under-went before insomuch that what Books could be gotten together were copied cut or else written de novo by the light of understanding kindled in Esdras his heart by the Lord and many excellent thing done as to the Recovery of the Law into more purity in the very Letter of it out of the Babilonish rubbish c. but what 's all this as to the settling of this and that and t'other Prophecy into the distinct measure of a Standard by divine Appointment and dis-Canonizing all others save such as are in your Bibles called Canonical whether those of the Seers Gad Nathan Iddo and the rest abovesaid that are specified in your Bibles or those later which are allowed a room and standing in your Bibles though not a room and standing in your Rule and Standard thereof called Apocryphal of which some were Esdras his own as well as some of the rest Besides 't is evident that Esdras and his Companions if the Consigration and Bounding of the Canon were in their dayes or by their Sanydrim set a work and ordered by the insallible Spirit of God therein wrote a number more of Books 2 Esdras 14. 42. 44. then are now Extant in your Bibles which if all lost it makes against I.O. still that sayes not an Apex of what was by divine inspiration is lost and so his great Engine out of which he shoots short against the Truth his Standard and Canon comes still lame and short and halting home And also though Esdras and his Company Compiled many yet the last Volume of the Psalmes is more credibly supposed if I would enter into I. O's Work of Answering Conjecture with Conjecture to be truss'd up together in the dayes of the Maccabees but all here is uncertain and carried to and fro by Conjectures and so there 's nothing sure on I. O's side And as to the newer and later Scripture since Christ where is the least touch of such a businesse of Constituting some few certain Books of those many more then we have which were then written into a Canon and discarding othersome whether such as we want or such legitimate ones as we have as that to Laodicea from within the Coasts and Quarters of your Canon Nay rather the Scripture of the New sayes as in the places above Cited Rom. 15.4 1 Cor. 10.11 2 Tim. 3.16.17 2 Pet. 1.20.21 That all Scriptures that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given or written by Inspiration of old time were to the same purpose that any at all were so that if any of it all then all of it is to be listed into that Lydium Lapidem and to be Confederate with the rest and to come by right into the Confines of your Canon all what ever was so written being alike written for our Instruction alike profitable alike publick and none of it of a more private Interpretation then the rest Does that of T. D's Citing and I. O's also Ex. 3. 26. viz. Iob. 20.30.31 prove any such thing If that be Exclusive of any Scripture at all it must be of all that which was written after it forasmuch as according to T. Ds. Exposition of it it intimates a sufficiency in that which was already written and if wee l be befool'd with his sinister senses and mindlesse meanings on the Scripture that when he had written that there was as much as God himself thought sufficient to be written at all as a rule of Faith or in order to mens beleeving pag. 28. These are Written that ye might be'eeve and have Life as if he should say Here 's enough what need more And as the Preacher said of old Of making many Books there 's no end by these be thou Admonished they are words of Truth therefore heed no more Eccles. 12.10.12 Will any of you say that in Iohn yet T. D twines it such a way will bear such a Construction as to be Conclusive of some Scriptures of Spiritually Inspired men into the use of a Canon or Standard and exclusive of others as much of God as those On this account as one might Interpret Solomon as cutting off from the Canon all the Prophets Writings that succeeded his in the Old Testament Scripture so one must Interpret Iohn as Excluding out of the Standard of the New Testament all ensuing Writings of Holy men but his own and his own Epistles and Revelation also which were Posterior or Successive to his History then in hand as utterly uselesse and superfluous Credat Apelia Doth that Gal. 6. 16 As many as walk according to this Rule or Canon do it which blind Guides and People so hastily patter over as if that mentioned the whole Bible and all that Writing and not a Tittle more then what 's bound up in it besides the Apocrypha when I shall shew in its proper place it s spoken of no External Scripture of Writing at all I say will that prove some to be Authorized of God for the Standard and some even of the same Holy mens Writings though yet extant not to be so Is there
Shall we Think Pag. 168. against others strong Arguments to the contrary First It is urged and that with no little shew of Truth that the old Hebrew Letters being those the Samaritan Pentateuch is written with at this day and that the Samaritan Letters having alwayes been and still being without Points it must follow that the Points are an Invention and Innovation of a later date then the change of the Letters which was not till Ezraes dayes and not Goaeuous with the first Scripture Pag. 260. in which the Consequence being undeniable thou makest bold to think the Antecedent may be false and among a deal more of doubtful stuffe to say that 't is most uncertain when and in what Character the Samaritans received the Pentateuch P. 261. that the Letters thereof were the Antient Hebrew Letters As for what Eusebius Hierom and some of the Rabbins Report it seems to thee on the best Enquiry thou art able to make a groundlesse Tradition and meer sable because though Eusebius affirmed it was so affirmed yet tells not on what ground And though Hierom himself be positive in it yet he might be mistaken in this as well as he was in some other things like to it as Pag. 234. he saw not all things and that the Talmud is of no weight with thee Reply What pedling Disproof is here of I.O. pushing against Two Antient Fathers Positions and the Testimony of the whole Talmud of the Rabbins with no more then the Bean-stalk of his own Suppositions and slender Sayings It 's of no weight with me It seems to me a Tradition pag 262. and It doth not appear to me whence this Change of Character should arise The Jewes are thought and said in the Captivity to have forgot their own Character and learn'd the Caldean so as to adhere to it in their Return but that the men of one Age should forget the use of their own Letters is incredible Yet say I more then Credible yea certain it is that though the Antients alive at the burning of the First and building of the Second Temple did not likely forget their own yet in and after the Captivity the Chaldean Character was used witnesse the Books of Daniel Ezra Nehemiah Ester in which much is written in Chaldee I say then what straw and stubble and unsteady stuffe is all this which our Doctoral Students in Divinity stand so upon as to stiffen themselves by it against each other in their sturdy Disputes about their stupidities yet so far are solid Saints from putting any stresse much more so much as I.O. who states and trusts no lesse then whole sacred Truth thereon upon such Ticklish Pinnacles and Points or from strengthning themselves in their Faith towards God thereby that it s even a stink to them to see any so senslesse as so to do on either hand Pag. 263. 2. The Argument for the Novelty of the Points from the Antient Iudaical Coines found with Samaritan Characters upon them is refel'd with the Rush of thy own ridiculous and reasonlesse Fancies which sith they are too frivolous to Rehearse I refer the Reader that is minded to be so foolish as to follow thee in that high Road as thy self there callst it and so savest me the labour of sprinkling it into that Name of Forgeries and Fables in which thy self as well as those thy Opponents are altogether to Pag. 264 265 266 267. where he may Read thee Rendring of simple Supposition against Supposition or rather against Position disproving Ignotum per magis ignotum dubium per magis dubium pelting back out of thy Pot-gun such brown Paper as this at the Probable Arguments of others viz. May we not think c. It is not improbable that it was so old nor is it improbable that 't was so c. I cannot think the Greeks of old used only the Vncial Letters which yet we know some did c. I shall crave leave to Answer this Conjecture with another and grant that such a Change was made yet this prejudices not them in the least who affirm Ezra and the men of the Great Congregation to have been the Authors of the Points Nay it casts a probability on the other hand namely That Ezra laying aside the Old Letters because of their difficulty together with the other introduced the Points to facilitate their use And Lastly To bring up the Reerward of thy manifold Fictions foisted out against the urgings of that probable Proof from the Characters upon the Coines after thou hadst prosecuted them a while passim testaque lutoque thou Concludest thus viz. Now let any man Iudge from this heap of Vncertainties of which say I I. O's there accumulated are I know not how many to one of the other any thing can arise with the face of a witnesse to be admitted to give Testimony on either hand say I much lesse on I. O's whos 's own heap of confessed uncertain Conjectures is manifold more Massy then that of his Antagonists yea as weighty as the very Wind it self He that will part with his Possession on such easie Terms quoth I.O. there never found much benefit by it And say I He that will part with much Labour and Pains to find out the Antiquity of this Possession of Hebrew Letters Points and Tittles and think to get much benefit by purchasing it to himself therewith as Râ—ch and Ancient an Inheritance as I. O. pretends it is Pag. 252. 318. and as many Millions as he sayes Pag. 176. look'd on and enjoyed it for many Ages as their chiefest Treasure Pag. 163. he shall assuredly have his labour for his pains And if I may crave leave to interpose so far as to Answer I. O's many uncertain Ones with one more certain Conjecture I tell I O. that he hath himself Conjectured away the very thing he Conjectured for and tost his own Cause so long to and fro among the multitude of his uncertain Thoughts Conjectures and Suppositions till unawares to himself in the Crowd thereof he hath lost it altogether and supposed it into the very bosom of his Opponents for if Ezra and his Congregation were the Authors of the Points and introduced them as he sayes the Argument from the Characters on the Coines renders it probable that they did Pag. 266 as is abovesaid then proculdubio for certain and of a Truth it may both be Conjectured and must be credibly and infallibly believed that they are so far from being Coaevous with the first Manuscripts that they were invented and introduced though before the Tiberian Massorites yet after all that he owns as the Canonical Scripture of the Old Testament was first written and so he gives it in for granted that they are a Novelty and not a thing that was from the beginning of the Scripture which is that he is to prove or else it comes short of his purpose so as to adde an inch to his Arch Assertion of a non Alteration of the Text
as at first given out in any Tittle and so as if he had not in Pag. 211. to the contradicting of his own meer Conjecture and Conceit of their Coaevousnesse with the immediate Manuscripts said thus I no wayes doubt but as we now enjoy the Points we shall manifest that they were compleated by Ezra and his Companions and so confounded himself enough he hath by this Reiteration of the same self-confuting Conjecture about the Points overthrown himself as to that Point altogether the first Writing of the Pentateuch being by his own Confession Pag. 5. a thousand years elder then Ezra and according to himself all the rest both written and lost before Ezra the Scribe and his fellows dayes who he makes but the Transcribers and Restorers of them So Pag. 27. out of Azarias he ascribes the Figure and Character of the Points to Ezra and the restoration of their use to the Massorites Whether then the Points be from Ezra or the Tiberian Massorites is much at one to the Root and Bottom of thy businesse I. O. which is to evince that the Text stands entirely the same in your Pointed Copies to a Tittle without variation from what it was when first Written and that the Points are Coaevou with the Scripture it self And thou talkst that according to the general belief of the Jewes they are if not from Moses yet at least from Ezra not denying the use and knowledge of them received a great reviving by the Massorites when they had been much disused Pag. 247. from which Massorites yet for ought thou clearly or any more but Conjecturally and very uncertainly makst appear to the contrary they might as well receive their first being according to the Testimony of Elias Levita who as thy self sayest Pag. 248. was the most learned Grammarian of the Iewes in his Age and Assistant to Paulus Fagius in his noble promotion of the Hebrew Tongue and the Testimonies of Luther the renownedst Reformer in his time as ever Europe had and of Zainglius and others then that imbraced his Opinion and of Capellus whom thou stilest a Learned Protestant Divine and of that Learned Professor Dr. Iohn Prideaux in his Publick Lecture at the Vespers of your own Oxonian Counitia on that Subject which Dr. I.P. it s no disparagement to Dr. I.O. to Confesse to have been in his time far before himself as to Schoole Divinity though we know that O. stands preferred a little before P. in the Horn-book Pag. 15 16 17 18 of thy Epist. And to Capellus his Argument that ' t was likely Elias spake on Principles of Conviction of Truth because against the common interest of all his People which seems to have weight in it how pedlingly thou Replyest and Pelletest out thy Putations to the contrary Pag. 248 249 250. a very Boy may behold the most material of which is this viz. That the Testimony of this one Elias should be able to out-weigh the constant Attestation of all the learned Jewes to the contrary as Capellus pleads and as is insinuated in that Prolegomena is fond to imagine To which I say Why so Elias thou Confessest to Assert what he did in such honestly as not in way of sleighting the Points nor the Scripture any more then if they had been the Work of Ezra from whose dayes and no higher thou derivest their Pedigree but sith thou canst not do it from Moses thy Antiquity is but Novelty with us So why may not the Testimony of one learned and honest Elias now out-weigh the Testimony of many Iewes now whose general Testimony thou sleightest and them too as wicked when they speak against thee as well as the Testimony of one Elias of old out-weighed that of 950 of the Prophets of Boal and the Groves 1 King 18 Thirdly And as to the Argument from the Iewes keeping a Copy without Points which they adore in their Synagogues thereby little lesse then implying the Points to be of man and not of Divine Original Which Argument is of weight for if the Letters were the Word and the Points with them a part of as Divine Original as the rest they durst not diminish ought much lesse so great a part as the Points knowing the Curse denounced in it against all detracters from it Deut. 4.2 This thou resellest as falsly and self-confutingly as the rest saying Pag. 267 268 269. 1. It s the constant Opinion and perswasion of them all Elias only excepted that they are of divine Extract Reply Which if it were as certain to thee as it but seems so on the Conjectures of such as thou sidest and consultest with yet Elias ur prius might be right and they all wrong being all under the Curse as well as some so that their Testimony about Scripture though they have it among them is no more to be heeded with thee where it makes against thee and why it should be more when it makes for thee a reasonable man can't see then Aesops Fables as to the use of the whole Talmud of the Robbins in Christian Religion Pag. 236. 240. 2. To let passe the rest as pedling thou tellest that and the Reason why the Jewes who have for ought I find more Books without then with Points have their Canon and Standard without them is as they alledge the difficulty of Transcribing Copies without any failing the least rendring the whole Book as to its use in their Synagogues prophane Reply To which say I If it be so difficult then how darest thou date so deeply as thou dost on the unquestionablenesse of the Transcripts of the Bible with Points being as entire to a Tittle as the first This is ad hominem enough to confute thy own vain Confidences about the non-corruption of the Text throw all Ages to this day And again Because the least failing renders their Standard prophane therefore they 'l make their Standard of such a Copie as shall fail altogether as to the Points as divinely Essential a part with them secundum te as the very Consonants themselves Credat Appella he that believes not that Conjecture about the Scripture shall never come into Condemnation as I.O. talks some shall for not owning the whole Letter and its Tittles as the Word of God for his damnable unbelief I dare assure him 3. That the Jewes end seems to be this in not Pointing their standing Copies viz. That none be admitted to read or sing the Law in their Synagogues until he be so perfect in it as to be able to observe all Points and Accents in a Book where there are none of them Reply Which is another Whimzy of thy own brain for I have often seen and heard their Service Read and Sung in their Synagogues by young Boyes as the mouth of the whole body of 7 or 8 years of Age or little more however at utter incapacity to observe all Points so exactly as thou speakst of where there are none And to the rest of thy Answers throw that
in the Translation because of the ignorance of these Accents as if only by their Order the true Connexion and Distinction of Senses could be had Therefore let no English Man quoth he think he hath not learned the Hebrew Tongue if he know not these Accents and the infinity of work in them but rather with me pitty the pains of those painful Germans and Scots upon such rotten Principles and learn hereafter of them to labour upon a sure ground or to think that God hath laid a Curse upon his labour Sysiphi Saxum a stone that will give him an endlesse and unprofitable Work and I wish this painful man and Buxtorf and all those that are so busie about the Pricks and will not believe that excellently and exceedingly learned Author Capellus French Professor at Lamar in his Arcanum Punctorum Revelatum Printed in the Oriental Printing-house his own at Leyden 1625. that they may bestow their pains upon â—etter work then about these Triflâ—s of the Points and the Samaritick Letters if they or those wherewith the Bible is now Printed be the true old Hebrew Character when as both are of the same Essence and one no more true then the other all that can be said for Accents is that one Accent may do the businesse lifting up the syllable where it is They are unreasonably and without sense called Grammatical and Rhetorical for Rhetorick speaks not of Accents And much more from pag. 172. to pag. 174. Alas poor Souls have ye no better Guides then Points Vowels Accents no marvel ye have been no better then blind Guides to the Blind who are no better guided your selves into the whole sacred Truth and secret Councel of God then by such dimunitive twinckling sparks as these that ye have kindled and compast your selves about with and walk by the Light of which are so far from rendering other things discernable that ye cannot yet distinctly discern either what or where they are your selves Do ye expe infallible direction from such a Will-with-a-wisp or Walking Fire that leads you into such Brakes of Contention and Bogs of Vncertainty that ye are fain to Confesse ye know not well where ye are but in a Wood in a way and businesse wherein all things are carried to and fro by utter uncertaâ—n Conjectures pag. 330. while â—e are beating your selves about after it and beating one another about it I tremble to think what will become of you indeed and what will be the issue of this Supposition that Letters and Tittles and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye are tattling endlesly about and Points and Vowels and Accents and such Accidental Attomes as are not Essential to the Text much lesse pertaining de esse to the holy Truth should be for Guides But in general this I know that till ye come to the infallible Spirit and Light within that leads if your Letter lye not into all Truth such as follow it whether they be such as have skill in your Points Vowels and Accents yea or no ye may walk on in the Light of your own fire and the sparks that ye have kindled but this you must expect at last from the Lords own hand to lye down in shaking shame and sorrow One thing more I.O. and more remarkable then the rest of thy confused and pedling Work about these Points is the flat Contradicton that thou givest to thy self herein as well as often in many more Points and that thy own sayings concerning them in some places give to what thou utterest of them in some other which I shall here set before thee and the World as it lyes in thy own words that thou mayst see how rawly thou runnest forth in hast to render thy self ridiculous to all men by thy indigested doings in which thou art justly left of the Lord to run in rounds for thy malitious medlings against his people Pag 217. Speaking against the asserted Novelty of the Hebrew Points Vowels and Accents thou writest thus J. O. I shall manifest it is fit they should be all taken out of the way if they have the Original assigned to them by the Prolegomena Reply Yet two Leaves after viz. pag. 221. to go round again thou writest thus Grant the Points to have the Original pretended yet they deserve all Regard and are of singular use for the understanding of the Scripture so that it is not lawful to depart from them without urgent necessity And yet to go round again pag 244 thou writest Semi-diametrically Oppositive thuâ—f I must crave liberty to professe That if I could be throwly convinced that the present Punctation were the Figment and Invention of these men I should labour to the utmost to have it utterly taken away out of the Bible nâ—r should I in its present station make use of it any more To have it placed in the Bible as so great a part of Secundum Te the Word of God is not tolerable Here 's a pretty Triangular piece of Work two Corners of which square a squint with the third in which I.O. dances the Hay up and down in and out by himself alone like Three Kites in the Clouds of Confusion CHAP. V. AS to the matter of the Scripture remaining entire to a Tittle in the outward Text of it as at first given out what a fidling and pidling makest thou to prove and make it good what Figures dost thou cast in thy Fancy throw that part of thy Second Treatise wherein thou treatest for it for the defending of it and to fence off that fault of falshood from falling upon that thy Arch-Assertion having once over-shot thy self-so far as in thy First Treatise as false as frequently to affirm it and yet when all 's done after thy tedious Tracings to and fro in thy wonted Wood of uncertain Talk Conjectural Discourse and in the toylsome Thicker of thy own untrusty Thinking thou art fain to Confesse enough to the Confutation of thy self and the Contradicting of That thy Position in the strictnesse thereof wherein thou tooth and nail Contendest for it as no lesse then a very Fundamental part of That Faith which was once delivered to the Saints But that I may not seem to wrong thee by Representing thy Arch-Assertion in a stricter way or by stretching or extending it in my Animadversions on it beyond the exact measure of thy insert and meaning in it unless thou wilâ— have us to judge thee one that speakest one thing and meanest another as T.D. sayes God doâ— which is as bad let the Reader together with my returns therto take it in thy own terms as it lies spread and sprinkled up down in sundry Expressions sounding out in sum the same thing as to thy purport in them over many parts and in many particular pages of thy Two English Tractacles I.O. Pag. 14. The whole Word of God that is Secundum Te still the Scripture Text or Writing of it in every Letter and Tittle as given from him
ye all falsly say it is that is the Word of God Witnesse not only that so much esteemed Divine in his dayes viz. Ball in his Catechisme but also the Confession of Faith of the Assembly of Divines presented to the Parliament and that of the Congregationals which is verbatim the same also therewith who all unanimously in that Article of the Scripture wherein they falsely affirm it to be the Word of God declare thus in the fifth head viz. by the heavenlinesse of the matter efficacy of Doctrine majesty of the stile excellency and perfection of the whole it doth abudantly evidence it self to be the Word of God yet notwithstanding our full perswasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof i.e. of the Scripture is from the inward work of the holy Spirit bearing witnesse by and with the word in our hearts But thou in page 90. and thorowout thy fifth chapter of thy first Treatise excludest the witnesse of the Spirit immediately in the heart at all or at least the usefulnesse much more the necessity of any such Testimony making as here page 34. the Authority of God shining in it self alone and exclusively of the spirits and words witnesse in our hearts the sole medium of all that evidence which man can have of its being what ye call it viz. The Word of God but as for God and the Spirit who within do give all the evidence that they give at all of the Scriptures being what in truth is is viz a true writing of the truth what if they are willing to grant an evidence within and to afford more then thou talkst of wilt thou bind limit and forbid them so to so who 〈◊〉 unlimitedly here declarest that God is willing to afford and grant no more must not the Spirit blow where it lifts without thy leave or acquainting thee first who art no Prophet with what he will do And this may serve as a sufficient Answer to thy vain Opinion in it it being worth no better to that whole Chapter of thine concerning the Testimony of the Spirit though whether it shall or no so that I 'le say no more to thee about that Chapter is more then I le tell thee here that I may be at liberty to do as I see occasion Only thus much is spoken to that saying of thine above pag. 34. to shew how Majestically still for the eternal Truths of God thou tellest thy own meer trashy untrusty Traditions of which sort I say is that above p. 163 which I am yet in hand with viz. that God probably suffered the losse of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to reduce us to a Consideration of his Care in preserving every Tittle that was in them to this day in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Copies we have But I O. seems to take another Reason out of the bottomlesse pit of his own infinite Fancy and Imagination why God was as willing to let the first Manuscripts perish as careful to preserve every Apex thereof in their adored Transcripts and successively Crowned and Canonized Copies to this day viz. left if the immediate individual Writings had been preserved men would have been ready to adore them as the Jewes to adore their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their Synagogues Reply Which if it be Cogent or have any Reason at all in it to prove a willingnesse in God to let the first Writings be left hath it not as much to the full to evince God Regardlesnesse of your so copiously regarded Copies upon if there were no other the very self-same Account as he was so carelesse of the other But I. O. is so totally Talpified that as Eagle-eyed as he is abroad to spie a hole in the Iewes Coat he can't see that Iewish Idolatry neerer home For if God to prevent Adoration of that Brazen Serpent and Idolized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Scripture was so regardlesse of it as to permit it to perish and be brought to nothing is there not as much reason why he should be as Carelesse of your remote tottered Transcripts and false Translations ye are so carkingly careful of as to let what will become of them notwithstanding your uncessant pining and whining and whoring after them and solicitous scoldings and tearings one of another so much about them For as much as though ye Confesse ye have but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet so it is that ye Adore and even Idolize them as much as ye would or likely could the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 themselves had you them to bustle and busie your minds about and as much as the Iewes though ye advance them the Right way no more then they do theirs as I have told you at large above do their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their Synagogues Suppose ye had here the very Hand writings of Moses and the old Prophets and the individual Letters and Stories that the Evangelists and Apostles pen'd with their own hands yea the very Two Tables of Stone superscribed with Gods own finger which was a Figure and Type of that Hand-writing of his Law in the fleshly Tables of your hearts by his living Spirit the Truth and Anti-type of which ye as little heed as ye heedlesly over-value the other What could you Ministers of the Letter and not the Spirit and your Literal and Formal more then Powerful and truly Spiritual Professours say or do more unlesse you would down on your Knees to them so soon as ever ye see them in way of outward Honour and Adoration thereof then ye do to your falsified Transcripts and your People to the more unspeakably false Translations which they take for Truth but by Tradition and meer implicite Faith from your selves Le ts Reason and Reckon with you here a little while about your Transcripts and Translations which are all that are extant and enjoyed at this day the first by you that have skill in Hebrew and Greek the second by your Independent on God but on their Priests lips dependent People As for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Memorandum Oh all People by whom these presents shall ever happen to be read I. O. hath quite quitted the World of them Confessing they are all utterly perished and long since past away and lost So that 't is opon Fiction or miracuâ—ous with him for any one to affirm that there 's any one individual Role Writing or Book that was Pen'd by the Holy men that in their several successive Ages wrote the Scripture now alive and not mouldred into dust So that the World hath done with them and they with us so as never to come within our Ocular Inspection more whereby to try whether our Doctors and Divines Adored Transcripts do to a little agree as I. O. absolutely affirms they do with the Touchstone yea or nay so as to believe our own eyes or any otherwise then as I O. who first positively Asserts it doth after as improbly conclude
O's wisedom in this point yet I am not such a fool yet or not so wise or something as to believe him howbeit who e're believes or believes him not in such wise as this aforesaid he talks in effect while p. 12.13 he sayes thus without proof as he does most things according to his own vain thoughts as followes viz. I. O. The Providence of God hath manifested it self no lesse concerned in the preservation of the writings then the doctrine contained in them Rep. Which is a loud one for many Holy Prophets writings are lost but not a Doit of the Doctrine I. O. The writing it self being the product of his own eternall Councel for the preservation of the Doctrine after a sufficient discovery of the insufficiency of all other means for that end and purpose Rep. Which is another for the Doctrine can never perish if every Tittle of the Text should I. O. The malice of Satan hath raged no lesse against the Book than the Truth certained in it Rep. Which is a third For Satan will allow people Bibles and Texts enough to talk of Truth out of so they walk not in Truth I. O. It was no lesse Crime to be Traditor libri then Abnegator fidei Rep. Which is a fourth false Tale for the burning the Book can't murder the faith as having the light does which with it's fellows I have disproved and given Reasons against above and while p. 17.18.19 in answer to Capellus his honest Grants that the Saving Doctrine of the Scripture as to the matter and substance of it in all things of moment is preserved in the Copies of the Original and Translations that do remain J.O. assenting first to it as Truth to the overthrowing of himself as he often does that notwithstanding all the errours and mistakes in the most corrupt Translations yet every necessary saving fundamentall truth is found sufficiently Testified to therein or if he deny that of Translations let him do it and see what a pickle he puts poor people into who upon the account of that denyal will be found not to have all saving Truth in their Bibles he asserts I. O. That 't is not enough to satisfie him that in his doted on Transcribed Copies of the Original the doctrines mentioned are preserved entire every Tittle and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must come under Care and consideration or else injury is done to the Providence of God towards his Church and care of his word and that it will not be found an easie matter upon a supposition of such corruptions of the Originals in Tittles and points c. as is pleaded for against him to evince unquestionably that the whole saving Doctrine it seâ—f at first given out from God continues entire and uncorrupt Rep. Oh grosse as if the entirenesse of the eternall Truth that was before all external Text was was now so subjected as to depend on the entirenesse of a tottering Text for its security or else is lost for ever and yet yielded to be preserved entire in Translations that are corrupt in more then Tittles but not possibâ—e to be kept entire in Transcriptions if any Tittle be mis-transcribed therein I O That the nature of the doctrine is such that there is no other principle and means of its discovery no other Rule or measure of Iudging and determining any thing about or concerning it but onely the writing out of which it is taken Rep. As if the Doctrine comes from the writing when as the writing came from the Truth and Doctrine I. O. It being wholly of divine Revelation and that revelation being exprest onely in that writing Rep. Absit absurdum de quo vere dicitur quod posito uno sequuntur millia As if Revelation were not made more truely clearly distinctly and immediately by the light and Spirit then mediante litera by the mediation of the letter that comes from it in which thou sayst Revelation only is made before which yet the doctrine was revealed I. O. That upon any corruption supposed in the Transcript Copies of the Originall but not the Translations there 's no means of rectifying the Doctrine Rep. No by no means its like as if the Spirit and Light could not now possibly reveal it as easily as at first and as if Truth were not as equally by the Spirit exposed to the understanding of men in all ages as in some and as if pure Revelation were not made now by the light and Spirit of Truth which depends solely on Revelation as it ever did and not on a letter that came from it Thus much to the first of those Scriptures urged by thee I. O. to prove the promise of God to preserve the Scripture even every Tittle of the external Texts in Transcripts not Translations for Ever and the second is like unto it viz Math. 5.18 where though Christ talks of not one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Tittle failing he that shall understand him speaking there of the outward writing and outward Tittles of the Law of it many Tittles and Books of which were lost before that and not of the light it self which is that Law the Letter is but a Copy of and of the word it self that Christ speaks which is that that is heard by his sheep onely in the heart and that comes immediately from his own mouth understands neither what he says nor whereof he affirmes yet in three places I. O. quotes it to evince the Integrity and Identity of every Tittle of the Text as 't was at first viz. p. 13.155.317 The Third is as little alias not one jot not Tittle to I. O's purpose viz. 1 Pet. 1.25 where Peter speaks no more of any outward Texts or Transcripts then if he had said nothing at all nor of such a corrupting thing as Manuscripts Texts and Transcripts Titles and dead Letters are but of the incorruptible seed the Word of God that liveth and endureth for ever ver 23. Even the word of the Gospel which was that word of faith Paul also writes of Rom. 10.8 which was preached by the Apostles and Testified to by them and their Scripture and Moses Scripture Deut. 30.14 and all outward Scripture that its nigh within in the heart and mouth The Fourth viz. 1 Cor. 11. no verse of which is quoted is so far from adding a cubit to I. O's cause about the Scripture that there 's no mention made of any Scripture at all thoroughout the whole Chapter so that what verse he should infer or scrue any thing from to evince the Scripture to be entire to a Tittle I can't imagine Paul tells of things he had delivered to them before which-whether it were by word of Mouth or Epistle he intimates not there but whether it were by Orall preaching or writing is much at one to I. O. for if by writing which serves I O. most yet he means not the writing it self or Epistle but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things he delivered as he
Apostles and Prophets it self which was not their writings for these were not their foundation nor were given to be ours for if they were then they had been built upon themselves and we are to be upon them which is absurd to say for neither their own preachings nor writings were their own foundation which they were built on nor are we to build onely upon them but both they and we upon that which all holy men were built on from the beginning before any writing was at all viz. Christ Iesus the light the corner stone which the blind builders refuse on whom whoever builds and believes if he never come to read one Tittle of any outward writing shall assuredly never be ashamed In this one grant then thou hast given both the Qua. and all others thou contendest with no lesse then the very cause thou contendest for viz. that the Scripture or Letter is infallibly the infallible word of God and every Letter Tittle and Iota of it also one Iot or Tittle of which can no sooner fail then Heaven and Earth can passe away and that every Iota and Tittle that was in the outward Letter as at first given forth from God by inspiration is preserved to this very day without corruption and remains in the Copies preserved till now for the use of his Church that the whole Scripture entire as given out from God without any losse is preserved in the Original Copies yet remaining yea in them all is every Letter and Tittle For this is the cause thou hast taken in hand in which thou wilt find when once thou awakest that thou hast hold on the wrong end of the staffe and these and much more of the like sort are thy own words and absolute assertions about it up and down in thy Book T. 1. c. 1. S. 14. T. 12. e. 2. S. 7. 9. which if they cannot be made good so high thou runnest but that there be any corruption to be supposed in your present Original Copies and various Lections though it be granted by Capellus and others that the saving Doctrine remaines sound as to matters of moment yet this shall not satisfie nor afford thee relief enough but thou wilt needs give up all thy cause as lost even further then thy own opponents would have thee confessing and professing that all your Doctrine is corrupt not continuing entire no means of its discovery nor of its recovery from a lost condition no means of rectifying it or determining any thing about it see T. 1. c. 1. S. 16.17 yea so as to yeild your selves to be at such a losse as not to know what ground ye stand on yea in thy Dedicatory Epistle pag. 25. lay but these two together first that the Points are the invention of the Tiberian Massorites which by all thy proofs to the contrary thou leavest as uncertain as thou foundst it and little lesse then yeild'st that it 's but uncertain 2 That its lawful to gather various Lections c. and then sayest thou for my part I must needs cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tell me where I must stand as not seeing any means of being delivered from utter uncertainty in and about all sacred Truth and so thou goest on desuing to be instructed by such as see through the deâ—adiations that are likely to ensue on these principles as one that tremblest to think what will be the desperate consequences of imagining alterations in the Points Tittles and Iotaes of your Originals Ep. ded p. 19. now what the issue will be we leave to God though some know it yet thou are too weak to bear the sense of it without amazement being bottomed no better then upon a quavering bogge if it should be told thee yet know it thou wilt when it comes to passe or if thou canst bear it take it now Fiat justuis aut pereat mundus the issue as dreadfull as it seems to thee who aâ—t in fearlesse dangers of greater mischiefs and but dangerless fears of this present object thou so startlest at will assuredly be no worse then this as I said above viz. that while Theeves will fall out True men will come by their good again if all the Divines in the world be in such digladiations as to draw their daggers against each other about it yet the light from which your whole Letter came will be turned to when the Letter is found to be but a fallible uncertain Rule as falsified by mens mis-transcriptions and mis-translations which light is certo certius vera verius if ought can be so even no lesse then infallibility and certainty it self and that very Equity and Truth it self which the Letter teaches and doth but tend to and for my part sink thou and thy fearful fellows boreling Priests and wrangling Lawyers that live altogether on mens lusts trespasses and sins of which when the world comes to the light and by it to be led into love honesty and peace as there will be no need so it will be wiser then to be fooled into a feeding of you for feeding them in their fightings I say sink ye whether ye will and your Quick sandy foundadations together with you till both your selves and them be swallowed up by that greater glory of the light it self now arising again upon the world though they will nor see it I know some that stand so fast in this juncture wherein the old heaven and earth shakes in order to its removing as to see thousands fall besides them and thousands at their right hand yet be out of fear of the fearful fall of the Hypocrites coming nigh them And as it hath never repented me hitherto to see that people that were Priestbewildred and hampered in Latine Letanies English Liturgies divine Scottish Directoryes falling off from their Priests and Scribes to the search of Scriptures so it will never repent either my self or many thousands more that are turned to a true attendance to the light of Christ having witnessed that weaknesse of the Letter it self to save the soules of men which the Letter it self also bears witnesse to Rom. 8 2. to see men fall according to the councel of the Scripture in that behalf Gal. 5.16 such a tall is in truth not from but to the Scriptures from the Scripture it self to the holy Spirit Neverthelesse were I one that did close never so cordially with thee in thy cause about the Scripture yet could I not commend but most condemne the Course in which thou commend'st it to us for as if it were not forward enough te fall of it self thou hastenest to handle it down with thy own hand writing while thou grantest the very first Transcribers of the Scripture to be fallible and also to have erred and failed though it were but in Points Tittles and Iotaes and in no lesse they could fail if they fail'd at all for is they were fallible and what they wrote were falsified in the least then at least thy
Foundation which is no other then such Transcriptions is so far false and fallible as they failed and so contrary to what thou sayest in the least at least it impairs the Truth of thy Arch-Assertion that the whole Scripture and every Tittle and Letter as given out from God without any losse is preserved and remains entire and without Corruption in the Copies of the Originals yet remaining for sure one Tittle Letter or Iota a thousand to one may if they mistook at all be either wanting or redundant and if they fail'd who wrote immediately out of that which was first written by Inspiration then those that Transcribed downwards from that day to this having none but imperfect Copies to write by might likely fail so as to make them more rather then lesse imperfect for Error minimus in principio is ever major in medio maximus in fine if the first or second stone stand never so little awry in any building following that it will swerve into more and more crookednesse towards the Top and so what Corruptions Crookednesse Alteration Ablations Additions Variations from each other in more then Tittles and Iotaes there may be now in the Copies ye have there being now no Autographaes to amend them by but a bottomlesse pit and endlesse heap of uncertain Conjectures Contradictions Scoldings and Scottlings among the Scribes about it Pro and Con some saying one thing some another and the most part they know not what themselves but as they think and hear from others who knows save confident I. O. who seldom looks before he leaps and so knocks the Nail on the head as to hush all the hurries that are about it and end the Controversie and put it out of all doubt so far as his helplesse Hammer will do it by First saying positively there is no Variation at all and Secondly proving it so to be as infallibly as his fallible Conceits can prove so ambiguous a businesse by saying from more uncertain grounds then his Seniors and Superiors viz. Doctor Iohn Prideaux as he was called Luther Capellus and others say the contrary that he cannot but Conjecture it so to be which proof hath as much strength in it as a straw while thou Confessest as thou dost That Religious Care and Diligence in their Work with a due Reverence of him with whom they had to do is all ye ascribe to the first Transcribers which not to acknowledge in them is high Vncharitablenesse which Care they lying under a loving careful Aspect from God together with the Promise of God where he promiseth no such matter as thou talkest on viz. to preserve the Letter in all its Transcriptions from any Alteration but to put his Word into his peoples mouths and his Providence and Care of his Church to which yet or to the Transcribers of that which was to be her only Rule as thou sayest thou deniest that he yielded his infallible Spirit to continue with them ever as their guide produces the Copies yet extant and then inferrest thy Conclusion to this purpose viz. Shall we think that men that knew that every Letter and Tittle they were Transcribing was part of the Word of the great God c. should should not be more careful and diligent in their Work then such as Transcribed Heathen Authors Homer Aristotle Tully thus to Argue we think is not Tollerable in a Christian and to imagine that the same Fate hath attended the Scripture in its Transcription as hath done other Books which yet I find some learned men too free in granting seems to me to border on Atheism I say while thou sayest but thus thou sayest no more then what deserves no other Answer then this viz. That to say confesse and grant that the first Transcribers of the Scripture were not infallible nor divinely Inspired but fallible and to ascribe no more to them then a Religious care and diligence in their Work and due Reverence of God with whom they had to do and their lying under a loving and careful Aspect from a Promise of God which was never made infallibly to guide them and his Providence without his divine Inspiration and direction and yet to Conclude that their Transcriptions were not attended with the same fate as other Books viz. Aristotle Tully whose Transcribers out of the Reverence they had of those Authors or whoever else engaged them in that Work would be as careful and diligent as they could without doubt and no men uninspired can be more and much more that in their Transcriptions it must not be supposed there was any Corruption or Variation from the first Copies so much as in one Letter or Tittle in the Copies extant at this day as I. O. sayes seems to me and I appeal to all men that are well in their wits to judge of what I say such an odde kind of self-Confutation such a parcht up parcel of Confusion such an inconsequent Conclusion as is no lesse but somewhat more then Atheistical having not only nothing in it of either God Christ or the Christian but even not the common Reason of a man and so is intollerable both among Christian men and others and bordering upon Atheism as all unreasonablenesse doth Yea I. O. I doubt not as full of Oscitancy and Negligence as thou wast in the framing of the Fabrick of thy Book it self yet the Reverence and respect to thy Doctorship and such like would oblige the Printers of it to as much Care and Diligence in the doing of it as they can use at this day who Print the Bible it self neverthelesse what miscarriages and mistakes and what a multitude of Errataes as there are many Printers faults in this of mine are at each end of thy Two English and Latine Tractates And is Transcription by the Pen more exempted from Errataes then the Presse which sometimes produces such abominable Errours in the Bible it self as would amaze some people that know not the Mystery of that Art to be liable to mistakes about the Scripturess as well as in other Writings to read the flat falsities that have been the issue of their failings Yea the same fate hath attended the Scripture at the Presse as hath other Authors and why it cannot at the Pen I cannot Conjecture To instance in one that is more grosse then others ordinarily are Rom. 15. â—9 in one Edition Impression that I have seen these words of Paul viz. from Ierusalem to Illyricum I have fully Preached the Gospel are misprinted thus from Ierusalem and round about to Illyricum I have falsly Preached the Gospel of Christ So that for thee to say the fate in Transcriptions and Impressions in which way the Scriptures now altogether come forth since Printing came up for there 's now little or no Writing thereof at all hath not attended the Scriptures as hath other Books Vox sonat haecce Deum Ne hominem sonat hac tua ceri As for the rest of those yielding Strawes and weak Weapons
that there are many diverse Readings both in the Old Testament and the New as one afraid thou hast yielded too far to the prejudice of thy Assertion thou pullest in again what thou canst by speaking so diminutively of the various Lections that are as if they were upon the matter just nothing at all I am not sayest thou upon the whole matter out of hopes but that upon a diligent review of all these various Lections they may be reduced to a lesse offensive and lesse formidable number in which Review thou reckonest as followes I.O. 1. Let then the vulgar Copy we use passe for the Standard as it 's right and due Rep Whether this let be Optative i.e. a begging that it may by all be granted so to passe or Imperative i.e. a commanding all so to let it passe is much at one to me but as from him 't is as much as to say let that Copy which I I O. imagine to be most meritorious of that honour be the Standard for all Copies and things besides it self and it self also to be tryed by as which agrees to every Tittle with the fiâ—st immediate Manuscripts and let all that agree not with it stand but for so many Cyphers and be no more accounted on then if they were just nothing at all grant me this and there will no such varieties appear as we are surprized with and my Assertion will stand good so far at least that we have a Copy of the Scripture that is to a Syllable exactly agreeing with the first Manuscripts in which there is no errour nor deviation therefrom and that the same fate of mis-transcribing hath not befallen the Greek and Hebrew Texts of Scripture as hath done other Books to this effect I.O. sayes to whom in short say I as the Proverb is if wishes were Horses then Lord Beggars would Ride but that must not be left they grow so proud as to know themselves lesse then yet they do who are so haughty and wise in their own conâ—eits as to know themselves in all reason too little already we may not grant thee I.O. for all thy Question-begging demand of it that your vulgar Copy can claim such a high thing as it 's right and due to stand down as an unalterable Standard for all truth and doctrines and all other Texts of Transcript Copies to be tried by till thou hast prov'd it to be to a Tittle entirely agreeing with the first Manuscripts which since thou confessest they are all long since perished there remains nothing but thy thoughts to try it by whether it square in every Iota with them much lesse can it be prov'd to be it's due to be canonized as the standing Rule whereby to prove or disprove the exactnesse of all the rest nor is the reason thou rendrest for it's right in that kind as here under followeth worth a rush I.O. Let it be remembred it was the publike possession of many generations and in actual Authority throughout the world Rep. 1. Not thorowout the whole world of Christendom it self which is but a corner in comparison of the world nor yet thorowout the whole Protestant world which is but a corner of Christendom so called and hath not been many generations yet in actuall being it self much lesse hath had your vulgar Copy so long in actuall Authority thorowout it yea as I have shewâ—ed above there have been and are Bibles written and printed that have in them Books of Scripture viz. that of Paul to Laodicea which your vulgar Copy wants 2. But were it so yet if thou mayest be believed when thou speakest as oft thou dost in contradiction to thy self thy reason that the vulgar Copy ought to stand de jure as the Standard because de facto it hath stood in actual Authority so long in the Christian world is rendred by thy self a very reasonlesse reason who in another place and case sayest thus p. 105. If numbers of men may be allowed to speak we may hâ—ve a Traditional Testimony given to the Blasphemous figments of the Alcoran but the constant tradition of more then a thousand years carried on by innumerable multitudes of men great wise and sober from one generation to another doth but set open the gates of Hell for the Mahometans As therefore I own not the Alcoran as a Standard upon the account of I. O's Reason for his vulgar Copy viz. the Catholike owning receiving and possessing it in time and place so though I prize the Scripture above the Alcoran as much as I can do writing by divine inspiration above that which is but mans invention yet I cannot own the vulgar Copy of it as the Standard upon such an account as it's universall reception for what he gives for the vulgar Copy the same can I give if it were a sound one as a Reason for the Alcoran viz. memorandum or let it be remembred that the Alcoran hath been the publike possession of many Generations and in actual Authority among men as a Standard thorowout the whole world of Mahometanism yet is not therefore to passe upon any ones intreaty or command saying as I.O. of the other let it passe for the Standard as its right and due I.O. Let those places be separated from the name of various Lections which are not sufficiently attested to so as to pretend to be various Lections it being against all pretence of Reason that every mistake of every obscure private Copy perhaps not above two or three hundred years or if elder should be admitted as a various Lection men may if they please inform the world wherein such Copies are corrupted or mistaken but to impose their known failings on us as a various Lections is a course not to be approved Rep. How I.O. what against all pretence of Reason that every mistake in every obscure Copy though of two or three hundred years or more should be accounted a various Lection is it not rather most unreasonable in thy self to account it otherwise does the obscurity privacy or novelty of a Copy though more then three hundred years old make the various Readings that are in it from the first Original Copy not various Readings are not various Lections various Lections where ever they are found whether in a more ancient or in a later Copy are they ever the lesse various Readings because in Copies which thou callest novell private and obscure Nothing it seems must be notable in the world but what comes within the narrow ken of I Os. cognizance and comprehension its private obscure novell though known to never so many till it obtain some Patent from I.O. who when he knows any thing thinks that he is the first that knows what then he first knows to passe for publike and ancient among other folk though no lesse then two or three hundred years elder then himself on which account how Apishly angry is he with the Authors of the Appendix to the late Biblia Polyglotta for counting the
Syllable or Tittle in any Book that varieth from the common received Copy though manifestly a mistake superfluous deficient consistent or inconsistent with the sense of the place yea Barbarous be imposed on us as such it being not every variety or difference in a Copy that should presently be cryed up for a various Reading p. 19â— 194. for that were to create a Temptation that nothing is left sound and entire in the word of God and so overthrow our Assertion which we stand so strictly to maintain and so to them tha rightly ponder things there will arise nothing at all to the prejudice of our Assertion p. 193. yea then 't will quickly appear p. 181. 201. 202. how small the number is of those varieties which may pretend unto any consideration under the state and Title of various Lections and of how very little Importance they are to weaken in any measure or impaire in the least the Truth of my former Assertion quoth he concerning the Care and Providence of God in the preservation of his Word that is the Scripture with I. O. and every Tittle and Letter thereof In all which sayings collectively considered I.O. had as good have said in short do but yield it that all the varieties mistakes corruptions barbarisms of what sort or notion soever fewer or more greater or lesser hurting or not hurting the sense of the place old or new by superfluity or defect of words crept in from Heriticks or however are not varieties c. and then our Assertion holds good and true viz that there is none at all or thus count not such as are of more and lesse importance prejudicing or not prejudicing the sense for corruptions and then there will be found few or no corruptions in our Copies at all or thus forasmuch as they onely deserve to be considered as various Lections where no mistake can be discovered as their cause and these not to be admitted as such which are occasioned but by mistakes take away all that were but mistakes from that Title of various Lections and all such too as were not mistakes but evidently intended as Expository of difficulties or supplyed purposely to make out the sense of the places p. 180. 181. 206. and then there will appear to be few or no various Lections or in a word excepting all those that are there 's none at all As if a man that owes but twenty shillings should say to his Creditor bate me but twenty shillings and I 'le pay you all But we must not let it go so I.O. by whole sale though as Lot pleaded for little Zoar to be spared that his soul might live so thou for sparing the imposition and imputation of little impurities to thy Copies that thy grand Assertion which else must dye may live which is that in the least Syllable Tittle Letter and Iota thy Transcripts are true and entire as the first Manuscripts yet we must not separate from our Anti-Assertion the mentioning of the mistakes in Iods and Vau's and Tittles and Iota's and Syllables and Vowels and single Letters and such like unlesse thou wilt remove from they Arch-Assertion thy strict positive affirmings that your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Copies contain every Iota and Tittle that was in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that Haebraea volumina nec in uâ—â dictione corrupta inâ—enienda sunt and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. not one Iot or Tittle of the Text passed from what ever was written by inspiration under the Law and that ye have all every Tittle without any losse or any change or alteration to the least Iota or Syllable and much more id genus p. 13. 153. 173. 317. and if thou recede from and recant that Reasonlesse Rigidity of thy Position about the truth of thy Text in Tittles we shall supersede from our reasonable Reply to thee concerning the corruption and mistranscription of thy Text in sundry Tittles in which it seems thou art forced to confesse to us that some Tittles are amisse for while thou standest so strictly upon the entirenesse of each Tittle as thou sayest of the Jewes p 240. so I of thee while thou keepest the Scripture we shall never want weapons out of thy own Armory for the destruction of thy haughty Assertion like the Philistine thou carryest the weapon that will serve to cut off thy own head for while I.O. asserts the Text to be entire to every Tittle wee 'l tell I.O. out of his own Book that I.O. tells an untruth in that for if I. O. be to be believed by himself he o're and o're confesses mistakes in Tittles Iots Vowels Syllables and single Letters But if I. O will agree to a cessation of Armes and Arguments about Tittles then we shall Restipulate with him there and because he doth little lesse then cry Peccavi in that and keeps such an imperious Begging and beseeching that all varieties in Tittles that are of no importance at all may not be reckoned on as various Lections I here 〈◊〉 him to wit that we can here also afford well enough to abate him all different places in meer Tittles and Accents that intrench not on the sense and yet have enough left to lay sure siege with against his Assertion if hee 'l hold it about matters of importance onely and such as are inconsistent with and intrench on the sense of the place and that no further off then I.Os. own Book which ever furnishes us wherewith to answer him out of his own Armory for in that p. 193 he writes thus of variety viz. those which are of importance have been already considered by others especially Glassius and thus p. 200. Let those be removed and not counted on that are deficient in words evidently necessary to the sense of their places it evidently imports no lesse then this that I.O. owns some varieties to be of importance and such as do intrench on the sense in their stations and so if we seclude all that are of lesse or no importance with him he stands still where he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned and confounded every way where ever he flyes or followes in the service of his Arch Assertion if he had no man to fight against him besides himself And if he say those of importance and that intrench on the sense are but few I say if any at all they are many enough upon his predicted principles to pluck up all the fabrick of his form of Religion faith about Truth and the very foundation it 's all framed upon by the roots as to any certainty that he hath of his standing while he stands leaning to no more but his naked Letter and can plead their Original no higher then from the ticklish Transcripts of his pretended Original Text. And that this may appear let what followes be serious considered by any who have not utterly lost their understanding 1. That the main Assertion I O. makes so much ado about the
Doctrines Instructions stories Promises Prophesies given out by the Writers of the Scripture were not their own conceived in their minds nor form'd by their Reasonings nor retained in their memories from what they had heard nor by any means before-hand comprehended by them 1 Pet. 1.10 11. But were all of them immediately from God so as that there was onely a Passive concurrence of their Rational faculties in their reception without any such Active obedience to as by any Law they might be obliged pag. 5 6. Rep. Many things in this Parcel are utterly false being uttered as they are of the whole Scripture and all its first Pen-men for what is said of the Old as to the immediate manner of its giving forth is said also saist thou pag. 9.27 of the New insomuch that it s not onely very fond but savouring also of no small ignorance both of and in the Scripture for any such Minister of no more then the meer Letter of it as our Divineâ— are much more below the Ministers of the Spirit to hold out for truth or so much as to imagine within themselves and as they are utter untruths so much lesse are they of force to evince that false Assertion to be Truth which thou J.O. wouldst conclude from thence viz That their Writings are uncontroulably known to be the Word of God 1. What a crude conception of thy vain mind is this that the Laws Doctrines Instructions Stories Promises Prophesies written which I confess were not their own formed as many if not most of thy false Doctrines and strange stories about the Scriptures are thine own formed by unreasonable Reasonings were not so much as conceived in the minds of the Pen-men Were they not conceived in them by the Holy Spirit And â—ly by them so as that for the most part at least they understood knew and believed them as Truths before they committed them to Writing as they were moved by the Spirit of God to do for the use of others And though they wrote not but at the Will of God and his spirit pressing them thereunto and under the burthen of the Word of the Lord that lay upon them till they had discharged themselves of it yet art thou so silly as to conceive they delivered things before they were conceived in them So far at least they were conceived in and by them too as to prove thy saying little less then senselesse and absurd 2. VVhereas thou sayest they were not retained in their memories from what they had heard nor by any means before-hand comprehended by them Is not that as absolutely absurd and false as the rest Did they in writing declare things for truth and teach Doctrines and give out Instructions and tel stories relate passages before they had so much as heard of or seen or believed or embraced what things they wrote rehearsed or entertained them as such or by any means beforehand comprehended them Is not this directly contrary to what the Apostles say who had and wrote from the same spirit of Faith with them of old who write thus 2 Cor. 4.13 As it is written Psal. 16. 10. I believed and therefore have I spoken so we also believe and therefore speak c. 1 Joh. 1.1.3 That which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes look's on and handled declare we to you And when Isaiah wrote things of Christ did he not see his glory Isa. 6.1 Iob. 12.40 41. Lev. 1.2.11.19 Is Iohn commanded to write anything in his Booke but what he had seen And did he write or bear record of the Word of God or the Testimony of Iesus that he did by no means before-hand comprehend or of any things but those he saw And is not seeing one means of comprehending 3. Sith thou saist The things they wrote were not retained in their memories from what they had heard Did they first heare and see and believe and comprehend and entertain them into their memories and then not retain but let them slip and quite forget them before they wrote and then began to write when they had and not before they had remembred to forget them For of the things thou writest this is the sum the whole sum of which though 1 Pet. 1.10 11. is cited to add weight to it which gives not the least dram of evidence to the truth of one tittle of it is found by such as weigh it in the Ballance of right Reason to be a lye and lighter then vanity it self Belike then according to thy fancy Paul when he wrote to Timothy to bring his Books and Pâ—rchments Cloak left at Troas with Carpus wrote that not as a matter conceived in his mind or retain'd in his memory but as a thing forgotten that he had no comprehension of afore-hand Did he not write that and a hundred more matters as retain'd in his memory And though he wrote them as mov'd by the spirit in the wisdom of which he liv'd walk't and did all he did as he saw service in it yet did he not write of his Revelations and Temptations after them by the thorn in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.1 c. and of his many perils and hazards he had gone through and his whippings and stonings and shipwracks and other sufferings and services 2 Cor. 11. as things retained in his memory though some of them fourteen years behinde And when he wrote of the Fornication 1 Cor. 5. and the Divisions 1 Cor. 11. that were among the Corinthians did he not write of them as things he had by hear-say and common Report And did he not retain in his memory what was told him by them of the House of Cloe and thereupon wrote to them thereof as of a matter heard remembred and afore-hand believed For L partly believe it quoth he and comprehended aforehand VVhat innumerable instances of the like fort of stories written as retained in the memories of holy VVriters might be given out of both the Old Testament and the New But this little is enough if thou be not wilfully blind to bring thee into a remembrance of thy babling about the Bible of the writings whereof thou writest as if thou hadst never read it all but in a dream And when Matthew the Publican wrote of his own being called from the Receit of Custom and of his entertaining Christ in his house Matth. 9.9 Did he it not on the account of his retaining that passage in his memory And whereas thou saist they wrote all immediately from God so as that there was onely a passive concurrence of their rational faculties in their reception without any such active obedience as by any Law they might be obliged to I say thou renderest thy self as Ridiculous oâ— Reasonlesse in this thy Reasoning as if thou wert one that had never read any otherwise then at random For hadst thou been as observans as thou art oscitant in thy Readings and Writings of the Scripture thou wouldst
himself as it seemed good to him wrote a story of certain Truths not upon the account of such a meer passive immediate reception thereof from God by inspiration of every Tittle into him as he wrote as thou doest without any conception of the things in his minde or retaining them in his memory or by any means before hand comprehending them but rather as it were at second hand as they were heard and beleeved and undeâ—stood by him as true matters of fact from the mouthes or writings of such as were eye witnesses thereof and did first deliver them and so to the confutation of thy vain figment not without a concurrence of his rational faculties in the receiving of what he wrote 3. What thinkest thou of those Proverbs of Solomon whose Proverbs were 3000. in all not 300. of which are contained in your Canon and his Songs a hundred and not five of which are come to your cognizance King 4 3.2.5 or those which stand in your Standard from the very first inserting of them there stand but at second hand at best as they were copied out of whether the first manuscript or some remote and more uncertain Transcript who can tellâ— by the men of Hezekiah some nine or ten Generations after him see Prov. 25.1 were these received by the Writers that affixed them to that ye call your Canon so immediately from God as thou dreamest without any but a passive concurrence as things not by any means comprehended by these men of Hezekiah before they wrote them 4. What thinkest thou of such parts and parcels of thy so called Canon as are each of them written in two several places or books of thy Bible one of which places and the Respective parcels whether Histories or Prophesies or Praises therein recited are at most but repetitions and meer transcriptions out of the other with some such Additions or Ablations or Alterations of more than Titles and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is not unusually made among Transcribers of which sort for instance in a few I refer thee and all such as scrape so unskilfully as thou doest about the Scriptures being in every Title as it now stands in your Copies immediately written from God by inspiration and without meditation or any means of comprehending the things they wrote beforehand by the Writers thereof to consider and compare Psal. 14. with Psal. 53. and 2 Sam. 2.2 with Psal. 18. also 2 King 18.13 c. 19. c. 20. with Isa. 36. Isa. 37. Isa. 38. Isa 39. also 2 King 24 18. c. 25. throughout with Ier. 39. Ier. 52. by which places perused howbeit every word of this is asserted by J.O. to be written as immediately from Gods own mouth as any of it it is yet plain and evident that some of it was but copied and transcribed out of other some and such a useless Repetition of the same over and over again as neither need be nor would be if the Bible as consistent of neither more nor less than what is ordinarily bound up in it had beâ—n intended by either God or the holy Pen-men of the sundry parcels thereof to be the inalterable constant Canon and only steady Standard for all succeeding ages of men universally to the worlds end 5. Moreover what thinkest thou of such Scripture Prophesies and Epistles as were first written and pend not by the holy men themselves that were moved to give them forth by inspiration but by such as wrote them not mmediately from God but from the mouthes of such only as indited them as the spirit moved of which there are not a few but how many exactly who knows since evident it is that those men after whom they are denominated did not at first write all their own Prophesies and Epistles with their own hands witness much at least of Ieremiahs Prophesie that was written not by himself but Baruch his ordinary Scribe as Jeremiah dictated to him See Ier. 36.4.6.17 18 32. Baruch 6.1 c. Witness also Pauls Epistle to the Romans which though indited by him yet Tertius was the Pen-man thereof Rom. 16.22 which verse Tertius himself it seems added as he wrote Besides many if not most of his Epistles were sent not from Paul alone sigillatim but from himself and such other of his fellow-labourers as were with him at such times and places when and from whence they were sent viz. some from him and Timothy 2 Cor. 1.1 Col. 1.1 Philip. 1.1 Philem. 1.1 Some from him and Silas and Timothy 1 Thess. 1.1 2 Thes. 1.1 one from him and Sosthenes 1 Cor. 1.1 of which which of the two or the three was the Scribe though we beleeve Paul to be under God the chief Authour who knows one from him and all the brethren that were with him at the writing thereof Gal. 1.1 2. which is the only one to any whole Churches that we have clear evidence of that he wrote with his own hands of which he sayes Gal. 6.11 Yee see how large a letter I have written to you with mine ownhand and verse 17. Henceforth let no man trouble me which very expression of his verse 11. intimates that it was not very usual with him to write his letters to the Churches with his own hand but only signed them when others had wrote them for him therefore he often intimateâ— his love to them under his own hand and no more See 1 Cor. 16.21 Col. 4.18.1 and 3.17 The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand which is the token in every Epistle so I write now it being so were all the writings and things written received so immediately from God as thou imaginest by the first Pen-men with out retaining any thing in their memories of what they had learned or comprehending them by any means beforehand or without any but a meer passive concurrence of their rational faculties in the reception thereof what ignorance is this Besides whether with Pauls own hand or any others his Epistles were written some things therein were therein spoken to the Churches by himself as delivering his judgement by permission only and not by Commandement from God by him not the Lord To the rest quoth he speak I and not the Lord 1 Cor 7.6 12.40 which as it contradicts J. O's talk in the parcel above cited so also it overturns that talk and fabulous piece of praie as to some parts of it and shall here stand as an answer to it which he as ignorantly utters pag. 25 26 27. viz. They were carried out by the Holy Ghost to speake deliver write all that and nothing but that to a very tittle that was so brought unto them they only received the words from God himself Every aspect of the written word i.e. writing with J.O. is equally Divine and as immediately from God as the voice wherewith or whereby he spake to or in the Prophets and is therefore accompanied with the same Authority in it self and unto us What hath been spoken thus of the Scripture
of the Old Testament must be also affirmed of the New with this addition of advantage and preheminenâ—â— that it received its beginning of being spoken by the Lord himself 6. Seeing it is so as is abovesaid that all was not written by the hands of the inspired Authors themselves at the very first but much by such Scribes only as wrote from them as dictated to by them to whom God gave out this minde and so wrote not so immediately from God as thou dreamest but that they might mispell or mistake in more than Titles and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most good men being but bad Schollers and Scribes as to inch more humane earthly skill as your Schollership lyes in how absolutely doth this overturn that other utter untruths that thou tellest twice over to the manifesting of thine own folly more fully in uttering twice such falshood not so much as once observing it viz. pag. 10 11. that the Word which with thee still is the Scripture is come forth unto us mark unto us from God without the least mixture or interveniency of any Medium obnoxious to fallibility as is the wisdome truth integrity knowledge and memory of the best of all men But if what I have shewed above did not contradict and give check to this saying of thine about the Scriptures coming out immediately from God unto us who live so many ages from the last person who received any part of it immediately from God thou whose great Masterpiece of business it is throughout thy whole book to say and unsay and contradict thy self and run in Rounds overturnest and statly contradictest it thy self saying pag. 30. that we have not the Scripture from God immediately our selves in which self-confutation and contradiction of pag. 10. by pag. 30. thou canst not to continue long neither but as one delighting to dance round and shew how well skill'd thou art in tracing to and fro about the Scripture thou to go round again returnest and reiteratest pag. 153. that falsity uttered by thee pag. 10. in this wise over again viz. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were immediately and entirely given out by God himself mark as if God himself had wrote it every tittle with his own finger whereas how little God himself wrote I have shewed above and how such as were immediately inspired the mediation of whose hand writing in what they also wrote comes between God and us did not write it all immediately with their own hands but men that took what they said from them in writing by the active improvement of their knowledge wisdome skill in writing memory and other rational faculties so far is the Text from coming immediately from God to the men of those Cities and places that lived where and when it was written but how much farther from being immediately and entirely without any medium obnoxious to fallibility from God to us who live so many Ages off unto whom that Text J.O. talks of is descended perhaps at the hundreth hand through the hands of who knows what unskilful careless forgetful Scribes or Transcribers the very best of which J.O. at best confesses to be but fallible and that it was possible they might and also did mistake so as that failings fell out among them p. 167. nevertheless on he goes thus concerning that Scripture or writings viz. That Gods minde is in them represented unto us without the least interveniency of such mediums and wayes as were capable of giving change or alteration to the least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or syllable 7. Whereas thou sayest there was onely a passive concurrence of the rational faculties of the Writers without any such active obedience as by any Law they might be obliged to though I have shewed thee that all the first Writers were not inspired but some wrote from their lips that were so and so were though never so skilful obnoxious to fallibility yet as thou intendest it of such Prophets Apostles Evangelists as wrote their own Prophesies Epistles Histories Proverbs Psalms c. with their own hands as they were moved by the Spirit it s utterly untrue that thou affirmest for the holy men of God who either wrote their Scripture with their own hands or dictated to such as they required to pen it from their mouthes as themselves spake from the mouth of God out of which came all that wisdome knowledge and understanding that is thereby uttered forth were such as were not so meerly pasive as thou praiest in the reception of what they wrote without any active concurrence of their rational faculties but in order to their receiving the word and manifestation of the minde and will of God to them which was written had both then and long before also an active concurrence thereof and such an active obedience to God as all men are by the Law of God i.e. the light in the conscience obliged to whereby they were made and became first holy men before they were used by God in such an holy work as preaching and wrriting out his minde to others and were brought into the thing or life it self they spake and wrote of and were purged from lusts and defilements and iniquities and foolish and unlearned questions and such prophane and vain bablings as ye are yet exercised in at your Vniversities about the Bible as well as about other books of humane businesses that in comparison of that holy truth that is in the Bible handled are but meer Baubles which a man being purged from 2 Tim. 2.16 19 20 21 22 23. he shall be a vessel of honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work Yea their Prophets that spake out that holy Doctrine and soul-saving truth that is declared in the Scriptures what ever some of them might be that were exercised in the copying out of sundry of those to us more unnecessary and unprofitable parts thereof viz. the endless Legal Genealogical Chronological Catalogues of mens names not so needful to us to know were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy men of God 2 Pet. 1. ult and such to whose souls knowledge and wisdome and the fear of God was pleasant who cried after it and lifted up their voices to God for it and were in such love with it as to wait on God for it out of whose mouth it comes and daily at the posts of wisdomes house which your Vniversities are not yet acquainted with and sought it as silver and searched for it as for hid treasure and though to Prophesie was a gift of God and such as have it are so passive as to receive it from the giver and none can receive any thing of it except it be given him from above Joh. 3. and though it is in no wise to be purchased by mens mony at Schools and Colledges as our Accademical Simon Magus's suppose who to obtain and buy all the gifts whereby they Prophesie to men for mony and sell them for mony
again when they have done yet was it a gift obtained in the way of such active obedience to God as by the said Law or light of God in the heart men stand obliged to and to be coveted and desired and was given in a certain way that ye are so far out of that ye hate it of holy waiting on God and learning of him alone in silence in all subjection in order thereunto for which work there are now as there were of old but those are not Oxford and Cambridge Vniversities as it were Schools and Nurseries of young Prophets at Iericho and Bethel alias by interpretation the House of God where Truth and true Wisdom and true Religion was and is learnt as truly and fully as it is falsly taught or rather fully and universally forgotten at our now Vniversities or Nursing-mothers of that Wisdom and Religion from beneath which is but earthly sensual or animal and deceitful See 2 K. 2.7.15 2 King 6.1 2 K. 9.1 yea in order to Gods manifestation of himself to men in such wise as he will not to World that lyes in wickedness it 's required that men keep his commandments so far as they are made known already in the light in the conscience Ioh. 14 and seperate themselves from the sensual ones that have not the spirit and not together with them from the truth Prov. 18.1 2. and that they come out of all that defileth and become holy for no defiled thing falls into Wisdom but in all ages this as well as any of old though ye own none to be now in rerum natura entring into holy souls she maketh them friends of God and Prophets Wisd. 7.23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30. But the reason why so few Priests are ever made true Prophets is because for the most part they are more prophane then other people from of old and much more now insomuch that as heretofore I mind at present but two of all that numerous Tribe Race and Party of Priests that the Jewish Church was fill'd with that became Prophets viz. Ieremiah and Ezekiel Ier. 1. 1. Ezek. 1.3 So now velduo vel nemo of all sorts of persons few or none of our Academical Levitical Race of Rabbiâ—s arrive to so much honour and happiness as to become obedient to the Faith yet so far many of them came in the primitives times notwithstanding I can't find that ever any of them commenced Prophets Evangelists or Apostles much less are many to be found so highly graduated as to become such in the true Church or School of Christ at this day they are not upon the Tower upon their Watch toward the Light They hearken not with Habbakkuk to what God saith in them Hab. 2.1 They stand not in the Lords counsel nor receive the word from his own mouth but as the false Prophets of old Ier. 23. in which respect they were false Prophets that profited not at all and such as God was against though speaking true words they steal the word they speak out of the true Prophets Writings whom God sent and spake to when he neither sent nor ever said the same unto them and so run crying Thus saith the Lord as ours do hear the Word of the Lord as you shall find it in such a Text such a Chapter such a Verse when they never heard God's voice at any time themselves nor saw his shape They hate and fight against Gods own counsel the Light in the Conscience which would lead them to purity in their own persons and so never come to see much less to shew his Secret which is onely with them that fear him Psal. 25. whose sear which is the beginning of Wisdom is to depart from the evil which the light discovers and so as none can bring a clean thing out of an unclean so none can receive much of a clean thing into an unclean But as Isaiah who was of unclean lips had his lips first toucht and his iniquity taken away before he was sent of Gods errand Isa. 6. And Ieremiah was sanctified to the work of Prophesie Ier. 1. So there must be more Holiness of Truth found among their Holinesses the Pope and all the Priests and Praters for pay thorowout all Christendom before they know how to prophesie themselves or tell truly as much as they are found from the Text of their Transcripts tatling to the World of what they know not how and in what manner Gods Prophets prophesie Thou addest I.O. pag. 6. That in writing they were not enabled by any habitual light knowledge or conviction of Truth to declare Gods mind and will but onely acted as they were immediately moved by him their hand in what they wrote was no more at their own disposal then the Pen in the hand of an expert Writer And p. 23. That no rational Apprehensions had any place in their Writing And p. 25. That this was the first spring of the Scripture and beginning of its emanation from the Counsel of God it was brought by the Power of the Holy Ghost into its Organs and Instruments us'd for the Declaration of it and that it was not left to their understandings wisdoms minds memories to order dispose and give it out But that they were born acted moved to write all and nothing but that to every tittle that was so brought to them And that they invented not words themselves but the words were immediately supplyed to them and that in writing they were but passive instruments for the reception and representation of words And that every Apex of the written Word i.e. Writing secundum te was as immediately from God to the writers as his voice in the Prophets p. 26 27. And p. 7. That they were but as an Instrument of Musick giving a sound according to the hand onely of him that strikes it Rep. These things are false being written by thee of all the Writings and first Writers of the Scripture universally as they are without exception and distinction for so indistinct and confused art thou in thy delivery of thy mind about the Bible that though it be a Bulk of Heterogeneous Writings compiled together by men taking what they could find of the several sorts of Writings that are therein and trussing them all up into one Touch-stone crouding them into a Canon or Standard for the trial of all Spirits Doctrines Truths and by them alone Yet thou speak'st so Homogeneously of it as if whatever can be predicated of any may be as properly predicated of it all yea whatever thou sayest falsly of the Writing thou denominatest the self-same of it all and every Apex and Tittle yea every Tittle and Iota with thee is no less then the Word of the great God wherein the â—ternal concernment of souls lyes p. 168 169. And so every part of it a Rule and the perfect Rule for so 't was with thee when there were none but Moses five Books and 't is but so with thee now so much
is added So every Apex equally Divine and as immediately from God as any of it yea and as the voice whereby he spake in the Prophets pag. 27. But I say as written by thee so universally of the Writers and meer Writing of the Scriptures as they are they are for the most part as false as that foregoing and that I have said above concerning the Writing of much of the Scripture at first as it stands in your Bibles by Scribes that wrote either out of other Copies or from the mouths of men more immediately inspired or from what was commonly reported and generally believed and what they had heard as delivered to them by more immediate eye and ear witnesses and what they retain'd in their memories and some way or other comprehended beforehand may stand as a sufficient Answer to this parcel also wherein according to thy wonted habitual darkness ignorance and contradiction to the Truth thou deniest the Pors-men and holy Prophets in their Writings to be enabled to declare and write what they wrote by any habitual light knowledge or conviction of the Truth As if they wrote what they neither saw nor heard nor knew nor believed to be true but besides all sight and understanding discerning mental conception meditation Rational Apprehension Faith or any manner of Antecedent comprehension of the truths they told as if they were all acted and us'd in the Writing of every Tittle by the Lord just no otherwise but as a Musical Instrument in a man's hand or the Pen itself by an expert Writer which can yeeld no more then a meer passive concurrence having no principle of life within it self from whence to act any thing at all or to move a hairs breadth in any business but as it 's mov'd or as some stark dead Corps which can neither stir nor stand but as extrinsecally born up and carried forth because deest aliquid intus Whereas as I have shew'd above some of them wrote not by immediate inspiration or bringing of the things into their minds so by the spirit but mediately that is from the mouths or writings of such as received the truths more immediately as they were inspired wrote as they also spake no other things then what by some means or other they beforehand comprehended no other then what they heard and saw and believed and retained in their minds and memories whereinto the spirit of truth and the truths he guided them into which the world receives not were both received conceived and entertained yea and I here add no other then such as in the same light were more or less seen known understood and believed before any Scripture at all was though 't was by the same way then which I know no other that the Scripture speaks of of knowing God or Christ viz of internal spiritual Revelation Matth. 11.27 Ioh. 6.47 1 Cor. 2.9 10 11 12. Gal. 1.16 Did Paul believe or witness or write any other things when he wrote with his own hands what was immediately revealed in spired into him by the same holy spirit then what by the same spirit in which and no other way all the things of God are known and ever were holy men of God believed owned witnessed wrote and both in their Writings and Speakings acknowledged to be the truth see Act 24.14 26.22 23. 2 Cor. 1 13. 4.13 Did he write any other things then what they to whom he wrote might and did read elsewhere even in the light and spirit within themselves and did thereby acknowledge to be the truth And did not he himself before he wrote them in the movings of the spirit acknowledge them to be the truth himself And did he in the light in which he liv'd and saw them acknowledge them to be the truth and yet was not enabled by any habitual Light knowledge or conviction of the truth to declare them in writing as he did but wrote as one ignorant in the dark unbelieving and unconvinced of the truths he wrote and as senselesse unintelligently and passively without any active obedience to the spirit pressing him or yeelding any but a meer passive influence and concurrence of his rational faculties in the worker as a meer dead thing that is utterly devoid of all kind of life motion or principle of Action within it self and uncapable of any action at all or motion but as it is acted ab extra by some forensical force or compulsion as a Musical Woodden instrument or a pen by the hand of the writer what a weak crooked crazy piece of conception of Scripture in this of thine of which I may truly say there was not so much active concurrence of the rational faculties of the Scribes in their writing of the Scripture but there is as little in this of thine who writest as if all the Prophets of God that ever spake and wrote what of his minde they received from his own mouth by standing in his counsel and hearkning to what he said in them and waited on him to know and understand his will and word first that they might do it in the particular in their own persons and as moved or commanded in obedience to him declare it to others were absolutely and meerly as passive as Balaams Ass was whose mouth miraculously was opened and his minde indued with rational faculties supernatural to him as he was a Beast to Reason out the case with his unrighteous Master and to reprove the madness of that Prophet and as meerly passive in their work of Prophesie as Caiphas the High Priest was whose mouth was opened to speak truer than he was aware of and to prophesie of a thing out of his irrational faculties that was as high above the reach of the best rational faculties he had being a man degenerate from pure perfect reason and in the fall as fallen mans best reason is above the brute beasts of the field for as Herod and Pontius Pilate did with wicked hands the things that God before determined should come to pass fulfilling the Prophets words in slaying Christ little thinking they served the truth as they did in it as the Assyrian in the like case they meant not so nor did their heart think otherwise than to destroy Isa. 10.5 6 7. Act. 4.27 28. Act. 3.17 18. Act. 13.27 28 29. So that Priest with a wicked heart intentionally to counsel them to murther Christ had his mouth prepared to Prophesie a precious truth which as so he spake not of himself so as one that had the light knowledge or conviction of the truth but besides himself as the Ass in the other case Numb 22.28 29 30. Joh. 11.29 50 51 52 53. Joh. 10.14 Whereas most evident it is that the holy men of God who wrote any part of the Scripture by immediate inspiration with their own hands to let pass that which some wrote for and from them as dictated to by their mouthes were in the light sight knowledge prae-conviction comprehension
beleef and acknowledgement of the truth habitually and were thereby inabled to declare it and from thence did declare it accordingly as in the wisdome of the Spirit they saw it serviceable and as by it they were moved so to do I am not ignorant that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divinely inspired and as so infallible and acted born carried by the holy Spirit in what they spake and wrote about which matters what a mighty marvelling and hideous ditty and wonderful deal of Do doth J.O. make in his muddy minde of which since he is so amazed that any such matter should be so much as pretended to in those dayes I may likely speak more particularly in another place But what of all this because they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 moved by the holy Spirit in what they did will it therefore follow they were meerly passive in their work without any such active obedience as was in the light required of them and without any exercise at all save such as was passive of their rational faculties therein without being inabled by any habitual light c. or use of their own understanding wisdome memories or the like in any writings of what they so wrote as if they actively entred no more than stocks and stones into the services they were set on work in surely though they were instruments and organs into which the Word was brought by the Spirit as they waited on the Lord for the revelation and manifestation of it to them yet they were living organs and instruments not only 〈◊〉 to the natural but also to that supernatural or spiritual life of God the things of which they wrote and declared and so were as it were subordinate efficients and inferiour Agents concurring by the use and exercise of their reason and rational faculties which grace and the Spirit of God perfects heightens and delivers from the defects therein contracted by transgression and doth not destroy And howbeit I deny not still but that the Prophets that pend any Scripture were passive as I said before in the reception of the minde of God manifested to them in the light so far as the receiver of a gift is to the giver from whom he can command nor have nothing unless it be given him and were no otherwise active than as beggars who are not to be chusers waiting at the door of wisdom and on God in the light within to see what he will give and in order to the obtaining it yet when the light and word was given out they were so far active so all are not whereupon many go without it as waiters are when they receive what is given and also far active as according to the measure of the gift of grace or knowledge received when the Spirit moved them so to do to go forth and minister either by preaching or writing or what way they found their call to serve in some one way some another and every individual sometimes one way sometimer another as Paul said Rom. 12.6 7. Having gifts differing according to the grace given whether prophesis let us prophesie according to the proportion of faith i.e. each his own proportion and measure not as you Divines who have a common Analogy of faith or stock of unsavoury Divinity among you according to which ye Minister or Ministry let us wait on our Ministring or he that teacheth on teaching or exhorteth on exhortation c. which things whether done by voice or writing is all one they were not to do but as the Spirit moved or acted them yet in both were they not only acted by the Spirit but subordinately active with him in those several ministrations as good stewards of the manifold grace of God speaking ministring whether in speech or Scripture as the Oracles of God in all faithfulness which is required in stewards 1 Cor. 4.1 2. 1 Pet. 4.10 11. who though it is their Master that doth all supremely by them and acts by them and speaks and writes and manages all affairs by their Ministration as the Spirit of the Father doth in his Saints and Children yet by his power and the gift of his grace received in the juncture and very period of receiving of which they were passive they concurred actively in the work of writing as the Saints do in the working out of their own salvation when God hath once wrought in them to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2.13 14. so that of the most immediate Writers of the Scriptures from the mouth of God it might be said as it is of all Saints Licetnec per se operantur nec aequaliter co-operantur yet aliqualiter saltèm etiam activè concurrunt cum causa operante they wrought and wrote neither wholly of themselves nor equally with the Spirit yet even actually concurred with him in the act of writing so as a pen or musical instrument doth not which is not subjectum capax a subject capable to act or move actively in the works of man any more than a stone can concur actively to the throwing of it self And being though but organs or instruments as thou sayest the Prophets were into whom the words they wrote were brought yet sith living organs or instruments alive to God by participation of his divine nature to the things of that life and nature they were consequently active organs and instruments and subordinate Agents and efficients and as well willingly acting as acted therein in the day of Gods power wherein his people are a willing people as dead organs and instruments cannot be For sith vita est Actus corporis organici quatenus organicum life of every kinde is no less than an Act or operative power of every thing that hath it to act or work such actions as are agreeable to its nature the life of God in such as by the light of Christ in whom is the life and whose life is the light of men Joh. 1.2 3. Joh. 12. are led and born thereunto is an Act or spiritual operative power to do and perform such actions as are suitable to man before he dyed by transgression and according to the will of God revealed as posita anima in corpore organico quâ tali sequitur vita posita vitâ sequitur operatio motio c. naturalis so posito spiritu in animâ recipiente sequitur vita actio spiritualis So the holy men that wrote the Scripture as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. inspired and moved by the holy Spirit which brought the truth unto them he pressed them to write were not according to J. O's vain figment of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acted and hurried like some stone thrown or pen handled which is meerly and only passive in what is done but acted as all Saints are in their measures to that of writing his truth or any
saying by which he had once gain-sayed the former returning to his former again Ex. 1. S. 29. where his Latine words Englisht are in this foolish wise viz. to express the sence they conceived of the mind and will of God the words in those tongues in which by the command and ordination of God the Scripture is written were both conceived and disposed by the holy Spirit and not permitted or left to the wisdom and will or arbitrement of the Writers themselves So of this sound piece of round Doctrine of I.O. this is the sum They that wrote the Scripture did not invent chuse or seeke words nor was it left to their minds understandings will wisdoms c. to express the truth yet to go round again they did use words of will or choice their mind and understanding were used in the choice of words yet to go round again to express the will and mind of God the words were not left to the will and wisdom of the writers Let the Reader chuse which of the two contradictory conclusions of I.O. he will take as true yet as one of them is and both cannot be true so true it is that I.O. runs the rounds and contradicts himself here as he doth in twenty places more of his self-consuting Fardel I. O. Thou addest p. 9 10. That in their writing they were not onely on a general account to utter the truth they were made acquainted with all and to speak the things they had heard and seen which was their common Preaching-work but also the very individual words they had received were to be declared And p. 9. quoting Mat. 10.10 That the Apostles were not the Speakers of what they delivered as other men are the Figment and Imagination of whose hearts are the Fountain of all that they speak but the spirit of the Father in them Rep. How hangs this true passage viz. They were to utter the truth they were acquainted withall and write the things they had heard and seen together by the ears with that false passage p. 5 6. Where thou sayest The Stories Laws Doctrines Instructions Promises Prophesies they gave out were not retained in their memories from what they had heard nor by any means before-hand comprehended by them c. What clouds of witnesses be here to the clearing of the Spirit by which thou writest to be a Spirit of self-contradiction 2. Was not their common Preaching-work and their common Writing-work all one as to the choice of Words wherein they declared Were they at liberty when they preached to ramble into words of their own meere will choice and invention and limited when they wrote so that they might not express themselves in such words as in the will and wisdome of God in which they dwelt and liv'd they saw meet for the matter in hand but just tyed to the individual words brought to them as immediately by inspiration as the matter or Word of God it self they wrote of Who acquainted thee with this whimsical non-sensical notion that they in their work of Preaching disposed and ordered their words as in wisdom they saw them acceptable or serviceable but in their work of Writing they might dispose order chuse and in wisdom seek to find out acceptable words but had every Tittle more immediately put into them then when they spake the Truth by word of mouth Dost not thou thy self say p. 9. Mat. 10.10 That the Apostles were not the Speakers of what they delivered but the Spirit in them Whereby the truer that is tthe more clearely thou contradictest thy self again and intimatest no less then thus much that the Spirit as immediately and distinctly brought to them gave and put into their minds and mouths what words they should use when they were speaking as what words they should use when they were Writing So that what ever was their common Preaching-Work and common Writing-Work in both which it 's true enough that they were assisted specially and in both equally by the holy spirit in the wisdom power evidence and demonstration of which speaking in them and moving them who were obedient to him to an active improvement and exercise of their rational faculties minds understandings wills memories thereunto they both preached and wrote 1 Cor. 2.4 2 Cor. 3.12 and so uttered no other truth then they were mostly made acquainted withall by the spirit within themselves and heard and saw by the light within as well as by hear-say and the Writings of one another from without Yet the common Preaching-work and Writing-work of thy self and thy fellow Ministers not of the Light and Spirit but of the Letter out of which ye surtively fetch filch and steal all your stuff and furniture wherewith ye feed people till they starve I say Your Preaching and Writing is of things that ye are not acquainted with from the Spirit of the Father nor from its manifestings the mind of God within you and moving you to utter them in words of his own immediate suggesting and supplying but a certain uttering forth in your own wills and times of what ye have no otherwise then by hearsay or from the Scriptures of those who spake and wrote as mov'd no more then what they both saw and heard and handled of the Word of Life a certain rude handling what ye never felt your selves nor your own hands ever yet handled of that Word of Life ye read others writing of a heedless holding forth of what ye hear not but onely hear of a talkative treating on what Truth ye do not truly taste of an impudent intruding of your selves into a self-ended shewing of what ye have not seen but as at second-hand ye see it shew'd in the Scripture by such as were in the true sight and substantial being of it vainly puffed up in your fleshly minds in which respect ye are no true Ministers nor true Witnesses for God but false Witnesses even when ye testifie the truth which is not yours as well as when ye tell lyes and teach the untruths which are your own as the old Truth stealers and Word-sellers were who though they said because they found it so said by such as felt it The Lord lives which is the truth yet they spake falsely forasmuch as they witnessed him nor risen and alive but murdered stew kill'd and crucified the holy and just one within themselves and spake not as Christ and his did what they knew Ioh. 3.11 and testified not what they had seen but worshipped and worded it about what they knew not Iohn 4.22 And so as a man can't be counted a Legal witness in foro hominum in a civil Court of Judicature among men that shall testifie of another's theft murder and scandal at second hand that is not as an immediate eye or ear-witnesse of it but on his reading in a Letter or hear-say from such as were so so much less in foro Dei Ecclesiae can any be owned as a true Minister of
the New-Testament which is not of the Letter but the Spirit that Ministers and Testifies no more then what he hath meerly read in and stole out of the Letter and not what he hath seen felt heard and handled of the living Word inwardly in the spirit and further by thy own confession since thou saist the Apostles were not as other men are in their speakings and writings the figment and imaginations of whose hearts are the fountain of all they speak and ownest not thy self and thy fellows to be Apostles of Christ for thou deemest there are none so in these dayes but other men thou thereby ownest but speak for thy self and thy fellows however and not for all for we know some Apostles now as of old there were the figment and imagination of your own hearts to be the Fountain of all ye speak What need we further witness to this since we read it uttered from thy own mind and hand And lastly since thou sayest the Pen-men of the Scripture were so tyed up to the very individual words received by them and put into them by the holy Spirit And p. 25 26. were to deliver and write as all so nothing but that to every Tittle that was so brought unto them not altering nor adding c. of their own in their wisdoms and understandings it should seem then according to your own Principles that God gave out by them what was sufficient to guide men if outward Writing or Scripture was by him intended to be their Rule and if they themselves might not amplifie nor add nor enlarge nor comment upon the Word of God manifested by them in the Scripture by the exercising of their rational faculties but were to rest in so much as was revealed in them by the spirit and to others in Writing by them What need then is there of those infinite and endless odd Additions that the Doctors and Divines have made from generation to generation to the Scipture of their own voluminous inventions interpretations and as divided as devised Divinations extravagant Expositions incomprehensible Commentaries confus'd Contradictions Cantings one to another and to the world to the confounding of it with many more Humbles of their Senses Meanings Opinions Thoughts about the Bible then it can contain amounting in Bulk perhaps to a thousand times more then the Bible comes to And who gave you Text-men such a Liberty and Authority to take the Text and talk on it in your Wisdoms Wils Words and Vnderstandings opening amplifying paraphrasing prating out the plain truth as it there lyes so unprofitably to people in your own phrases to your own outward profit at your pleasure Did he that bounded and limited and hedg'd in the Writers saying according to thy sense hitherto thus far shall ye manifest my mind in Writing and no further lend you such a boundless latitude to prate out your own opinions and turn you loose and unmuzled in pratum vestrum ubi non est sepes Was not the mind of God in that Scripture given out by God himself full enough and plain enough at least in matters necessary to salvation for the meanest capacity to understand when it 's read to them in the words wherein it seemed good to the holy spirit and the holy Penmen to write it out without such a bottomless deal of adding amplifying and expounding as your excentrick Academical Exorcists make about it When Paul wrote to Timothy Titus Philemon and the Churches and Iohn to the Lady and Gaius and Luke his story of what Christ and the Apostles said and did were there need much more absolute necessity of a Priest to be sent for in all haste to open what they meant to such as they sent their Letters to in a tongue that they well understood And now the Scripture is translated into our own Mother-Tongue in England such as can read may read and understand it and such as can't read may have it read to them at their own Houses there being one or other in every House almost that can read now even very children if old folks cannot which being read is tenfold more plain in such places as pertain necessarily to salvation to every honest understanding and plain-minded man that is willing to do the will of God there written of then the costly Comments and manifold hampered handlings and more perplexize unfoldings of it that are made by our Schoolmen and Vniversity Theological Professors So that what more need then of old when the Letter came newly forth for a Priest to be placed in every Parish for pay to darken the counsel of God in the Scripture by his words without knowledge under a pretence of opening it or if it were an opening as it rather is a shutting of the Kingdom of Heaven against men as our Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites like them of old manage that matter and use their Keys of Knowledge in another kind of manner then honest Peter What need of hundreds a year to be paid in Parishes for the opening of one or two Texts or Verses in a Week Or rather as some draw it out the talking on some one Text for a Month or a quarter of a year together against the Light and Spirit from whence it was written If those that wrote it might not meddle to say a little more as I.O. sayes in their Wisdoms though they were as spiritually fluent and learnt as National Ministers are spiritually ignorant It would be more useful then now it is through your miserable Mangonizations of it by your seâ—ces on open places if your Wisdoms would leave it as it is without making out your misty meanings on it to poormen for so much money J. O. Thou addest That the declaration of the New Testament gave out the minde and will of God in a way of morel's eâ—â—y and glory without that dread and terrour which was peculiar to the Old and to the Pedagogit thereof in which the coming of the word had oftentimes such a greatness and expression of the Majesty of God upon it as filled them with dread and reverence of him Hab. 3.16 and also greatly affected even their outward man Dan. 8.27 Rep. Here thou talkest again like thy self like a man ignorant as thou art for all thy high conceit of thy self of the Scriptures thou art scribling so for and of the things therein declared both before and since Christ which two Termes thou countest the times of the Old Testament and the New and so they figuratively are howbeit as to the thing it self which is yet far above out of thy sight the Gospel had children from Adam to this day under Moses his out outward Pedagogie and the Law whose children are of the Bond-woman and not Heirs according to the promise with the children of the Free hath its children as well since that juncture of Christs Incarnation as before And as for thy inconsiderate position concerning the peculiarity of dread and terrour in receiving of the word from
vehement vindication and Apologetical appearances pro Scripturis for the individual manuscripts of the holy men that wrote the minde of God more immediately from his mouth than any of thy Transcribers that copy out things as carefully as they can as they find them copied out before them and were they still extant in rerum natura yet the immediacy even of those first Scriptures from God to us was not so absolute without any medium at all as thou imaginest and intimatest from the Texâ— used by thee and ushered in with such a deal of pomp and ceremony in proof thereof p. 11. viz. 2 Pet. 1.20 21. Knowing this that no Prophesie of Scripture is of any private interâ—pretation for the Prophecy came not of old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost This thou writest all over in Greek first then in English and then descantest paraphrastically upon it in many pages as if thou wouldest beat thy beleef upon men and cudgel them into thy conceit of the Scriptures being as immediately from God to us in every Apex as his voice by which he spake in the holy men that wrote it was in them and that assuredly beyond all doubt or exception because Peter sayes No Prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretatiâ—n nor came by mans will but Gods and holymen spake us moved by his Spirit yea pag. 23 24. thou runst away an end it with it as an undoubted truth and layest it down as it were supernaculum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowing judging determining this in the first place this is a principlâ— to be owned and acknowledged by every one that will beleeve any thing else This then in our Religion is to be owned acknowledged submitted unto as a principle without further dispute that this is so indeed as before asserted and to give a reason why this to be received as a principle it is added vers 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word of Prophecy is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of private acceptation for it came not was brought into them not at any time by the will of men but by the will of God And further it is added by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were acted born carried out to speak deliver write all that and nothing but that to every Tittle that was so brought to them by the Holy Ghost What a pompous piece of proof here is of the Scriptures coming from God to us disht out with great store of circumstance having no substance or purport at all in it to the purpose in hand for however J.O. cannot discern how to distinguish between these two Terms viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—e Prophecy of the Scripture and the Scripture of the Prophecy the changeable Text â—â— and unchangeable Truth the meer letâ—er and the holy matter yet Peter speaks not there of the Scripture which comes to us immediately from men writing not in their own wills but at the will of God as moved by his Spirit but of the Prophecy thereof which we confess came immediately from God to the holy men of God and to others mediately not without the intervenieny of their hand-writing of it Vâ—rbum sat sapienti insipiensi plura plus satis Neither doth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou makest such work about elsewhere viz. p. 57. in a case somewhat consonant with this urging out of 2 Tim. 2.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 necessarily intimate such an absolute immediacy of the outward Text from God as thou wotest for as there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Writing or Scripture that is more ad intra than the Writing â—d extra legible by the external eye which thy minde and eyes are altogether a gadding after as if there were no other viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Scripture written not with Inke but with the Spirit of the living God not in Tables of stone but in fleshly Tables of the heart 2 Cor 3.2 3. which whether Paul to Timothy doth not speak of as that which he had known from his youth and was able to make him wise to salvation and as being by the inspiration of God and profitable to the perfecting of them in of God to furnish him for Doctrine Reproof Instruction inrighteousness and evâ—ry goâ—d work is well worth your serious enquiry who search so shallowly into the Scripture that ye seldome meet with the marrow and true mystery of any Text yé talk ón so if you will needs have that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to intend the external Text only as being by inspiration of God yet that phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by inspiration from God doth not denote necessarily the strictest degree of immediation nor can it found out so much as if the said outward letter came from him without any medium but it came as t is â—aid in the other place 2 Pet. 1.20 according to the will of God from men moved by him to write it so according to the motion of Gods Spirit or his inflations or blowings upon the hearts of holy men not without the interveniency of their hands in the penning of it or the hands of such as penned it from their mouthes as they spake the truths thereof who received them from the mouth of God speaking in them Thus though the first Manuscripts had as immediate a divine original and emanation from God as any outward Writings in the world yet that they had so immediate an emanation as thou wouldest make them have as if every Apex thereof is as immediate from God to you as his voyce was from him to the Prophets in whom he spake that excepting the little that is above excepted is utterly false and as for your Transcripts which thy talk is so transcendent for though they are immediate to you because they come to you as the first Manuscripts never did yet they came not immediately from God at all but from the hands of fallible men so little guided in their writing from the infallible Spirit that by thy own confession they being without that both might and did fail and mistake therein And now how little all this first Chapter hath in it where with to make a sound bottomâ— or firm basis for the bearing up of so great a Babel as thou buildest on it viz. Such a Divine Authority of the Scripture as whereby it claims and challenges the high and glorious Title of the Word of God to it self and every Tittle of it under pain and peril of all mens perishing for ever that ownit not as such and honor it not as thou dost whose grand Idol the meer outward Text is with that Divine honour that is due to the inward true eternal incorruptible inalterable powerful living life-giving Word of God it self which it only is but a bare though true relation of comes now to be considered CHAP. III. HAving laid thy falsely supposed Divine original and immediate
which is the Power of God the Scriptures tells of which who erres from and are ignorant of as the Schollars and Scribes are more then any do erre not knowing the Scripture they scribble on any more then it the Letter is too weak an Engine to set to rights what 's what 's out of order and a Standard which men that lean to it as to that intent find to be but a broken staff that not onely fails their expectation of support from it but also wounds them more and runs into their hands Witnesse the wosul work that the Worlds Ministers make in it for all their Scripture who for and about the Scripture and their sundry silly senses about it self and meanings made of the holy matter that 's plainly made out in it make more havock of whole Nations by stirring them up to war about the Scripture in their wild wisdom wicked wils then ever could have been in Christendom if the Scripture had never been among them at all What wasting devastations and calamity hath been in Germany not onely betwixt Protestants and Papists but also by Protestants i.e. Lutherans and Calvinists within themselves and wherefore but for their divided thoughts upon some few Texts of Scripture And what Errors Heresies straglings from the Truth which is but one and from the true Light the Scripture calls to Did ever any sorts of erring men among whom the Clergy that commonly cryed Whore first have been the chief run out into error in the Christian world who have not pretended at least to own and to be willing to be tryed also by the Scripture Yea the Papists for all their infallible Chair will and do ever when they plead it against Protestants professe pretensively to prove it by the Scripture having a sense for every place to serve their own turns as the Protestant Clergy to serve their turns have another And howbeit it hath been thought in the Protestant part of Europe that all would be unity it self among them and so 't is as to make one against the Pope since men fell from that infinity of imagination and invention which was and was capable to be eternally fed with the endless fuel which the unerring Breast and boundless treasure of tradition could easily finde for it and betook themselves more singly to the Scriptures marching from Rome under the conduct of the purity of the Originals as thou speakest p. 207 of the Scritures yet what multiplication of divisions for want of coming to the light which is but one in all and in which alone all true unity is had and held with God and one another 1 Ioh. 1.5 6 7 8. rather then any diminution thereof hath fell out in your Reformed Churches as ye call them 〈◊〉 all the Scriptures being so all in all among them so that like the Serpent Hydraus hundred Heads whereof when Hercules cut off one two grew up after it in the place as soon as one controversie among the Reform'd Clergy was hoped to be ended though I know none was ever truly ended yet by all the Synodical designs that ever were on foot in this Nation or any other so that we may truly say of every Synod of Divines that hath yet fate Quis Synodus Nodus Patrum Chorus Integer Aeger Conventus Ventus Sessio Stramen Amen Many new ones began that like new fresh Hares starting upon tired Hounds that have been hot in the old sent have run them all out of breath or if any evil of division in one thing hath been put to an end it hath been but a preparative to a greater breach among the Protestant Clergy and all their creatures and still Finis alterius Mali gradus est Futuri Yea I may say of thy Scriptures as thou pleads for them J.O. to end all strife withall as I may say of our English Oaths impos'd upon poor persons to the impeaching themselves when they come before our crooked Courts in Case of Tythes viz. that the Oaths given on pretence of ending all strife are in truth given by the Judges to begin all strife with For if an honest man will not swear how many Eggs and Pigs and Pears and Plumbs c. he hath had for so many years past they will not permit him to plead at all or strive in his own defence against his Persecutor In like manner it is with that which thou exhibit'st to men in order to the ending all Divisions and Disputes viz. the meer looking beside the Light within into the Letter of the Scriptures which is so far from finishing any strife that it feeds vain foolish loose mindes such as thine that hates the light none else with fuel and furnishes their fancies with matter for many more strifes then they would find cause for if they kept to the Light within alone for their learning or at least so as in that alone to look into the Letter where such as learn at the Light may read their own Yea dark minds diving into the Scripture divine lyes enough out of it to set whole Countreys on fire as the Divines have ever done And as to the purity of the Originals under the Conduct of which thou saist ye went from Rome wishing none may return thither under pretence of their corruption I say the purity of them which thou pleadest in that height thou dost is but pretended and that more or less corrupted they are to the contradicting thy self thy self art forced to confess p. 167. as is shewed above but be they as they are or how they will be pure or not pure to a tittle as thou assertest them they are so far from relieving you in your wearisom wrathful strifes that cum nemini obtrudi potest itur ad me may your Original Text say when the Divines can have leisure to cease a little from their strife about the holy matter and Doctrine of it then rather then sit still and be quiet or be idle from their common Calling which is contention they 'l role Sysiphus his stone and be at wars and tear one another about the very Letter and their Original Transcripts of it and try that out tooth and nail whether they be true or no in every Letter Tittle Point and Iota as they were written as the first Yea O curas hominum though for truth and wisdom and the Scriptures sake which I own and honour as holy just and good and of precious use to such as know and obey the truth I am become such a fool with them by answering them according to their folly as to make this one Skiâ—mish among them about the Scripture that I may bring some of them to the truth and light of God in them in which only the union is that they may cease henceforth from their stirs strifes which light til they turn to I testifie to them that their way is as slippery places in the dark in which they will be driven on till they fall therein that
Rule and standard the touchstone of all speakings whatsoever that that must speak alone for its self which must try the speaking of all but its self yea it s own also See Tr. 1. c. 3 pertotum That which is the ordinary unmoveable perfect and siable infallible Rule of Gods worship and our obedience so that ther 's no further need we should be instructed with any other new daily Revelations in the knowledge of God and our duties Yea the most perfect Rule that is given us of God whereby to attain to eternal salvation so that after the compleating of that which is called the Canon of the Scripure ye beleeve and profess no new Revelations about the common faith of the Saints or the worship of God are either to be expected or admitted as well such as are made by the Spirit or light within or inward speculation or heavenly inspiration or speech of Angèls to our instruction in the knowledge of God and our duty in order to our obtaining eternal salvation which all are a vain unprofitable false uncertain hazardous and utterly unnecessary means which the Fanaticks fain toward the knowledge of God and his will Yea that by which we are commanded to try and examine and prove all Revelations Visiâ—ns Spirits God's no more excepted then the Devil's Dreams inward appearances or speaking or prophesyings within or from within whether true or false without difference or distinction 1 Cor. 14.21 1 Thes. 5.21 1 Joh. 4.1 Ex. 3. S 33. The onely Rule of the faith and obedience of Gods Church Page 173. so Ex. 4. sect 22. Rep. In the handling of this head concerning the Scriptures being in the nature of the Canon Rule or Standard to the Church of God I say in the nature use and office of a Canon for as to the measure or bounds of your Canon I have elsewhere spoken to it I shall have to do with thee I. O. and thee T. D. also who both are as like one another in your ignorant invectives against the Qua. as enemies to the Scripture for not owning it to be what your fore-fathers and your selves have also ignorantly Canonized it into the name of viz. The standing Rule of faith and life as if one of you had been spit out of the others mouth As for thy self I.O. having Ex. 3 sect 25 26. professed thy faith or rather fancy and opinion that the Scripture is the only most perfect Rule of the faith and worship of God thou stilest thy Teeological subsequent foolish defence thereof a proving of it against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the haters of the Scriptures as if all they that side not with thy false weak supportless suppositions about the Scriptures were presently to be condemned as enemies to them without any more ado And as for thee T.D. thou stilest it a spitting out of vemome and bringing in of another Gospel to deny the Scripture to be the Rule Thou engagest me in a publick discourse about this Question Whether the Scriptures are the Word of God or no and then when I owning the Word of God to be the Word of God publickly denied the Scripture that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Writing not mentioning the paper or inke that is the foolish phrase of thy own inserting to be the Word of God in a shameful way of Tergiversation thou ran'st away from the Termes of thy Question and never camest near them any more but leftest quite another Question in its room viz. Whether the matter contained in the Writings be the Rule of faith and life as the Reader may see in the 25 and 26. pages of thy first Pamphlet Sir You cannot beleeve us so simple surely as to affirm the Scriptures in that sense the Word of God but we mean the matter contained in the Writing whether that be the Rule of faith and life Which matter written of and the Writing or Scripture are two different matters say I still as the Lanthorn and the Candle or the light contained therein so that thy doings T.D. that day was altogether as silly a peece of business as if one that had challenged another to dispute it openly with him that the Lanthorn is the Candle or the Light being come as T.D. did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with much pompous shew or fancy upon the publick place of hearing before hundreds to that purpose should say to his Antagonist on this wise Sir You cannot beleeve me to be so simple surely as to affirm the Lanthorn to be the candle or light but I mean the candle or light contained in the Lanthorn whether that be a Rule for men to walk by in a dark night or no a Question which was never denied by his Antagonist at all for neither I nor any Qua. that I know deny the Word of God to be the Word of God which is contained in the Scripture or that the Scripture or Writing declares thereof any more then we deny the Candle and Light to be a Candle and a Light which is contained in the Lanthorn but that the Writing it self is that Word of God written of in it or that the Lanthorn is the ' candle or the light ' that is in the Lanthorn at least that the Word of God is the proper name of the Scripture as to his shame I. O. hath undertaken to prove in Latine against the Qua. of whom he saith they understand him not in that tongue this I and the Qua. do deny against him and thee and all men for our denial of which dream of our benighted Doctors and Divinet we have been yet damned down through the false suggestions and silly insinuations of their busie ear-wigs the Priests by all Parliaments and Powers that have yet appeared at the Helm in this Nation and deemed unmeet to be let into the lists of that liberty of conscience allowed to other men and doomed out as deniers of the fundamentals of Religion Thus T.D. As the King of Spain and forty thousand men Went up a hill and then came down agen Gathered his Forces and Fellow-souldiers together pitching his own day of battel betokening to obtain some eminent victory over the Qua. and as soon as he came into the field laid down his Arms and confessed he had no quarrel against the Qua. as to the Question he was to dispute about as stated and held by them so like some Bettle he flyes aloft with a humming noise into the ayr and at last flaps suddenly down into a peece of Cow-dung Nevertheless T.D. that thou mightest for very shame seem to do something for the Scripture even for the Book it self and Letter of it as well as for the good matter therein contained sith thou wast come upon the stage on that account after some parley that was held a while between my self and thee about the Latitude and Limits of your supposed Rule in which thy pitiful poor put offs of
contradicts himself ye are for all your siding to vindicate the same Points of false Doctrine against the Qua. so frequently sound contradicting each other that in order to the consutation of you both a man may finde contradiction enough either in each of your Writings within themselves or in the Writing of one of you unto the other and so 't is in this case for I.O. owns no other Principle or Foundation of discovery of Divine Truth then the Scriptures for the Faith to stand on p. 18. But thou ownest the Spirit to be the Principle of obedience 2. If the phrase denotes the Principle only and not the Rule as it does not for it denotes both yet the other places mentioned do denote more expresly the Light and Spirit and not the Letter to be the Rule which said Light and Spirit that is the Power of God to say the truth is both the Principle upon which all true Faith is founded and is to stand 1 Cor 2.5 in the movings of which obedience is to be acted and also the Rule according to which as it moves leads guides directs impowers and no otherwise all things that are at all are to be both done and believed And no less do all those phrases however denote viz Rom. 8. 1.4.5.13 Who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit then a being taught led guided ruled directed by as well as moved acted and enabled from the Spirit so or so to believe or do for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Praeposition though join'd with the Genitive signifies contra against as Gal. 5. The flesh lusteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the Spirit yet with the accusative is secundum after according to so that the Light and Spirit of Christ within is not onely the Foundation upon which the Principle from which but also that in which the Standard Measure Guide and Rule of direction by after or according to which the Saints are to walk believe and do whatever they do in order to their pleasing of God and standing uncondemned in his sight And no less then so doth Phil. 3.16 import where Paul to the Saints at Philippi with the Bishop and Deacons according to their several statures and degrees of growth in the Light and Spirit of Christ wishes all that were perfect as every one is that is faithful to his own measure to be so minded as himself yet leaving every one to believe and judge by his own measure of Light not binding any one to his till God himself should reveal things as he knew them to those that were yet otherwise minded Neverthelesse quoth he whereunto we have already attained let us walk or steere our course by the same Rule let us mind the same thing Which same Rule or same thing that he wills all though their measures of Light may be different to mind and walk by He that shall dream it to be the Letter of the Scripture without and not the inward Light Grace and Spirit of Christ a measure and manifestation of which is according to the measure of the gift of Christ distributing to every one severally as he will to some more some less some one some two yet to every one one talent at least given to every man to profit withall to improve trade with and thrive by Matth. 25.15 Rom. 12.3.6 1 Cor. 12. 7.11 Eph. 4.7 8. compared with Psal. 68.18 Gifts to the Rebellious also 1 Pet. 4.10 11. I shall deem him to be more deservedly denominated a Doter then a Doctor in Divinity or a true Teacher of the things of God and the Gospel seeing the so-call'd Scripture-Rule or Canon so much counted on as that no other neither inward light nor Word nor Revelations of the Spirit Post completum ejus Canonem as J.O. sayes are at all to be admitted to the Name Title Honour and Authority of a Rule to the Church according to J. O's and T. D's Principles was not yet bounded nor compleated nor come to its full Coronation Canonization Consecration and Consignation by any Clerical Convocation of Divines as it did afterwards while Paul wrote thus to the Philippians there being more of his own and other holy men's Writings penned after this besides the Revelation of John which J.O. on his own head p. 18. calls the Close of the immediate Revelation of Gods will in that way of Writing And whether the Philippians had seen any Scripture at all much lesse any of the Books ye call the New-Testament more then this that Paul now wrote when he wrote this to them unless it may be conjectured from Ph. 3.1 that he himself wrote to them before to the same purpose as now and therefore sayes to write the same things to you is safe for you is questionable and more then J.O. and T.D. with both their heads laid together are able to prove therefore the same Rule he bids them all walk by according to their respective measures and the same thing he bids them mind was not the Scripture but the Light and Spirit which having reveal'd something to them would as they walked perfectly by the Rule thereof reveal all things to them in due time that he knew and they were ignorant of For though the Rule appointed design'd and authoriz'd by God for all men to mind as one man and to walk by from the beginning of the World to this day is but one i. e. the Light Word and Spirit in the heart and conscience yet the Degrees in which it is dispenced are different and every one that is found faithful in the improvement of what is committed to him be it little or more is crowned with the just account of Faithfulness V prightnesse and Perfection and title to the joy and right to have more committed to him Yea as if any man walk up to what he hath already attained to the understanding of the same shall have more abundance If any will do his will saith Christ i.e. so far as he knows the same shall know of the Doctrines that are taught whether they are of God or whether the Teachers thereof speak of themselve Joh. 7.15.16 Such shall discern and distinguish and see and grow into the Spirit of Iudgement and of a sound mind and into a cleare sight of the mind of God who manifests himself to such as he does not to the world who receive not the Spirit of Truth which he gives to all in some measure to convince them of sin righteousnesse and judgement and so to guide them out of sin but that some resist him but to such as own truth as receive him and love and come to the Light which â—evil ones hate loving flesh and darknesse more then it because it reproves their ill deeds that their deeds may be manifested more and more and come to be wrought in God he leads into all truth while such proud Pharisaical Praters as Vniversity-bred Schollars stubborn Students and rebellious Rabbies Scripture-searching
Reproof Instruction in Righteousness and without any outward Scripture to perfect the man of God fit and furnish him as no outward Scriptures can possibly do without these for any much less for every good work which inward Scripture in which holy men read the Gospel before 't was ever written outwardly with Ink and Pen foreseeing that God would justifie the Gentiles through Faith in Christ the Light preached the Gospel four hundred years before your Scripture Canon or Rule ad extra was ever written Howbeit I say There is a Scripture ad intra that ye read little in testified to and talk't of by your external Text ye onely talk for 2 Cor. 3. Yet to J. O. I grant the outward Scripture and that in its integrity so far as free from corruption by mis-transcription and mis-translation to be holy just good useful and profitable for all the things specified in the Text of Paul to Timothy when read and understood in that Light Wisdom and Spirit that gave it out by those holy men which onely knows the Mystery of its own minde and meaning therein and reveals it ' also to Babes and simple honest hearts that come at ' fools to it looking to the Lord alone for wisdome out of whose mouth comes that knowledge and understanding whereby the Scripture is seen as to the spirituality and substance of it when the plain things of it are hid from the wise and prudent that furfeit with their own conceited science and lean to their own Animal understanding and in that give their several senses and sentences on it for the natural or as the word is 1 Cor. 2.14 15 16. the Animal man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God not the hidden wisdome of God which none of the Princes of this world know 1 Cor. 2.6 7 8. c. which in a mystry or meer Riddle to their degenerate reason is uttered in the very outward Scripture neither can the animal man by his wisdome from beneath for all his bitter envying and strife within himself against all that oppose him wherein he glories and lyes against the truth the fruit of which envy is confusion and every evil work which wisdome is but earthly sensual Animal devillisbly deceitful Jam. 3.14 15 16 17 18. know the things of God for they are spiritually discerned and by the spiritual man only that discerns and judges all and is falsely judged by all though truly discerned by none that are beneath him The outward Scripture I say is profitable to such as Timothy was to men of God to make them who are wise in the Spirit wiser and wiser through their faith in the light to their own and others salvation and to furnish such a Minister as Timothy was who knows when and being in the Spirit how and how far forth to use it for every good work in his Ministry And such as are full of might and power first by the Spirit of the Lord upon them as Micah was Mic. 3. and as Apollo was are mighty also in the Scripture and furnished mightily to confound the Scripture-searching Scribes and all gain-sayers of the Light as they were in their times So that we deny not the Scriptures ad extra to be many wayes useful profitable in their place and time where they are to be read as they are not in so much as the tenth part of the world and where they are read in the light by them who live in that Light that gave them forth which are not the hundreth part of those that usually read and search them but will all this prove them to be what I.O. and T.D. contend so stiffly to have them be viz. in that high Authority of the Rule nay the only most perfect standing Rule of all true belief and holy life before the very light and spirit of God they had their very original supreme being from thorow the hands of holy men as but subordinate instruments in their first purity as writings except that little that was pend by God himself which we now have not which Scriptures yet as to the being they now have are handed to us from no higher principle then the transcription of meer fallible and as I.O. sayes un-inspired men Ab sit imaginatio let the thoughts hereof be far from us that the Scripture is the only Rule for if we should grant it to be so far as truly transcribed in the Copies of the Original a Rule at all or a secondary Rule which name of Rule is more than it any where calls it self by yet the prime most perfect Rule it is not much less is it the only Rule to the Church or any men and though we are as forward as any on a due account to own the profitablenss of the very letter as it declares of the words of truth and uprightness and the Doctrine that is according unto godliness and to own its great usefulness as to the purposes premised and so affirm that the dead letter so far as not depraved from its primitive purity doth as truly answer and hold proportion with the light and living word as the shadow doth with the substance the life-less picture with the living person it represents and as the voice which is Imago verbi the Image of the Word with the Word it is the Image of or the Eccho which is the Image of the voice doth with the voice it answers to insomuch that as Quae conveniunt in aliquo tertio santidem what holds measure or weight and keeps correspondency or proportion with a third thing that agrees with the standard or sealed Canon agrees also with the standard it self so whose life squares truly and substantially with the letter convenes with the light and spirit it imediately issued out from and he that lives and speaks perfectly and adaequately according to the Scripture so far speaks and lives according to and not besides the light and spirit which the letter requires man to live beleeve and walk in and by as neither doth or can he erre from the letter if he had never heard read or seen it who answers the measure of the light and spirit that is lent him to live by yet for all this as T.D. gives this reason for his untrue imagination why this part of the inspired Scripture you have only is the only Rule and not any Sermons or private religious discourses which have the same common ends with the Scriptures no nor yet any other writings but those ye have if we could prove and produce as assuredly we shall anon any legitimate ones of Divine inspiration though otherwise as useful and profitable as those ye have and agreeing therewith viz. because God did not give order quoth he for the one as he did thinks he for the other and there is no other Scripture appointed of God to be a Rule of faith and manners but what is bound up in the Bible and where he appointed that we
If every mans private light be the Rule of obedience then we have as many Rules as men but the Divine Rule is onely one and that only one quoth he falsely elsewhere is the Scripture Rep. His minor as is said above serves our turn and as for his major its consequence is most false if by the Word private light he means every ones particular measure of light that shines from God into his conscience for that doth not make tot Regulas c. so many men so many Rules for the Light and Spirit which is the only Rule is one and the self-same thing in all distributed to every one as to degrees which never vary the nature of any thing severally as seems good to him And this is but a piece of his own peevish private piece of prate so often as he doth in his Disputes to term the light of God we testifie to as one in all though in different measures lumen privatum the private light for its lumen publicum commune that one publick light that comes and is communicated from God and reproves sin in all men and never did nor doth consent to any iniquity but condemns it in all men and all men as found in sin and were I.O. as well skilled in the Scripture as he is in the way of unskilful scribling for it and would once learn of Paul whom he often prates on he would have learnt ere this time with him to stile the light in all the different measures of it attained to by men to be but one Rule one thing still and not to say that if every man minde the light in himself then so many men so many Rules which Apostle Phil. 3 15 16. saith Whereunto we have already attained let us walk by the same Rule let us minde the same thing And as to T.Ds. saying That so much of the matter contained in the Scripture as is written upon the hearts of the Heatbens is a Rule to them I very readily grant that to be the very truth but what will T.D. get by it but 1. The glory of his granting to the Qua. that other Grand Question about which he quarrels with them viz the being of a measure of the same matter and not naâ—â—ral as man is in statu corrupto but supernatural and spiritual light of truth which is contained and testified in the Scripture to be in all men in the world even in the Heathen that have not the Scripture 2. The fuller just censure of a contradicter of himself who by telling the truth herein gainsayes that false Doctrine which he teaches for Truth in another place For here he owns some of the same truth or holy Doctrine declared in the Scripture which himself and I.O. stickle to prove it against such as deny it not for the truth is so though the Text is not that every Tittle and Apex thereof is as equally divine or supernatural and entirely given by God himself and as immediately as the very voice wherewith he spake to and in the Prophets See I.O. p. 27.153 and properly the Word of God 24. and the Gospel and a supernatural and spiritual light and such like See I.O. p. 77. and T.D. p. 1 2. of 1. Pamph. and p. 23. of his 2. Pamph. I say here T.D. owns some of that same Matter Light Truth Law or Gospel the letter declares to be written upon the hearts of the Heathens that never had the letter and to be the Rule from God to them But when we affirm as the Scripture doth and T.D. too that every man in the world is enlightned by Christ the true light 1 Joh. 9. with some measure of that Light the Letter speaks of and hath some of that holy divine supernatural spiritual truth doctrine and Evangelical matter which the whole Scripture either more obscurely or more clearly declares then he denies it asserting the Gentiles or Heathens to have none of those Judgements that God gave to Israel and as T.D. to the contradiction of himself so I O Christus nullâ sub consideratione lumen salutare omnibus stngulis hominibus du sit Ex. 4. s. 17. Christ hath in no kind vouchsafed saving Light to all and every man One ignorant untrue Assertion more of T.D. while my eye is on it I may not here let pass without notifying it to the Reader and then for ought I see I may leave T.D. as to his talk of the Scriptures being in the nature or office or authority of a Rule and see what I.O. sayes as to this T.D. sayes p. 17. of his 2. Pamph. Suppose we had the signs recorded that are not written yet were they not our Rule yet confesses that were they written they might be useful being done for the very same end with those lest us G. W. telling him he contradicts himself in so saying T.D. answers he is not sensible of any contradiction herein but of subordination only between the efficient and instrumental cause That the second creation doth not exclude though the first did instruments or second causes instancing Iam. 1.18 Of his own will begat he us by the Word of truth And Rom. 10.17 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rep. To which say I T.D. is not so little sensible of the contradiction G.W. charges him with as every understanding Reader may be greatly sensible of the flat falshood that is told for truth in this latter clause wherein he asserts the first creation did exclude second causes or instruments though the second doth not whereas if T.D. had not been in a Dream he would have seen that the first Creation is so far from excluding instruments or second causes if that be an instrument or second cause which himself instances to be one in the second Creation viz. The Word of God for as the Scripture sayes that the Saints are begotten to God and faith by the Word of God so it sayes but that our Scriblers for the Scriptures are little skill'd in it and so study it in their dark minds till they cannot see what who is not blinde cannot easily over-look Heb. 11.3 2 Pet. 3.5.7 By faith we understand in plurali the worlds were framed by the Word of God and that by the Word of God the heavens and earth were of old and the heavens and earth that now are by the same Word are kept in store and reserved to fire against the day of Judgement and perdition of ungodly men You had need be ashamed to pretend to be such appearers in publick pro Scripturis that appear so much in your testimony so flatly against them as ye do Now as to J. Os. prosecution of the proof of this matter which he so often over and over again avouches as a truth with divine faith to be imbraced on pain and peril of eternal ruine and damnation viz That the Scriptures are in the Authority of the only and perfect Rule and Canon since the compleating
Paul said no other things then what Moses and the Prophets said should come John Baptist came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might beleeve God sayes If the Israelites observe not all the words of the Law written in that Book of Deuteronomy he would make their Plagues wonderful Christ expounds to his Disciples all the Scriptures in Moses and the Prophets concerning himself bids Search the Scriptures as testifying of him Paul sayes Whatsoever was written afore time was for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope He says To write the same things to the Church is safe John sayes he writes his Epistles to the Saints that their joy might be full Therefore the outward Letter of the Scripture is the onely Rule of all faith and Divine worship and not the Light and Spirit of Christ ye only call to nor any internal Revelation whatsoever ficta vel facta In which of all these Scriptures the Title and Authority of the only most perfect standing Rule of Faith Life and Worship is either expresly or by any true mediate much more any immediate consequence ascribed to the Scriptures who can finde but he 's that not blinde There is but one of all the places viz. Gal. 6.16 where that term Rule is at all expressed by which as I have said and shewed above is not at all intended the Scriptures but Christ the Light and his Spirit and some of them mention expresly neither the term Scripture nor Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such as have in them terms equivalent to that of the Rule neither express nor imply at all the Letter of the Scripture as that of Psal. 19.7 8. and that of Isa. 8.19 20. and that of Rom. 10 17. and that of Eph. 2.19 20. where by the Law and Commandment and Testimony and Statutes of the Lord rejoicing the heart converting the soul enlightening the eyes making wise the simple is expressed the Lamp and the Light Prov. 6.23 and by the Word in the hearing of which Faith comes the Word hid in the heart nigh in the heart and mouth to hear and do Psal. 119.105 Deut. 30.12.14 Rom. 10.8 The Law in the heart Isa. 5 1.7 Psal. 37.31 The Law in the mind which the Law of sin and death in the members wars against Rom. 7.23 The Law of the spirit of life which is in Christ the life and light whose life is the light of men that made Paul free from the other Rom. 8.2 Which light shines in the darknesse that is in our very Doctors hearts but the darkness comprehends it not The Statutes of God and Judgements to be put into the minds of men according to the tenour of the New Covenant typified by the Old where the Statutes were with Pen and Ink written and engraven on Tables of stone and by the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Eph. 2. Christ the Light as is above declared and not the Writing and Letter and Text in which the internal truth is but ad extra declared and by that sure Word of Prophesie ' 2 Pet. 1. not the Scripture but somewhat within as I shall shew more abundantly by and by and by Moses and the Prophets Luke 16. Writings within as I shall shew anon All which were and were the onely perfect pure right inalterable standing Rule long before any external Text or Letter was and have not ceased so to be by the coming in of the outward writing with which they are since clothed upon nor yet have surrendered their ancient Authority of being the onely Rule by which all speakings and writings and doctrines are to be tryed nor resigned up that their Right to the Writing that testifies to their suprrmacy veracity and dignity above it self to this very day Nor have they submitted themselves that were once the chief Judge and Rule for the tryal of Truth to be now tryed ruled over judged sentenced and ultimately determined authoritatively to be received or rejected as true or false of God or the Devil Divine or diabolical Delusion Enthusiasme Figment Fanaticism and what nick-name men lift to stile them by in their learned lusts by the fallible Transcriptions Translations and Expositions of miserably mistaking men in which ways only and meerly some of that Scripture that was of old written by holy men as the spirit moved them is transmitted downward to these modern ages And as for those Texts that do make express mention of the Scriptures and outward Writings of the Apostles and of Moses and the Prophets and the Old Testament as Iohn 20. ult Luke 1.3 4. 16.29 Acts 1.1 2 Cor. 3.24 2 Tim. 3.14 15 16. do there is not the least considerable much less any cogent necessary or immediate consequence in any of them to conclude the outward Letter of the Scriptures to be the onely most perfect standing Rule Touchstone for all Truth to be tryed by so exclusively as I.O. states them Spiritus verbi Luminis cujuscunque tandem generis interni Revelatienis c. Of all inward Spirit Light Word or Revelation of what sort soever For what 's the vail's being over the Iews hearts in the reading of the Old Testament which Vail is done away in turning to Christ the Light to evince any such matter Doth it not rather evidence the very contrary For if the Old Testament which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Letter written with Ink or Pen or engraven on stones is as a Vail over the hearts of such as read it as the Iews do of whom I.O. sayes pag. 236. They read it without the administration of the Spirit so that its a dead Letter of no efficacy for the good of souls Which Vail is to be and is done away no otherwise then in Christ the Light and by turning to the Lord that Spirit as Paul sayes it is then doth it not rather appear that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Letter written and engraven outwardly is not the onely most proper standing Rule but Christ's Light the Spirit and the measure and manifestation thereof within given to every man to profit withal And what though Paul to Timothy doth commend the inspired Scripture if yet we shall take that for the outward Writing as profitable to make the man of God who onely knows how to use it wisely more and more wise and to furnish him perfectly to exhort c. and every good work against the gainsayers as I have shewed above that I deny not the outward Scripture so to be to such a one And what though Christ saies in order to escaping the place of torment Let men hear Moses and the Prophets if yet we shall take Moses and the Prophets for their outward Writings And what though John sayes Christ did more then he wrote of him as well he might For Matthew Mark and Luke wrote many things that he did not and others wrote other matters that were written by none of
these What though he doth write that his writings were that the Saints might believe that Christ was the Son of God and believing might live through his Name and that their joy might be full i.e. That encrease might be to them of Faith and Joy see 1 Joh. 5.13 does their being useful and profitable and penn'd for the same common end as the Light is given for in the conscience conclude them by such an immediate consequence as J.O. conceives to be design'd and appointed by God to be canoniz'd and established into the onely Canon into the sole standing Rule and Standard for all things of Faith Manners and Worship to be tryed by so that nothing can or may safely be believed done or practised in obedience to God or acceptable to him without particular and expresse recourse first had unto the Scriptures If this be good and immediate consequence of J.O. viz. the Scriptures and Letter hath the same common end with the Spirit and Light and is useful and profitable comfortable and serviceable as the other is though not so much Therefore the Scripture or Letter is the onely most perfect standing-Rule universally for all truth to be tryed by the onely Canon for men to come to whereby to be rectified in Faith Life Worship and all Obedience Then at least must T.D. J. O's joint Antagonist against the Qua. and the Truth be judg'd a meer jugling Disputant and shufling Sophister if he own it as any other then a non sequittar unless he will rather chuse to join with me here against J. O. in denying of this consequence and against himself too as to his asserting the Scripture to be the Rule for as much as when 't was urged against him in the same kind at the Dispute but in a way of much more necessary consequence then J. O's crooked Conclusion comes in by to the defect of Scripture-Canon as they call it in its integrals on this wise If there were other inspired Scriptures that are not bound up in your Bibles as useful and profitable and written to the same end with those you have then they were as much a Rule as those ye have But there were c. in proof of which minor instance was given in the first Epistle to the Corinthians mentioned in the first we have 1 Cor. 5.9.11 Where Paul sayes I wrote unto you in an Epistle not to keep company with Fornicators c. and now have I written to you not to keep company c. By which it seems both Epistles one of which is not in the now Bible were written by the same Apostle to one and the same end T.D. Replyes to this effect see p. 26 27. of his first Pamph. I deny your Consequence Sermons Religious Discourses have the same common end with the written Scriptures yet the Letter onely are our standing Rule And p. 27. All that was written by holy men and preserved for our use is not therefore our standing Rule And two bald Reasons is rendred in the same page viz. Because God intended these that are bound up in our Bibles but not the rest neither such as are lost for had he intended those so lost Poovidence would have watcht over them as over the rest nor such as are by his providence preserved neither if not in our Bibles And pag. 17. of T. D's second Pamph. Suppose quoth he we had the signs faithfully recorded i. e. in our Bible where they are wanting yet were they not our Rule because God did not give order for them He hath assured us as much as is sufficient to create and encrease Faith And pag. 18. If you say as you seem to do if they all were done to the same end then being written they must reach the same end I deny your consequence quoth he the difference lyes in God's Arbitrary Dispensation Now if T.D. deny the consequence of the Qua. which is two fold clearer and more cogent then I. O's when they say all Scriptures written by inspiration and preserved for our use to this day are a Rule to us as much as any of them are whether bound up or not bound up by Stationers in our Bibles Then how much more must he side with me in denying J. O's far fetch 't consequence though J.O. calls it immediate unlesse he will be denied justly for a daubing deceiver when J.O. argues thus viz. The Scriptures are useful profitable and written to the same good ends and purposes as the Light Spirit and Word of God Therefore the Scriptures the Letter and not the inward Light Spirit Word or any internal Revelation at all are the only most perfect standing Rule of all things in matter of Faith Life Doctrine Worship c. But I have reason to suspect and fear that Night-Birds of a Feather however they clash and thwart one another and fall out among themselves in the dark yet will fall in flock and flye all together in the face of the Light rather then seem to side therewith against each other and that by some sillycome-senceless secundum quid or other they 'l seem to qualifie their more then seeming confusions if they can Nevertheless let them agree as they please I may safely make bold before all but partial prejudiced persons to deny J. O's consequence and put my self under T. D's Patronage in so doing who denyes the same save onely that its much more sound and cogent when used to him ward by the Qua. and indeed so it fares and falls out with my two Antagonists I.O. and T.D. that though they join to carry on the same Cause against the Qu. improving their Wits to-patch up what proofs they can in the points wherein they oppose them yet their witnesses agree so little with each other and within themselves that what either of them asserts is for the most part overturned if not by the individual party so asserting as it often is yet at least by the other of them one where or other in such wise that had some wiser man then my self had the management of this matter and work against them that is now under my hands I see so much though minding matter more then method I am carryed to the confutation of them into sundry other wayes of partly positive and partly polemical Discourse intermingled among my Animadversioâ—s Examinations and comparings of their sayings that he need go no further then T.D. and I.O. to fetch matter wherewith to conâ—ute I.O. and no further then J.O. and T.D. to confute T.D. I conclude then my Reply to the routing of the first Rank and cashiering the first Classe of J. O's Scriptures urged in proof of the Scriptures being the only most perfect standing Rule and it may serve for an answer to T.D. himself too in T. D's words to me mutatis mutaâ—dis p. 20. 1 Pamph. To make the business short suppose we grant the Scripture to be divinely inspired to be very useful and profitable as we do and to be
written for the ends above specified in the Scriptures mentioned yet will it not follow that it was intended for the Rule to the Church much less the only perfect Rule or Standard of Faith and Life because God did not give order for â—s so to be but assured her before the Scripture was at all as much as God thought sufficient to create and preserve faith in the Gospel she had before she had it written in an outward Letter viz. the inward Light Word and Spirit that was in the beginning from which the Letter came And p. 43. to make a Rule much more then the only sâ—anding Rule exclusively of all other of all internal Light Word Spirit Revelation as JO. and T.D. both hold the Scripture to be is necessary Gods appointment of a Writing to that end to which he did and even in the Scripture it appears appoint the Spirit and inward Light and Word as I shew'd above but never at all appointed the Scripture it self And p. 17 18. of T. D's 2 d. Pam. the difference lyes in God's Arbitrary dispensation who from of old disposed the Light Word and Spirit alone to be the Rule without and before the Letter as being far more excellent and fully sufficient without it as to the nature and being of a Rule but never ordered intended designed appointed or established the Writing alone as the Rule as my two Vniversity Antagonists dispute without and câ—â—lusively of the other And as for the third and fourth Classis of J. O's Scriptures which seeing they are so near a kin to these of the first therefore I shall consider them here before those of the second they are of the same kind so that the same general Answer might satisfie sapienti cui verbum sat but seeing such stress is put on them by J.O. to the stablishing of a wrong Standard which iâ— of so great concernment to be stated right or else all the Building faulters I am free to insist a little more particularly on them then else I need to do They contain as thou sayest J.O. commendations of the Scriptures as to all uses of Religion both by the practises and precepts of Christ and the Apostles searching and expounding proving and trying all things by them themselves and also commending and commanding the searching of them and the trying of all things by them in and among all others Rep. That all the places enumerated by thee do contain any such matter at all I utterly deny for some of those thou citest as well as sundry of those afore spoken to neither expresly nor intentionally relate to the Writing or Scripture but onely to the Word of God and the Things and Truth and Commands of God written of onely in the Letter which things in what Text soever thou find'st them talkt of thou present'y run'st blundering on in thy wonted blindness which discerns no difference between the Writing and things written interpreting them without more ado of the Scripture as namely Deut. 28.58 whereby the words written in that Book is not meant the Writings but the Commandmenâ— therein rehearsed the Ceremonials and Morals of which they were to observe before that Booke of Deuteronomy was penn'd which is a story of Moses his repetition by word of mouth a little before his death of such things as he had from the Lord enjoined them to observe and some of them God also from his own mouth well-nigh forty years at least before that was penned Also that in Acts. 26.22 where Paul sayes he witnessâ—d no other things or truths as to the substance and matter of them though the manner was different the one testifying de Christo exhibendo the other exhibito one saying they should come t'other they were come then what the Prophets and Moses said should come Which things Paul could now witness were come if he had not seen their witness that they should And what mention is there of the Scripture at all in that Scripture Also John 1.7 where it s said of John Baptist he was not that Light but came to bear witness of that light which John Baptist wrote no Scripture at all that I know of which Light he testified to was not the Letter or Scripture but the same the Qua. bear witness to even that measure of its light within wherewith he inlightneth every man that comes into the world so that there is no Scripture mentioned or so much as meant in that Scripture Wherever thou seest in thy Concordance the word Scripture written of in the Scripture thou art ready to think straightway it Concuâ—r'â— and hath no â—mâ—l Concordance with thy cause and where thou findest the Words Rule Foundation Law and Prophets of God Light Word Commands Statutes Testimony Prophesie and such like thou as rashly and rawly imaginest the Scripture or meer outward Writing meant and mentioned by them in what ever is predicated of them and that it makes something for thy bâ—inde business of the Scriptures being the only standing Rule and Foundation But alas hoc aliquid verè nihil est this something is plainly nothing at all to that purpose for as it makes not a mice toward the proof thereof as appears above because the Scriptures were written for good ends and are prefiâ—â—blâ— to such and such good uses unless God had Canonized them as a Rule so neither doth it that Christ expounded the Scriptures and that some did search them and were mightily read in them as some are at this day who are supposed to deny them to the confounding the Scribes that searched them daily and therein lookt for life as their only Rule but never came to him that they might have life who was the Life and Light they came from but never heard him whom they testified of that his voice was now to be heard in whom God who under the Law before his coming spake in his servants the Prophets speaks under the Gospel as by his only Son 'T is true Abraham who lived long after Moses and those Prophets whose Writings ye have were born in that Parable which illustrates a precious truth that as to the mystery of it lyes yet hid from thee is brought in by Christ as saying of the Rich mans brethren by way of prevention of their coming into torment They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them if not they 'l not be perswaded by a miraculous message of one to them from the dead but what iâ— this to prove what thou here alledgest it for and more largely inferrest from it p. 63 64 65 66 67. where thou preachest on that Text a Sermon as long as little to thy purpose improving it and that of 2 Pet. 1.19 to the utmost to prove Moses and the Prophets Writings to be the best and most effectual means of bringing men to repentance on which that and all faith is immediately to be grounded and to prove the Scriptures to be that alone which we are sent to to be more effectual
and sure then either the greatest miracle that ever was or immediate voice that ever God himself spake by from heaven and to be the sole Rule and determiner of all Doctrines whether they be Truths or but cunningly devised fables which two Texts together with Isa. 8.20 how little they evince any such matter and what is meant in them by Moses and the Prophets and by that sure World of Prophesie which thou and thy fellows foolishly affirm to be the Scriptures I shall God willing take occasion to examine anon Three of thy main inartificial Arguments as thou truly callest them p. 50 51 52 56. or Testimonies to thy untruth being by the head and shoulders without either sense or reason wrested from them Again it is true the Bereans did search the Scriptures whether the things were so as the Apostles spake who spake nothing but summarily substantially the same which Moses and the Prophets did say should come but what though they did so of their own accord and their searching was succesful and useful also to the fortifying of the faith they had in the World of Truth which they received readily not as the word of man but of God not as fables but as truth it coming to them as to the Thessalonians not in word only but in power and the holy Spirit and in much assurance 1 Thes. 1.5 must it needs follow therefore that the Scriptures were their only Rule of determining the Doctrines whether they were truths or fables the Word of God or the word of man and that their faith and owning that truth was à priori first originally and immediately founded as thou preachest all faith and repentance must be page 58.64 on the Scriptures so that if they had not first searched the Scriptures and there found a congruity of the things with the old Writing they neither would nor could have beleeved or received the truth thus thou and most of thy faternity foolishly fancy but look again and ye will finde it far otherwise for howbeit they searched the Scriptures and did commendably and nobly therein and were commended as more noble in that then they of Thessalonica who yet are commended as noble excellent and exemplary as the other in receiving the Word in much affliction with joy as Gods and not mans word though it seems not so serious in searching the Scriptures as these 1 Thess. 1.5 6 7 8. and were not a little confirmed in their faith begotten before yet they first received the Word with all readiness of minde as hundreds do at ths day as preacht to them by word of mouth from the Apostles the witness of God being reached and answering to the truth of it in their hearts in which they were noble as Thessalonica was yet more noble by how much they were unwearied and uncessans in seeking to be more and more gradually and groundedly growing in fuller assurance of the truth as many are at this day who first beleeving and receiving the Word with joy and readiness do not sleight as ye suppose but à posteriori being in the faith Timothy more seriously and singly then your selves see into the Scriptures that being already brought into the things the Scriptures write of through patience and comfort thereof have hope according to that other Scripture of thy coating Rom. 15.4 as yourselves cannot have any more then the Scribes who stand studying and sraping with your own Animal understandings before ye are ceme to walk in the Light and Spirit they witness too and came from But what 's all this more then just nothing at all to prove the Scripture to be the only standing Rule of Faith and Life which is asserted of it to the evincing it to be the Word Nay if your eyes were in your head ye might see of your selves O ye Studentall more than truly Prudential searchers of the Scriptures that the Word the Apostles preached and the Scripture which we confess truly testifies thereof are two distinct things and in no wise one and same individual as ye would make them if ye look no farther then the present Text in hand for in that he sayes they received THE WORD with all readiness of minde and searched the SCRIPTVRE whether the things were so it imports to any but the blind searchers of the Scripture that the word they received was one thing and the Scripture they searched about the truth of it was another Again it is true and not to be denied but Apollo an eloquent Iew was from his being well versed therein before he came to own the Light mighty in the Scripture and learned in the Letter so as mightily to confound the Gospel gain saying Iews thereby when once he came to obey it himself though yet there was a tradesman and his wife further grounded in the Gospel and learned in the light than himself who was beyond them in the Letter of whom he was not ashamed as our Vniversities Literatists are at this day to learn of women that know more of Gospel mysteries than they do to stoop to be instructed in the way of God more perfectly but how little this proves the Scripture to be the only standing Rule for which end I.O. cites it he that is blinde cannot see but others cannot chuse when as he that was so well skilled in the Scripture had that been the only Rule that he could have instructed Aquila and Priscilla about the Letter with which suo sejugulaus gladio he slew the Letter-learned Iews as it were with their own sword was not so clear in his understanding of the Truth Way Gospel Spirit Word and Light of God which is indeed the only standing inalterable Rule for ever as it ever was but that he had need to be Regulated and Rectified therein by such as in meer Scripture all knowledge were as inferiour as they were superior to him in spiritual understanding Moreover what makes it to the proof of the Scripture to be the only standing Rule exclusively of the Light and Spirit that Paul sayes to write the same things to the Philippians by which its questionable whether he 〈…〉 something to them before which is lost and not bound up in your Bibles nor canoniz'd into your Canon was safe for them As much as if he had said nothing at all for nothing at all is that to I. O's purpose nor yet that of Iohn saying These things I write unto you that your joy may be full which J O. cites to the same end And true it is Christ expounded the Scriptures to his Disciples as he did also his own Parables that he uttered by word of mouth amongst them and the mixt multitude togeâ—her and opened their understandings also as he does theirs that walk in his light that they might understand them but where is the immediate cogent consequence from hence to the conscience of any that the Letter or Scripture is the onely most perfect standing Rule of all Faith Truth holy life
Doctrine Divine Worship c. as I.O. states it to be and T.D. also exclusively of the internal Light Word Spirit c. And what though we should grant you that Christ sayes to the Scribes Search the Scriptures Well he might for they testifie of him as the life whom they never came to for it who if they had known either the Scriptures aright they so search't in and scribled about or the Power of God they could not have erred from the knowledge of him in his Light as they did Matth. 22.29 We say the same to you Schollars that think you study and know the Scriptures more then any men as Christ to them and as I.O. to all by way of command whereas some can't read it in his Title-page to flourish his Frontispiece and vent his vindication pro Scripturis more then ought else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Search the Scriptures for they testifie of Christ the Light the Word that Spirit Way Life Truth we talk of they send ye to the same Light and inward Word in the heart as the Rule to walk by as the Qua. do and as Christ said of them Ioh. 5.46 47. having told them they needed no other to accuse them then Moses in whom they trusted Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me but if ye believe not his Writings how should ye believe my word So say I of you Ye need no other witness against you though ye have another even the Light within which ye despise then the Letter in which ye trust for did you believe the Letter ye would believe in the Light for it writes of the Light the Qua. call ye to and write of but if ye believe not the Writing ye so write for how shall ye believe in the light Howbeit when all 's done as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being both the Indicative and Imperative Mood will as well bear it so the Context doth much more clear it that the Verb is rather indicative of their doting doings then imperasive of their duty and is rather to be rendred ye search then search ye the Scripture and contains rather matter of condemnation of them for that profitable deal of Do they made in their busie minds about the outward Scriptures while in the mean time they heeded not Gods own voice nor regarded the inward words abiding in them then either commendation of their great fruitless pains that way or commendation of the Scripture to them to search or commandment of them who were too mad already for the Scripture as their grand Idol receiving it as thou faist p. 236. with the honour and veneration due to God and his living word alone to search therein Yea verily both that verse and those about it do all consist of matter of sad complaint against them for their ever-reverencing the Scripture and negecting to receive or rather refusing and rejecting the Word of Life it self to any single eye ye have saith Christ to them of the Father neither hear his voice at any time nor seen his shepe Joh. 47. and 38. Ye have not his word abiding in you vers 39. Ye search the Scriptures ye look there often for in them ye think but mistake your selves to have eternal life and true enough they are they which testifie of me as the way to life and yet ye will not come to me that ye might have the life On this wise doth Christ rather expostulate with them for their ignorance and negligence of the Word then either command or commend any searchings of the Scriptures And as to the second Classis of Texts cited by the J.O. in proof of the Scriptures being the only standing Rule in which Texts all additions whatsoever to the written Word of God are expresly rejected I answer what though God doth reprove condemn threaten to plague and curse such as adde to his Word bring any other Gospel then what Paul preached make void his Commands by their Traditions enjoyn men to seek not to such as peep and mutter but to the Lord himself Paul would not have the Corinthians think of him and Apollo above what he writes of himself and him as men only by whom as means they beleeved which is the summe of the seven Scriptures by thee produced to that purpose what proof at all is there in all this such a way it is true enough there must be no adding to the Word Gospel Commandement Testimony of God or alterings or varyings or detractings therefrom in a tittle but is any of this intended of the outward Writing Letter or Scripture which are not that Word Gospel Commandement but only declare this and other things concerning it Is the Scripture that only set firm fixt standing Rule that may neither be augmented nor diminished on pain of Plagues and cursing as ye say it is then tell me 1. How much Scripture or Writing hath been added to the five Books of Moses since Deut. 4.2.12.32 was written wherein it is said Ye shall not adde to the word I command you neither shall you diminish from it and since that of Prov. 30.6 was written where it is said Adde thou not unto his Word lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar And since Isa. 8.20 where it is said To the Law and Testimony And since that Gal. 1.8 where it is said Let him be accursed that brings other then we have preacht though we or an Angel from heaven 2. Whether were the Prophets and Apostles that have added so many books since those prohibitions justly reproveable and accursed as Lyars 3. If ye say nay they were not lyars nor to be reproved nor accursed then tell me as to the measure and bounds and close of your Canon which ye suppose to be the Revelation why he that by the same Spirit moving shall in writing reveal the same truths now is accursed reproved plagued for adding to the Word and Gospel upon the account of Johns saying Rev. 22.18 If any man shall adde unto these things God shall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this booke any more then Iohn himself who added his Scripture and Revelation after Pauls Epistle to the Galathians or Paul who added his Scriptures after Isaiahs or Isaiah and the other Prophets who added theirs after Solomon or Solomon that added his Writings after â—â—sâ—s hiâ— inhibition in Deuteronomy 2. Beleeve it that the Scripture is not that thing nor standing Rule to which no more must be added and from which no new Scripture may be diminished on pain of cursing and plagues but the Word Doctrine Gospel Commandement Law Truth told in it to which cursed be he that addes another or any new Word Gospel Doctrines c. or detracts a Tittle from that And so John sayes If any adde to these things and take away from the words of this Book God shall adde plagues and take away his part out of the book of life and from
since it is in being and where it hath a being for the Light tries searches shines shews reveals judges determines as well without the Letter as with it and did dive into the heart where the Letter never was and direct there before the external literal directory was all and yet uses aâ— its pleasure the Letter as its instrument and as a knife to kill which knife yet as an instrument cannot quicken but the Letter doth not enter quâ talis into the heart at all and what ere it doth it doth in subserviency to the Light which is its Author whose instrument it is to use but not the Light its instrument at all Moreover the end of the Letter is but to turn men from the darkness and power of Satan wherein they dwel to the Light within them that shines in the darknes that is also within them which Light is the power of God this Act. 26. is said to be the end of Pauls Ministration which was performed partly by writing and partly by word of mouth that so by beleeving in the light and living in it they might not abide in the darkness but have the light of life but the end of the Light and Spirit within is not to bring to the Letter by the Letter we may have the life for the searchers into the Letter and lookers thereinto for the eternal life which is Christ whom the Letter testifies of never found the life they lookt for there because they heard not Gods voice nor cared for his word abiding in them nor came to Christ the Light and Spirit that they might have the life for the letter killeth but the Light and Spirit gives the life 2 Cor. 3. And howbeit I deny not the Scripture to be perfect praesertim respectu finis especially in relation to that end as J O. sayes for which it was decreed of God yet that that end was to be the only guide and rule of men in their way to life I deny asserting the Light and Spirit still as that which is designed and ordered of God as to that end and was so from the beginning before any Letter without was at all And though I own the Scripture still as useful profitable effectual sufficient and perfectly successful where used by the man of God in the wisdome of God for the many excellent ends and uses formerly spoken to from 2 Tim. 2.15 as being written by inspiration of God yet I still deny that to be thereupon the standing Rule as the Light and Spirit is because no where so denominated nor designed to be by God in all the Scripture as I have shewed suffiâ—iently above in answer to all the Texts whence thou mistakest it so to be and because Damnati lingua vocem habet vim non habet a Hereticks words are never heeded I must here make use again of T.D. to defeat I.O. who sayes p. 27 28.43 of his first Pamph. p. 17 18. of his second That all that was written by holy men and preserved for our use is not therefore our standing Rule because God did not intend them nor give order for them to be so and beside such inspiration and usefulness to make a Rule is necessary Gods appointment of a writing to that end which appointment the Letter never had from God what ever it had from men the difference lyes in Gods arbiâ—rary dispensation who assured his Church what was sufficient as to her standing Rule before the Letter was viz. his his Light and Spirit in which regard though we highly respect the Letter yet we can look upon it as p. 44. first Pamph. T.D. sayes of some useful things of God with reference to othersome no more with such regard as the only standing Rule as we do upon the other And though with thee I.O. we assert and deny not but that by the efficacy of the Light and Spirit the Letter is more savingly understood for the Spirit well knows its own yea by the Light and Spirit only is the Letter understood and read to profit and not by that twinckling twilight of thy fidling fancy for that Ignis fatuus finds little as to the inside of the letter but fuell to feed thee in fierce and fiery twittle twattles about the outside sense of it and the truth of Transcripts and Translations pidling points Tittles Iota's yea who hath known the minde of the Lord or the things of the Spirit declared in the Letter but the Spirit and they that live after the Light thereof and no more after the flesh to whom only the Spirit only doth reveal them yet Monstrum horrendum cui lumen ademptum what Scriptureless lightless spiritless speeches are these of J.O. who depresses all inward light whatsoever even that within the living Word of God within so much below the meer Letter formally considered as an outward writing and abstract from these as to assert them from which the Letter had all the being it hath and that thousands of years after all these antient Rules and Lights that are to day and yesterday and for ever the same without the least shadow of alteration had been famous in the world among all the Worthies from Abel to Moses to have all their being from God to us ward meerly for the sake of the Letter which was but of yesterday and as well every day as every way mutable and that so easily that 't is done in a time in but the turning of a hand yea by the Transposing of Letters Heb. Points and like as himself asserteth as many various lections may be in its several copies welnigh as lines and to represent all these which gave the Letter the being of a certain sub sub unto themselves as subservient unto it as if they were of and for no other use nor end in the world but to teach men to come not to God himself for life but to the Letter and to read the Book call'd the Bible which doth but imminde men that forget them to minde the Light and Spirit I shall therefore only take this Tale of J.O. mutatis mutandis transform it by a transposition of the two subjects thereof viz. the Light and Letter which I.O. hath mis used and mis-placed each into its proper place use and order and so quite quit it here Nullius literae externae cujuscunque tandem c. in plain English thus Of no external letter whatsoever although the holy Scripture it self which J.O. calls saving is this the use and end that we should attend to it as to the guide of our way and Rule but to this end only is it graciously granted of God that by means thereof we may perceive to our salvation that Rule i.e. the Spirit Light and Word of God ad intra and the minde of God revealed therein In this Translation is no truth hid that shall not be revealed nor covered that shall not be known So having turned J.Os. Babel with the bottome upwards I shall
let it stand and pass on about my business concluding against thee I.O. in thy own words for the Light and Spirit to be that Rule thou sayest the Letter is from its perfection ab Authore A causa perfecta c. From a perfect voluntary cause nothing but what is perfect can be expected for nothing can hinder God being willing to reveal his will from revealing it perfectly as before the Letter was so now where the Letter is not among heathens by his Light and Spirit by which thou confessest he reveals it very far in the words forecited but either because he cannot which denies his infinite Wisdome and Omnipotency or because he will not which agrees not with his goodness and grace Therefore God hath and doth give out by his Light and Spirit within a perfect Revelation of his will so that they consequently must be secundum te by thy own Argument J.O. the only perfect standing Rule for there are not two so far is the Letter that came from them from being so as thy fancy fancies it to be alone and exclusively of them as uncertain useless needless perillous and detestable The second medium by which thou goest about to prove the foresaid conclusion viz. That the Letter or Scriptures are the only perfect Rule Revelation of God his will and our duty that gives to know him to eternal life and not the Spirit and light which as Enthusiasm dubious useless figment c. are with thee to be detested is A naturâ librorum sacrae Scripturae c. from the nature of the books of the holy Scripture which are sayest thou those of the Old and New Testament so sayest thou the Apostle clearly dilates of the Old Testament 2 Cor. 3.14 in the reading of the Old Testament of the New there 's the same reason vers 6. Now every Testament sayest thou alluding to but not quoting Gal. 3.15 though but a mans is perfect and being once confirmed no man disanulleth or superaddeth thereunto Reply Never did I discern such absolute self-overturnings proceed from a professed Doctor as do from J.O. thick and threefold in the very cause he prosecutes whose proofs of his own producing do as frequently confound him and as fully foil him as to the matter he would prove thereby as any that can likely be produced against him by those he opposes and yet I verily beleeve he speaks the sense wellnigh of the whole Vniversity it self in which he hath in the late clawing cringing corresponding and climing times atchieved to become a Chieftane And that it may appear le ts reason J.O. hereabout a little with thee let me ask thee Is the Gospel is the New Testament Letter Scripture external Text and outward Writing as the Old Testament is Is it such a passing perishing dark low obscure thing as writing or graving of Points Tittles and Iotaes in Tables of stone though with the singer of God himself much more it such a mouldring matter for so thy self callest the most Original Copies of the external Text of the holy Scripture that ever was in the world p. 167.164 and therefore well may I so call thy best bare transcribed copies of it as Writings with inke and stamping with Lamb-black in Roles and Books and Papers and Parchments with press hands and tools which cannot be preserved so long as from Ezra till now from mouldring without a Miracle Is the Gospel the New Testament no more than such as thou talkest of Is it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Typography which meer men can take and turn and translate and tumble to and fro and transcribe and tear and dash out and do what they will with Is it outward writings of Epistles and Recommendations and Histories and Letters as that of Paul to Philemon about private personal and domestick affairs and such like Is it not an Epistle of Christ in the table of the heart though ministred sometimes by man at the motion of his Spirit or if a Writing yet not with Inke but with the Spirit of the living God in fleshly Tables of the heart 2 Cor. 3. Is is as the Old Testament as all meer writing ad extra only is whether of old or since Christ and all outward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Letter only that cannot quicken nor cure but killeth such as serve as thou yet doest in the oldness of it Is it not Spirit Light and Life Is it not the Words of Christ spoken by the Lord himself alone which are Spirit and Life in newness of which the true children of the New Covenant that are more then Bastards that pretend to it do serve and not in the oldness of a letter or that old way of the old Scribes that came no nearer to Christ the Life then the outside of the outward Scripture which was wrote of him Is it any of these things are not these the best Instruments of the Old Testament foolish Shepherds wherewith for a time they were suffered to feed who made the poor of the flock the flock of the slaughter taken up again since Christ directly beside the intent of Christ and such as wrote the later Scriptures by our Idol Shepherds that leave the flock to starve so they can be better fed themselves who are not behinde those of old in feeding with Gall and Wormwood the flock of the slaughter in not pitying but slaying them and yet holding themselves not guilty for which the sword of the Lord is now upon their arm and upon their right eye so that their Arm or Power is now to be clean dryed up and their right eye utterly darkned Ah poor be-wildred be-nighted blind-guides of your blindly-guided people that by custome and tradition from your mouths who take it so to be by tradition from your Fore-fathers are now naturallized into a naming the naked dead letter by the name of the living Word of the living God and the four mis-transcribed and mis-translated Copies of Matthew Mark Luke and Iohns Manuscript of what Christ did in that body wherein he was born at Bethlehem and dyed at Ierusalem by the name of the Gospel and those four bare Books with the rest of those few that follow fardelled together with them in what fashion men most fancy and bound up as the Bible sellers please by the name of the New Testament So thou talkest I.O. telling the world of the nature of the Books of the Scripture as ye now have it is this they are the Old Testament and the New so thou intendest in thy saying Sunt autem veteris novi Testamenti 1. Citing Paul who calls the Books of Moses the Old Testament 2 Cor. 3.14 as â—â—ll well he might for the Old Testament was indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Letter or Writing writen with Inke and Pen or ingraven outwardly on Tables of stone and not Spirit or writing with the Spirit of the living God in the fleshly Tables of the heart as the New is which the
same spirit of falshood viz. in vindication of the Scriptures to be powerful to salvation to beget faith to bee living sharp spirit searching discerning thoughts a Light and Lamp and so consâ—quently the only perfect standing Rule of faith and life exclusively of another Revelation by the Spirit Word or Light within these are aâ—â— true of the Word and Doctrine of Christ the Spirit and Light within the Qua. call to and the Letter points at in all these Texts of thy traducing but mâ—thinks thou shouldest be ashamed to expound any one of those of the Letter and Scripture itself As to that of Paul to Timothy Take heed to thy self and to the Doctrine continue in them in so doing thou shalt save thy self and them that hear thee What 's this in proof of the Scriptures being powerful to save the soul which is the end of thy alledging it he bids him continue in the things he had learned as also 2 Tim. 3.14 and had been assured of knowing of whom he learnt them which if it were from Paul as a means under God as it rather seems to be from Christ himself whose Disciple he was as he could not be but as he laarnt of him before he became acquainted with Paul Act. 16.1 2. the promise is entailed unto his continuance in the things and not ascribed to any power or efficacy of the Scriptures to save though yet we know Timothy was well skilled in the Scriptures also as is owned above And as to that of James with which thou joynest this in proof of the outward Letters power to save to which also p. 83 84 85. thou jumblest together a number more then are in this Catalogue underhand and which I shall take in here that speak of the Word with one consent to one and the same purpose but not to thine which is to prove the Scripture to be so as most effectual powerful and able to save souls yea the very power of God to salvation viz. Rom. 1.16 1 Cor. 1.18 1 Cor. 2.5 1 Thess. 1.5 Psal. 110.2 Act. 20.31 Joh. 6.68 Gal. 2.8 Col. 1.6 and more out of the Coâ—â—nths miscoâ—ed from which Texâ—s thou powerest out thy blinde opinion of the Bible and concerning the Scripture thereof in this particular in such wise saying it is absolutely called the power of God Vis virtus Dei the Power of God the Gospel the Power of God and faith which is built on that Word without other helps or advantages is said to stand in the Power of God the Word that comes not as a naked word but in power and in the holy Ghost and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giving all manner of assurance and full perswasion of it self even by its power and efficacy It is termed the Rod of power or strength denoting its Authority and Efficacy that which is thus the Power and Authority of God able to make it self known so to be It is not only said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Power the power of God in it self but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 able and powerful in respect of us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sacred Letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are able to make wise to salvation they are powerful and effectual to that purpose it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 potens servare animaâ— nostras the Word that hath power in it to save the able powerful word that Paul commends the Ephesians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is living and effectual By vâ—rtue of this power it brought forth fruit in all the world without sword without for the most part miracles without humane wisdome or Oratory without any inducements or motives but what were meerly and solely taken from it self consiâ—ting in things that eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor could enter into the heart of man to conceive hath eâ—erted this power and efficacy so the conquest of the world causing men of all sorts in all times and places so to fall down before its divine Authority as immediately to renounce all that was dear to them in the world and to undergo what ever was dreadful terrible and destructive to nature in all its dearest concernments and such like Reply All this I know to be true of the Word Light and Spiâ—it of God in the hearts of men which the Letter points to and the Apostles preached as that which men should beleeve in it is absolutely the Gospel the power of God to salvation but the Letter not so the faith that is built on that word without other helps or advantages from the Letter stands in the Power of God as Abraham Noahs Enoch Abels and all the holy men did that lived by faith in the Word 't was Gods power mighty and effectual to save them before any outward Letter was written and without the help and advantage thereof but the outward Letter is profitable to nothing at all without the help and advantage of the Light and Spirit within but is a dead letter of no efficacy for the good of souls and this the same J.O. who sayes the Scripture without other helps and advantages is so absolute and perfect that we may obtain eternal life that there 's no need of any other Revelation by the Spirit or Light within but those are all dangerous uncertain unprofitable in no wise necessary fanatick figment desestable c. Ex. 17. s. 28. to the wonted contradiction of himself in all tâ—at and what is underhand confesses with us in totidem verbis of that Scripture which he calls the Word p. 236. saying that without the adminisâ—ration of the Spirit accompanying mens possession of it it is a dead letter of no efficacy to the good of souls The word Light and Spirit of God and Christ within nigh in the heart but not the Letter without is the Gospel which Paul bare testimony to and was sent to turn men to by his Ministry and was not ashamed of saying its the power of God to salvation to every on that beleeves in it and comes in the outward Ministry of it by word of mouth and writing and is witnessed so to do at this day as of old it did to many not in word only but power and the holy Spirit giving all manner of assurance and full perswasion of it self to such as through prejudice put it not away from them and thereby judge themselves unworthy of that eternal life which it is the word of that it is not the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God that is both light and living and Spirit and life it self even the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ the Image of God which is not Letter 2 Cor. 3. thining unto them both in and also out of the darkness that is mens hearts where the God of this world blindes not the minds so that men will not beleeve it to the giving them the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. This and not the Letter
is the Rod of power which God promiâ—ed to send out of Sion even the Rod and sharp Sword of his mouâ—h and breath of his lips wherewith he will now smite the Nations and slay the wicked and reprove with equity on the behalf of the meek of the earth whom the proud oppress even the word of his mouth which he will put into the mouths of his sucklings and their seed and seeds seed out of which he ordains strength to the perfecting his own praise against the persecutor This and not the weak dead letter Bible or Scripture thou so labourest bablest and scriblest for is that Power and Authority of God Able as the outward Writing is not to make it self known so to be for the letter is as lifeless helpless powerless as any other Book Writing or dumb Idols that men adore and receive aâ— ye with the Iews of whom thou speak'st p. 237. do the Bible at this day with the honour and veneration due to God that cannot stir from the place where it s set as neither can the Scripture from where it s laid no more than the Turkish Alcoran yeâ— as Jeremiah in his Epistle saiâ—h of the weakness and vanity of all the Idols of the heathen whom they make powerful Gods of Thâ—se Gods quoth he cannot save themselves from rust and moths though they be covered with purple they wipe them because of the dust of the Temple when there is much upon them men put the Scepter in their hands as if they were the Iudge of the Country and Daggers and Axes but they cannot deliver themselves from Theeves nor of themselves put to death one that offends them as a useless vessel worth nothing when broken so it is with their Gods they are as the beams of their Temples upon their bodies and heads Strâ—Bats Swallows Birds and Cats they are things in which is no breath yet they set and sell and buy them at a high price they are carried having no feet â—o walk with if they fall to the ground they cannot rise up again of themselves the same together with what follows caeteris paribus Baruch 6. may be said of the adored Best Copies of the Great Bibles that lye in the great old mouldy Popish Parish Mass-houses now called the Protestant Churches where the Bells hang the Ministers of the Letter not the Spirit the elder sort of which are Priests by Ordinatioâ—â— fit in their Temples and roar and cry the Word of God the Law the Light the way to life the Gospel the power of God to salvation as the Iews do when their Copy is carried about but these Gods of those Idol Shepherds that leave their poor flock at any time for another that hath a better fleece can do nothing at all cannot withstand any King or enemies are not able to escape either from Theeves or Robbers nor when fire falleth on the houses where they are to help or save themselves or flye away how then shall we think they the Books called Bibles the Scriptures are so powerful and effectual not only in themselves but also in respect of us as without any other helps or advantages to shew themselves to be the great Authority and Power of God vis virtus Dei to our salvation as I.O. dreams If he say he means not the Text but the Word it talks on let him say so then when he writes again and then we will take it for granted he gives the cause in question to the Qua. whom he quarrels with for denying the Bible Letter Scripture outward Writing to be the living effectual able powerful word of God that gives life and saves and such like and so we shall meddle no more with him as to that matter but so long as he will needs damn down the Qua. as denyers of Scriptures and the Word of God too because they deny the Letter or Text to be properly the truth or Word of God it doth but declare and talk on we must thereby understand him to intend the Letter which he talks for Moreover as to the Light of God and Word nigh in the heart which the Apostles preached to turn men to and taught them as the Scripture also doth in its Testimony there to to attend to as the Rule of faith and life this is that Word of the truth of the Gospel which is V is virtus Dei the Power of God by the vertue of which Power it brought forth fruit in the Collossians and in all the World where it so came when it came unto them in the Ministry thereof which was the means by which they heard of it first and then came themselves to hear it and to know the grace of God in truth even that grace that bringeth the salvation and appeareth to all men effectually instructing as well without as with the outward Letter of it all that leâ—rn at it to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world which is the Light of God in the conscience called the goodness of God or grace given to lead them to repentance who despising the riches of it are not led by it to repent and so treasure up wrath to themselves c. Tit. 2 11 12. Rom. 2.4 5. This is it which brought forth fruit in the world without Sword Miracles humane wisdome oratory or any inducements or motives but what are meerly and solely taken from it self consisting in things which eye hath not seen ear heard nor the heart of the animal natural man or of any but the spiritual man that by the Spirit which only searcheth and revealeth them discerneth the deep things of God can discern or conceive This is that that hath exerted its power and efficacy to the conquest of the world so far as it hath been capâ—ivated in the high proud thoughts of it to the true obedience of Christ causing men of all sorts times and places so to fall down before its Divine Authority as to renounce all that its dear undergâ—â— all that it dreadful and destructive to nature in its dearest concernment As for the Letter the Scripture which thou speakest of in a sense abstract from all other helps and advantages as that which without need of any other Revelation by the spirit and light within for these thou call'st superfluous mediums doth plead for reception not onely in comparison with but also opposition to all other wayes of coming to the knowledge of God his mind and will founded thereon and calls for attendance and submission with supreme and uncontroulable Authority 57 58. as that which hath brought forth so much fruit and exerted so much power What power hath it put forth to conquer the world into such submission to the truth as it is in Iesus as Christ requires or as the Letter it self either calls for what fruits of righteousnesse hath it brought forth in the world cal'd Christian to the glory of God for all its being
the light of God the wisdome saving truth immediate witness clearest way of Revelation soul-cleansing Law sure foundation most perfect Rule immoveable stedfast Standard of Gods setting up but it self is nos all nor any of this nor doth it at all any where avouch it self to be any of it at all The Scripture points to that which is the Power of God by the being of which in and upon his people who only own and joyn to it they are made a willing people in the day thereof when such as turn from and against the light which is the power and labour in the weak naked Letter labour in vain and are left unwilling to leave their lusts and lives for Christ as his Maryrs or outward witnesses did in all Ages But the Letter it self is not Power of God that sustained them in the suffering and inabled them to forgo what was dear to them and to undergo what was dreadful and destructive to nature in its dearest concernments The Letter tells us that the Saints did so and tells us and all Saints that we should do for Christ but the Power by which this is done is another matter then a Letter ad extra even the inward light Word and Spirit that thou doest despite to even that in the conscience that made them indure as seeing him who is invisible and discovered the darkâ—â—ss upon the discovery of which they rather chose death then to own it as Light and Truth not only in ages as high as Moses who by faith in the Light chose affliction rather then sin and feared not the wrath of Pharaoh but also from him downward as low as Maries dayes in which some died for denying the darknâ—ss of the Popes Dâ—ctrines of Transubstantiation c. which the Light in their consciences told them were too gross to be of God who yet by their confession could not dispute against it with Vniversity Sottish Sophisters Doctor Dunces out of Letter nor so much as read a letter therein and also as low as these dayes wherein by the Power of God many are born up to bear the Trials of the cruel Academical mockings scoffings scourgings inâ—lictings stonings bonds imprisonments abuses to death witness one of the first of the Lords two Hand-maids that were sent to warn the Vniversity of their universal abomiâ—ations at Oxford in the time of I.Os. Vice chancellorship there who perhaps may not be so learned literally though mystically and spiritually more in the Letter as obtuse aÌ„cuti â—omunâ—ioneâ— many of those dull-beaded nimble disputers out of it are in their bald fashion of Syllogistical form Neither did the Letter either of the Old Testament which is the Letter without of what things soever written or the outward Letter of the New ever conquer the world in which thou sayest it brought forth so much fruit further then into a meer empty fruitless form of Godliness without the power thereof insomuch that though as to the Primitive Christian Churches while they kept in the Light which the Apostles Ministry whether by word of mouth or Writing Letter Scripture was to turn them to walk by and beleeve in and in the Spirit in which they began till fooâ—ishly being bewitched from obeying the truth it self they turned aside to the outward Text that tells it and so thought to be made perfect by the flesh and the fleshly bodily exercises they found in the Letter which once used were as low weak beggeâ—ly elements for a time the power of God and godliness was much â—elt among them and abode with and upon them to the prevailing against the Powers of the earth and the overcomming the world it self and Satan the Prince of it by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of his Testimony not loving their lives to the death and much fruit of the Spirit and of righteousness was brought forth to the glory and praise of God But when Synods and Councels doting Doctors infatuated Ghostly-Fathers and such as admired their persons as they the persons of the Apostles and primitive Disciples began to bundle together what they could get of the Wâ—itings of such as were coaetaneous with Christ and the Apostles and without any such order from either Christ or the Apostles to canonize what in their conceits might be useful to others as they had found them t is like to be to themselves into a Rule or Canon and stated them into a common Standard for all to have their sole recourse to in soul-cases and matters of Christian faith and holy life and so to adore the dead letters of those holy living men and to run a whoring after some remnants of Writings that dropt from them then in the whole world now called Christendome instead of an Apostolical Spouse of Christ as Christians were at first presented a chaste Virgin to himself by them there stands up an Apostatical Strumpet that had the Letter and good words written there but neither the life of God nor the Word of life therein testified to that according to the nature of Error which is ever multiplying degenerated more and more into the dark till at last being gone from the Word Spirit Light and Life within to the outward Letter that relates of it they ran into the Wildernes of their own numberless senses upon it so that they lost the Letter also and fell from it into Tradition and a thousand Old Wives Fables and though it is good and acknowledged so to be so far as it is that the Protestants have marched from Rome under the conduct of the Leâ—ter yet for all they are come back from the blinde screel scrawls of the Popish Scribes for their smoaky imaginations to a pretensive profession of and prate prâ— Scripturis for the Scriptures unless they march on according to the conduct of the Scriptures till they come into the Light and Spirit which they point to and by a dotage upon the Scriptures ye would run from they are not so much as come yet to the Scriptures nor to conform to that counsel of the Prophets and Apostles given in it but are yet erring from the Scriptures even in and by their very eager Scriblings for it as the only most perfect Rule and from the only Rule of faith and way to Life the Letter is as loud for but that they are dull of hearing as they in their naked Writings are loud for the naked Letter it self And so it comes to pass that as Israel was of old who was as laborious in the Letter busie about the Bible and strict for his Scripture-standard as our Israel for the self-same which yet they confess too is abolished as to the Litteral observation of it with the Appendix of a few of Stories and Letters and Revelations of those holy men next to Christs time who by the Spirit wrote much more then is there own'd as their Standard I say as the old Israel proved as to God an empty vine Hos. 10.1 bringing forth
teeth and tongue are in his mouth and I should Reply t is a mistake for that which is in the mouth of a man is not within but without him T.D. would suppose me to be some Monstrous Simpleton and a doer of the said man no little wrong in making no less then a Monster of him by saying his teeth and his tongue are all ad extra without him when they are no otherwise then other mens are al orderly within his mouth but I must take this of his who sayes the word is said to be without a man while it iâ— said to be in his mouth for the voice of wisdome from him or else the Qua. folly will not be manifested to all men by it but much more of his own then all theirs amounts to And so as wise as he is in his own generation byond the children of Light I shall think my think of this to my self and to let it pass with no more then this notice by the way to the Reader 1. That as the word is in the heart shewing good and evil thoughts there searching and separating between the precious and the vile which is the work of the Word and Mouth of God there Ier. 15.19 so it is in the mouth distinguishing between the good and evil words there in the particular persons in whose mouthes it s planted and put for that purpose first according to the promise Isa. 59. ult My word which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor of the mouth of thy seeds seed for ever from out of the mouth of which Seed of God the righteous Race which are mostly babes and sucklings to the wise and Disputeâ—s of this world Psal. 8.2 Mat. 11.25 It is secondarily to go forth as the strength of the Lords ordaining against the enemy in the latter dayes Jer. 1.9 2. That it is no news to me now that T.D. sayes in the mouth is without which was somewhat strange to me at first till I was acquainted with his quaint and coyn'd kinde of distinctions and sinister senses and many uncâ—uth meanings that he puts upon Scripture phrases wherewith to blinde people from being begotten into true wisdome by that which he calls the Qua. Folly for t is his usual manner of expounding and the ordinary meaning that he gives to these two terms In and Out to say by within is meant without and by without within for as he counts the righteousness of Câ—rists person without us to be in us to our justification whilst not inherent in us but in him only So the righteousness wrought and fulfilled in us by his power and Spirit not to be in us but without in his Person only for Rom. 8.4 in us quoth he imports not in out persons but in Christ p. 17. 1. Pamph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he thought had been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 17.22 by in you in among you without p. 5.1 Pamph. and so I.O. will have to be expounded in that place to avoid the dint of that Doctrine of the Qua who tell of a Kingdome and righteousness within men that are not in it which he confesses is used but in one more place in all the New Testament as he calls the new Letter of it viz. Matth. 23.26 and there it s used for the inside of a Vessel Cup or Platter by Christ saying to the blinde Pharisees first cleanse the inside that the outsiâ—e may be clean also yet in Luke 17. it seems quoth he to be used in the same sense as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so making it thus the Kingdom of God ad vos pervenis is come to you a T.D. does within in effect to signifie without Ex. 3.5.47 and so in the place in hand in the mouth is without quoth T. D. which fine new-fangled way of Respondency to an opponent urging otherwise an irresistible Truth I should never have learnt had I not met with these two Sophistical Shufflers howbeit now I hâ—ve learnt their wonted way of winding away from plain truth I shall tâ—eâ—eby learn at least to avoid it turn from it and pass away but shall never learn how to walk in it it is so crooked unless I mean to leave the good way of uprightness to walk in the wayes of darkness Now as to I.O. though often he puts a difference between the Writing and the Doctrine and sayes the Scriptura formaliter or litera scripta is one thing and the materia or veritas scripta is another yet rather then he will give the Question to the Qua. who care not whether he doth or no which Question as is shewed above he is not ashamed basely to beg he will distemper and conjumble all that together again into one Chaos or lump of confusion which he had once orderly set asunder and therefore drives on in gross without dividing between the Scripture Writing Letter or Text and the Word Doctrine Light or Truth that 's written of and earnestly endeavouring to blend all these into one And though for haste jumbling and posting on he gets many a stumble by the way whereby he layes himself on the ground yet up again he gets and on he goes though haltingly never heeding how he interfears nor feels how he often hacks and cuts one leg against the other hoping that so long as he stands not still nor gives quite out nor lyes flat he rids ground as well while he stumbles on as when he seems to slide away more smoothly but his blinde blunderingâ— in which he thinks he posts on unseen are noted and seen by such as are not far behinde him who finde him full of flâ—ws altering often where he himself supposes his work is most firm and what ever he thinks of it himself yet to every understanding Reader he little lesâ— then gives the cause in effect not onely in other places agâ—inst his will and unawares to himseâ—f but also in p. 71. where is a passage that while it here presents it self to me I must take notice of lest I let it pass altogether and finde not a fitter place hereafter to observe it in J O. It is the Writing quoth he it self it now supplies the roome and place of the persons in and by whom God originally spake to men as were the persons speaking of old so are the Writings now it was the Word spâ—ken that was to be beleeved yet as spoken by them from God and it s now the word written that is to bee beleeved yet as written by the command and appointment of God Rep. all this I grant to be very true but tending to the overturning of J.Os. own cause and purpose in it which is to prove the Scripture or writing to be the Word of God and to the confirming of the Qua. cause who against him deny that assertion for the Word spoken and written even as spoken and written by Gods appointment is that which we say is still within the
hearts of men though witnessed to without in the Ministry of Prophets and Apostles preaching and writing of it as that in which they were to beleeve in which beleeving according to the Voyces and Scriptures of holy men calling them thereto and beleeved by them they thenceforth and not before were said to beleeve on the Name of God through which beleeving in it they had life but what 's this to evince the Writing to be that Word â—hus spoken thus written of which was another thing which was as truly beâ—eeved in to life before it was written of as after Oh quoth J.O. as were the persons speaking of old so are the Writings now True whence in his own words I argue back ad hominem on him thus As were the persons speaking the Word of God old so are the Writings now Buâ— not the persons preaching no nor yet their preachings and speakings were the Woâ—â— of God they preached and spake of but only means by which men were brought to beleeve in the Word of God What 's Paul what 's Apollos but Ministers by whom ye beleeved 1 Cor. 4.5 Therefore the Writings now are not the Word of God written of but only an outward means by which men are brought to beleeve in another thing then the â—ritings for life even in the Word of faith nigh in their own hearts which the Prophets and Apostles preached and wrote of that iâ— order to life men should beleeve in it I.O. And now as to that Text Heb. 4.12 which thou citest also p. 85. reciting the words of it which are these The Word of God is quick and powerful or as thou there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 living and effectual sharper than any two-edged swâ—rd piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Rep. I cannot but stand almost astonished at thy stupidity in expounding that Text of Scripture of the Text of Scripture and of that terme there the Word of God of the Book called the Bible which the business of thy Book is mostly about sith the efficacy and power of the Word here spoken of is far beyond that of the Letter or Scripture it self the inefficacy and weakness of which I have shewed above specially abstract from the Spirit and Light within in which way thou asserts the sufficiency of it witness thy own words above rehearsed as to any such mighty matters as are here mentioned Is the Letter the Scripture sharper then any two-edged sword to divide asundâ—r soul and spirit c. a diver into a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart what thinkest thou by the two-edged sharp sword that goes out of his mouth that rides the white horse with his vesture dipt in blood and the Armies in heaven following not in Lawn Sleeves Sarcenet Scarffs Sattanical Goâ—ns Canonical Coats Scarlet Formalities White Surplices Velvet Plush black Gippoes and such like Scholastick Superfluities but in fine linnen white and clean i.e. The righteousness of the Saints Rev. 2.12.19 11 12 13 14 15 22. Is it the Letter or is it the Sword of the Spirit a prime part of that Armour of God Armour of Light intimated Rom. 13.12 Eph. 6.11.17 which is the Word of God and the sharp soul-searching heart-piercing living life-giving Word that is here spoken of for it s the Spirit that quickneth the Letter killeth and is dead the Sword of the Spirit is the Spirit or words of Christs mouth which he speaks which are Spirit and life not Leâ—ser which Word of Christ is the Word of God also as Christ himself the Lord that Spirit is 2 Cor. 3. which was in the beginning before Letter was and was with God and was God for the three that bear witness in heaven the Father Word and Spiriâ— are one and all three Spirit and Light and the Letter is none of them all and these without the Letter are effectual and werâ— so before it though T.D. sayes the Spirit was not wont to be effectual without the Letter p. 42. of his 1. Pamph. but the Letter and its revelation is not sufficient and omnibus numeris absolute c. as J.O. darkly divines to effect and perfect all things as to Gods glory and our salvation of it self so that there 's no need at all of any other witness or revelation by the Spirit and Light within T.D. indeed if any save such as are bewitcht and befooled already would be such fools as to follow his foolish fancy would and what Parish Preachers do not the like make men beleeve by his non-sensical blinde wayes of proving it as if it were so at leaâ—t and that is a little more moderate then I.Os. boundless elevation of the Letter which hee makes little less than All in All that the Spirit was not wont to be effectual without the Letter in proof of which his false Assertion â—e urges Rom. 10.17 the same Text that I.O. wrests the same way Faith which is the Spirits work quoth he in the forenamed page comes by hearing hearing by the word of God which terme the Word of God there T.D. and I.O. and their Adjutants generally take to be the Scripture Text though if any measure of right reason did Rule in them they might see in the same Chapter that the Word of faith by which it comes is that they preached to be brought nigh in mens hearts and moâ—ths by God himself that there they might both hear and do it Deut. 30.13 but so far is his Position from having any truth in it as much as he stands up agâ—inst R.H. who justly withstands him in it that if his own eyes were but half open he could not but see the flat falsehood of it yea it is so palpable that before all the world I will here lay down the very contrary as the truth viz The Spirit was wont to be effectual without the Letter And why he should lose any of his Authority power and efficacy by mens writings as they were moved by him he is either wiser then I that can tell or else very fond in asserting what he can tell no reason for And that the Spirit or Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God whether we understand it of Christ himself that Spirit 2 Cor. 3. that quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 who is called the Word of God Rev. 19.13 or the Spirit of God and Christ which is so called also Eph. 6.17 was wont to be effectual without the Letter of old before there was any Letter for him to work by is so clear that t were to light a candle to see the Sun by to go about to prove it yea as I.O. sayes in a case that is clear I mean clear contrary to what he asserts in it Ex. 3. s. 31. so say I in this ad Solem caecutiâ—â— necesse est c. he must be so blinde as not to see the Sun
uncontroleablely as he doth even to blinde and obstinate persisting in it for Ex. 3. s. 40. where hee infers the Qua. urging against his Letters being the only most perfect Rule on the behalf of the Spirit hee sayes thus J Oj. Ob Scriptuâ—a est litera mortua spiritus vivificat quis literae mortua nisi ipsâ— fiâ— mortuus adhaerere velit the Scripture is a dead letter it s the spirit that quickneth who but he that 's dead himself will look for life from a dead letter Rep. Falsissima est ista assertio scriptura est verbam Dei quod vivum est efficax neque uspiam litera esse mortua dicitur occidit quidem sed ido viva est That is a most false Assertion the scripture is that Word of God which is living and powerful Heb. 4.12 Neither is the Letter any where at all said to bee dead Reply Verumne Itane Ocyus adsit huc aliquis is it so I.O. that the Letter is no where called dead what no where nec clam nec cum scrobe nusquam hic tamen infodiam Some honest body come hither a little and let us dig up and dive a little deeper into I.Os. own Divinity doings to see if wee cannot finde it so called there by his own self if that be the same I.O. as no doubt it is that wrote the two English Treatises and the blinde Latine Theses about Scriptures in his own book for the Bible which may be cogent to him however in the 237. page thereof vici vidi ipse libelle I finde I.O. himself saying thus of the Letter yea and of the Word too and that is more I dare say then any Qua. dare say that they are both dead without the Spirit as living perfect in all respects efficacious to accomplish all as the Scripture was Ex. 3. s. 28 29. so that there is no need of any other revelation by the Spirit and Light within but those all are uncertain vain useless detestable c. Now t is without the Spirit a dead letter yea the Word is so too with I.O. as if the Word of God and Christ which is Spirit and life was sometimes dis-joyned from the Spirit Take it in his own terms then Reader lest thou think I wrong him all this while The Jews enjoyed the Letter of the Scripture as they do at this day yea they receive it with the honour and veneration due to God Their possession of it is not accompanied with the administration of the Spirit without which as we see in the instance of themselves the Word is a dead letter of no efficacy for the good of souls They have the Letter amongst them as sometimes they had the Ark in battel against the Philistines for their further ruine Here needs no more illustration of this palpable contradiction â—hâ—t I.O. gives to himself t were to suppose men that read his book to be Idiots to shew it more to their sight then it shews it self so with his own in operâ— langâ— obrepsit somnus I shall quit it here but not acquit it quite till he acquits the truth he quarrels with Only as to his occidit quidem ideo viva est the Letter kills for this he cannot deny being the Letters testimony of it self only he concludes as he is wont to do the clean contrary way therefore its living I 1. deny his consequence for many things are said to kill as dead instruments used by living Agents as a Knife a Dagger a Sword which when they have so done as in that subordinate way of an instrument cannot quicken though I own the Letter as healable and honourable an instrument as any is in the hands of men when they are used and moved to use it as an instrument in the hands of God yet as dead a thing as applied by the stealers of it in these times as it was in the mouthes of the old Theevish Prophets of whom God said They shall not profit people at all Jer. 23. And as to I Os. labouring to lick himself whole of this with his litera occidit quatenus litera legis est ab Evangelio seperata quatenus à spiritu verâ— sensu voluntatis Dei destituuntur qui literae adhaerent quae judaeorum conditio fuit contra quoâ— eo loci disputat Apostolus The Letter kills as 't is the letter of the Law and separate from the Gospel and as they are destitute of the Spirit and true sense of Gods will who adhere to the Letter which was the Jews condition against whom the Apostle there disputes Rep. I say Mutato nomine de te fabula c. the self-same is to be said of your selves against whom we dispute since your condition is the same with that of the Iews if once ye would savingly come to see it for liâ—era legis the letter of the Law is but the Old Testament still and not the Gospel and the New which is spirit and life and a life-giving Light to them that according to the call thereof will take heed to the light for life and while you not taking heed to the light for life adhere to the Letter so as yee doe when receiving it with veneration due to God yee fight against the light and spirit within for the sake of it of the Spirit and true discerning of the minde and will of God declared in the Letter and revealed in the light ye are ignorant taliter if not totaliter and as uttely destitute as were the Iews And now as to that Text which remains yet with one more to bee touched on viz. Psal 119.105 Thy Word is a light to my feet and a lamp to my paths which thou also appliest to the Letter as the light and lamp there spoken of and upon that account from that and many more as little to thy purpose and as much to ours as that is lettest out thy minde into a long peece of dark prate about the Letters being the most glorious light in the world as if it were that in Ioh. 3 19. which is not the Letter but the measure of the light come from Christ into all mens consciences almost throughout the fourth Chapter of thy first Treatise I must here have a little parley with thee about that and the other places thou producest which are all parallel with it against thy self and so hasten on what I can towards an end as one more grieved sick and weary in my spirit to see thy confusions then by the power of God upon me bearing me up under the else unsupportable burden of it I am in either body or spirit with confounding them Those other Texts are Iob 24. They are of those that rebel against the light they know not the way nor abide in the paths thereof Psal. 19.8 9. The Commandement of the Lord is pure in lightning the eyes Psal. 119.130 The entrance of thy words giveth light Prov. 6.23 The Commandement is a lamp and
interpret the term of Light in those two Texts of no other thing then the Letter of the Scripture The words are these the People meaning the land of Zebulun and Nepthali by the way of sea beyond Iordan c. which sate in darkness saw great light and to them that dwelt in the Region and shadow death light is sprung up Rep. The juncture of time of which this is spoken concerning the land of Zebulun and Nepthali seeing great light was when Christ himself the light of the world came among them dwelling at Capernaum a chief City of those two Tribes by the Sea-coast and shone ronnd about them in his own immediate Ministry The Scriptures or letter which by the word Light there is by our great Text-man I.O. said to be intended must be either those of the Old Testament as ye speak or of the New those of Old could not be meant here for if they had been that Light they could not have been said to have sate till now in darkness and shadow of death neither could the light have been said as it is here to have sprung up now so newly to them for the outward Scriptures of Moses and the Prophets was sprung up to that people of Israel long before this time and those of the New it could not possibly beâ— for John the Baptist and Christ having written nothing at all that is extant in your Bibles though Christ after this wrote something that is not there and the Apostles and Evangelists having written nothing yet for not one o them was called till after this as appears by the verses following not one jot or tittle of that was sprung up to them as yet therefore what ever Light it was and what it was is well enough known to the children of the light though not to the children of darkness that despise and wonder and perish not beleeving the work that God is working in their own daye â—et this I can tell them which is as much as is meet for them to know till they live up to what they know already and as much as is needful to the case in hand that it was not the Letter of the Scriptures And now I am so near that Mat. 5.14 it is not amiss to step thither beâ— before I go back to Hosea where the words are Ye are the light of the world which place I. O brings to prove the Letter to be the Light Rep. I should sooner by the half have urged Gen. 1.2 God said let there be light and there was light to prove the Letter to be the Light for that hath a typical mystical reference to the true Spiritual light that inwardly inlighteâ—s every man that comes into the world then that clause of Christ to his Disciples Yee are the light of the world for that hath not the least tittle of tendency to such a thing unless I.O. who is blinde enough in blending the Writing and letter written of into one individium will now grow so gross in his confusions as to confound and thrust a third thing viz. the men that wrote some of the Scriptures into one and the same individium with them and so make a new kinde of Trinity in unity and unity in Trinity which if he shall then letting pass that long tale of the doctrine of the Trinity in seven or eight pages together viz p. 132. to p. 139. in which he talks as T.D. and most Divines do of he knows not whom nor what while he hates the light if I say I.O. shall fain such a new fangled Trinity as Writers Writings and Word written of and jumble them all three into one then t is time to tell these Trinitonians their Bell haâ— not Mettle Nor the Tune of a Bell but the Tone of a Kettle But I.O. hath a saying I toucht on above whereby perhaps hee may think this unfavoury sound is salved it is the writing it self quoth hee p. 71. that now supplies the place and room of the persons in and by whom God originally spake to men as were the persons speaking of old so are the Writings now Rep. Therefore say I as the outward persons of the men which I.O. reckons on were not the Word of God so neither were nor are their Writhings the Word of God Ad hominem Ob. But may he say the persons of the Discipâ—es are here called the Light of the world Rep. As vessels that bore the Name Word Truth or Light of God to the world by the figure or common metonymy as I said above whereby the thing containing is called by the name of that that is contained in it or held forth by it which yet either as to name and thing it really and properly is not I can allow I.O. his denomination of the Apostles by that name of a Light in such wise as commonly by the said figure but not properly the Lanâ—horn in sensu composiâ—o together with the Light shining in it is termed the Light which Lanthorn of it self is so far from being abstractively from the Revelation made in it by the light within it a light of it self that its a dark body that can neither shew any thing else nor bee seen it self without it bee manifested by something else that is truly Light But all this will lend I.O. as little help as none at all in his lame cause who hath entred the lists with Qua. before the world to vindicate the Word of God and the Light to be the proper name and nature of the Letter to evince it against them as to name and thing so to be p. 30. of his Epist. and p. 73 74. that the Scripture both is so and is so called or else it properly could not as having the very nature and properties of light and Ex. 1. s. 253. whos 's dealing with the Qua. is de Scripturae nomine proprio viz. titulo illo glorioso verbo Deo quod nomen sibi vendicat about that proper name of the Scripture to wit the glorious Title the Word of God which name it challengeth to it self and Ex. 3. s. 28 29. who sayes that Revelation the Scripture that is abstractively considered of it self and from the Light and Spirit the Qua. say is necessary is so omnibus numeris absoluta perfecta ut nihil opus sit c. so every way absolute and perfect and accomplishing all things as a Rule or Guide as who should say the Lanthorn is such a sure and sufficient guide of it self in the night that there is not any need at all of any other light the naked Lanthorn is a Revelation and will do well enough alone so that there is no need at all of any other direction to know God to salvation by nor of the Spirit and light within which is superfluous vain useless and dâ—â—estable I.O. is never the nearer as to his cause for all that which I can afford to allow him as abovesaid Moreover if men made after Gods Image
p. 9. the figment and imagination of whose hearts are the foundation of all they speak And this I as readily grant they are not to be deemed as thine T. Ds and some other mens are who in your private narrow conceptions and thoughts of things thrust out what yee tkinke feign and fancy still to be truth though nothing so about both the Scriptures and many other matters for they are true Scriptures of holy publick spirited men who wrote or caused to be written what was known and surely beleveed Luke 1.1 at least among Saints who were no liars if not all at the immediate motiâ—n of the Spirit they declared the things they had seen heard and witnessed within themselves to be the truth even when they wroâ—e from others in matter of Doctrine Prophesie or so and in Chronicle either immediately or from more credible testimony then I.O. and T.D. when they write at all adventure upon leastly hear-sayes from very goâ—d hands when the matters are in point of fact many if not most of them very lyes And in this sense thou strivest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be taken which thou sayest some think is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 19 20. and one Copy read◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an evident error or mistake without ground and much more ado then needs thou there makest to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denote the writing of the Scriptures to be by men that were moved by the publick Spirit of God and not by mans private Spirit nor at his will but Gods which I grant and a little more too whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie so much or not viz. That it neither is to be interpreted now it is so given forth at the Will of man or by mans private spirit or by our own coâ—siâ—â—ration of its sense and meaning p. 21. which sense I see thou wouldest fain exclude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from bearing or having in any tollerable sense affixed to it and I cannot blame thee as thy principles are for else thou who deniest the presence and guidance of the infallible Spirit to all men in these dayes must cut off thy self and fellow Doctors Divines and Expositors of the Scriptures from medling much by your own conceptions thoughts understandings and wills to interpret open or give your senses and fancies on them by which craft you have your wealth but only alone by the publick Spirit of God which gave them out and only knows his own minde and meaning and reveals it to those that walk therein and not after the flesh as ye do For we saith Paul of himself and those Ministers have the minde of Christ 1 Cor. 2. So I give thee thy sense and more then thou wouldest willingly have as concerning the intâ—rpreting of the Scripture which men in their private thoughts are not to expound nor yet to deem it as meer private mens Writings Howbeit none of all this comes out of this place so clearly as thou conceivest for it speaks not of the Letter and Writing so much as thou in thy private spirit interpretest it to do but of the Truth or holy things written for whereas thou who doest not see that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is one thing and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is another takest the Prophesie of Scripture it intends the Prophesie it self that was as to the summe of it written but not the Writing that is of it which Prophesie whether written by the hands or spoken by the mouthes of holy men of God who live in the Spirit was not to bee interpreted as the written or spoken Doctrines of private men that speak and write from the conceivings of their own narrow private spirits the figment and imagination of whose hearts is the fountain of all they utter write or speake but as the undoubted infallible eternal truth of the living God made manifest in them which they wrote and spoke forth as moved by Gods publick holy Spirit 3. That the Letter Scripture or Writing ' or Copies of the original Texts as ye have them at this day are that Word of God called there the Word of Prophesie v. 19. 4. That they are a more sure Word in their evidence to us at least though not in themselves then any voice from heaven whatever yea then Gods own if hee should speak to us from heaven or then that voice by which hee spake from Heaven which Peter James and John heard when they were with Christ on the holy Mount 5. That the said Letter of the Scripture is the light said there to shine in the dark place of mans hearts with an eminent advantage to its own discovery as well as unto the benefit of others All which three last Assertions I not only deny to follow from this Text as I did the two first which yet I deny not the Truth of but do as much deny them all three or any one of them to bee Truth at all as I do absolutely deny all or either of them to bee possibly by any sound reason to bee deduced or inferred from this place and likewise affirm that measure of the Light and Spirit of God and Christ in the hearts and consciences of men which we bear testimony unto to be the more sure word of Prophesie and Light here testified to by Peter And the grounds of my denial of the one of these viz. That the Letter is it and of my affirming the other viz. that the Light is it are clear from two or three clauses of the Text it self which are proper and the very import of the phrases and truly and plainly agreeable to the Light or Spirit or Word of God within but not a tall true or proper or in truth agreeable to the Letter without if predicated thereof for First it is as much as I.O. jeers at the verbum seu lumen internum said to be the Word and Light within and so the Letter without is not if it were either the Word or the Light therefore it cannot bee the Letter ad extra which I O. labours for against the Light and T.D. also who p. 45. of his 1 Pamph. cotâ—s this same Text 2 Pet. 1 19. affirming the Scripture to be the sure word of Prophesie intended here but the Light ad intra wee stand up for against them both that which is said to be within is not intended of a thing that is without only as the formal Letter or the Scripture is formally considered according to its proper name and nature as I.O. dreams or that proper essential form quae dat effeci per quam Scriptura est id quod est which gives to it that very being whereby it is what it is but of something that is really within as the Light only is which the Litera scripta or Letter without declares of And that not the Letter or Scripture formally considered but that Word of God only and Divine
Truth Law Doctrine or Commandement which is a Light and Lamp is within as Rom. 10.8 witnesses it for me so my two Antagonists I.O. and T.D. do both from the Testimony of that very Text testifie the same with it and me against themselves the one viz. T D. sying p. 30 31. of his 1. Pamph. 't is evident that the word spoken of in the heart Rom. 10.8 is meant of the matters contained in the Scriptures for the Apostle sayes expresly that is the Word of faith which wee preach whereby it seems by your selves the Letter is neither the Word there said to be nigh in the heart and mouth nor yet the Word of faith the Apostles preached but some other thing that was actually properly truly and formally within the heart even the holy Word Law Light Truth Spirit of Truth and Doctrine which wee together with the Scripture do testifie unto and you contrary both to us and the Scripture are continually testifying against and the other viz. I.O. saying Ex. 1. s 40. The Word in us is that Word of faith the Apostles preached but they preached nothing but what was written by Moses and the Prophets Rom. 16.26 yea that that Word was a Word written the Apostle professedly testifies in that place vers 10. 2. The Scripture is nigh us in our hearts and mouth not in respect of the Letter written or the Scripture formally considered as written but of the divine Truth or as it contains and holds forth the divine truth it self Reply V. 11. Thou meanest sure for there the Word Scriptures is named but what of that and who doubts or denies but that the Word in the heart was written as well as preached and testified to by writing as well as by word of mouth but wilt thou ever be so blinde I.O. as to make no difference but when it serves thy turn to do it as thou thinkest against the truth for then thou makest a difference See p. 12. 13. between the Word written Doctrine declared and Declaration Book and Truth Scripturam rem scriptam preaching and thing preached publication and will of God published proclamation of good things and the tidings or good things proclaimed and told of Suppose a man should stand at a Market-cross or in Cheapside and preach publish or proclaim by Word of mouth or set up a Bill or Writing that there is special good Wheat Bread Flesh or the like laid up under the custody of the Lieutenant of the Tower enough for all the poor starvelings of the rich City of London where the more shame and wo to the rich Gluttons in it they ly perishing about the streets by him freely to be dispenced who is sealed or authorised to that end to give to all comers according to their wants or in a time of distress or danger that there is safety in the Tower for all that are willing to run in thither within so many dayes or else the gates shall be shut for thus the Publishers of the glad Tidings of the Gospel of peace and salvation by Christ the Light alone and his Spirit and Light which reproves sin is the heart do declare both by Voyce and Letter or Writing in their times as he himself Isa. 45.22 Look to me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth viz. That in him who is the Light is the life of men to be had and not in the Letter which rather killeth Hee is the strong Tower where safety alone is Him hath God sealed to be the giver of the bread of life and the meat that endureth to eternal life to all that come to him in that time wherein he shines in his Light Now if people should run only to the Cryer and hang alwayes on the hearing of his voice or stand reading the good news in the writing he hath set up doting on and delighting only to read that day by day because its comfortable as it tells of good things and never at all according to the counsel thereof betake themselves to the Tower where they only are might they not stand there poring till they perish pine and starve and would they not lose time and perhaps totally withstand it and would yee judge them to bee well in their wits if they should run up and flock all together to the Proclamation or bare Writing supposing to injoy the things themselves though they never look after the said Lieutenant spinning out the time limited in looking upon the writing and so far dote as our Dr doth that the coming to the Scriptures is the only proper way of coming to Christ himself which he counsels us to Rev. 3. as to think that their comming to that Paper every day is their next way to the Tower their very only proper going to the Lieutenant that is required Mutatiâ— mutandis de te fabula the case is your own O ye untaught better fed then taught Teachers it is yours O ye more letter-lauding then letter-learning Preachers and Priest-admiring people Christ is come from God that men might have life and have it abundantly calls all to look and come to him for it yee like the old Scribes search the Scriptures and therein look for the eternal life because they are they that testifie of it and of him who is the life but yee will not come to him that yee may have the life Ioh. 5.35 c. 2. What need I say more but with T.D. and I.O. to heed and beleeve themselves because they are so dull of hearing that they will neither heed nor beleeve the Qua. for they give the cause in Question between the Qua and them about the Scripture or the Letters being the World of faith or light shining in the dark place of mens hearts which Peter sayes men are to take heed to which said dark place that is the heart and consâ—ience where by their own confession so gross a thing as a formal outward Letter cannot come but only some more subtil thing then that is even a spiritual light as that is not is as evident in the Text as the Word and Light it speaks of is to him that is not blinde for the dark place wherein the Word and Light here is said to thine is the same wherein as the Light is taken heed to the day dawns and the day star i.e. Christ him self arises first as that bright and morning star Rev. 2.28 whereby the day spring from on high visits such as sate in darkness Luke 1.78 79. and at last as the Sun of righteousness it self Mal. 4.2 but that is said expresly to be the heâ—rt so far as from Ioh. 1.5 we argue Where the spiritual darkness is which comprehends not the Light within which darkness the light shines There the true light shineth but that is within in the conscience of all men therefore there the true light in some measure is shining As if the dark place within which the Sun shines be a room within
the house then some light from the Sun must be within the said Room also so wee argue Retro from hence If the dark place where the day is to dawn as the lesser light therein is observed be the heart then the place wherein the lesser light shines which even therefore secundum vâ—s O ye bâ—nighted ones cannot be the Letter must be the heart also but verum prius c. the first is true therefore the latter We have a more sure word of Prophesie to which ye do well to give heed as to a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts 2. The word of Prophesie or Prophetical word is a phrase that of it self seems to any but blinde Expositors to intend another thing than the outward Letter and to found forth no less then that more inward Word or immediate Testimony of Christ himself in the conscience elsewhere stiled the Words of Prophesie or Word of God and Witness or Testimony of Iesus or Spirit of Prophesie from which of which and to which the holy men that were internally illuminated thereby and made acquianted with Gods secrets bare Record or Testiminy without by Voice or Writings Rev. 1 2 3.19 10. the trâ—e and faithful words of the Lord himself inlightning such as wrote the Letter who having no need so to do the Lord and the Lamb being their light wrote not by though not against the Directory of I.Os. outward Candle Moon or Sun ad extra i.e. the external Text of others Writings Rev. 21.23 22.25.6 the Words of the Prophesie of this booke as Iohn calls it Rev. 22 8. i.e. the inward Spirit of Prophesie or Testimony of Iesus from which all Prophesie went forth whether by voice or writing which the Angels and Gods servants the Prophets had and kept Rev. 22 9 compared with Rev. 19.10 which book I.O. dreams 't is like was the outward Writing or Copy that Iohn gave forth the uncertain Copies of which to say nothing of the doubts of the old dimn sighted Doctors that were at oddes about the outward Book called the Revelation and some others even of those that are owned as Authentick whether they are not spurious yea or nay only are extant at this day little deeming that was an inward Book which I.O. tells us of too if he will own his own words p. 9. 25. which Iohn took in at first from which he gave out the the other and prophesied in the way of manual wiriting even the inner book of Gods secrets which are only with such as fear him revealed to Christ by the Father and by Christ to Iohn and opened by Christ to his servants at this day who eat it and prophesie out of it again before many Peoples Nations Tongues and Kings though sealed with 7 seals to the Scribes on the backside or outside of it on which backside or outward letter they are busily poring but they cannot read it neither learned nor unlearned because it is a Book sealed Rev. 5.3.10.2 9 10 11 12. Isa 29 9 ao 11 11. 3. That very Epethite which to the Word of Prophesie here spoken of is annexed doth even infallibly evidence it to be intended of that inner Word Spirit and light in the conscience which the Qua. call too and thou scoffest at and not at all of that fallible external Text which thou art so talkative for for it s called a sure permanent firm or stable Word which is more then can be saving all thy blinde bable about it asserted of the best and most original Copies of that Letter thou contendest for that are extant in the world in these dayes and not only so but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more sure or stable word then that voice which Peter Iames and Iohn heard immediately from heaven out of the Fathers own mouth concerning his beloved Son Christ the light of the world given as a light to the Nations shining and shewing the will of God to them in every one 's own heart so Gods salvation to the ends of the earth saying unto them Hear ye him v. 17. comp with Mat. 27.5 which voice coming from the excellent glory which was infallibly sure to them no cunningly devised fable they heard when they were with Christ in the holy Mount Now the Word Spirit voice and light of Christ in the conscience is properly and truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more stable firm and permanent Word or standing Rule constant Canon and lasting light and so more sure to us ward then that voice to them not surer in respect of its evidence to the hearers of it or the security given by it that it was no fable nor fancy in which sense thou most foolshly fanciest p. 66. that the immediate voice above said absit absurdum was not so sure i.e. not so certainly evident to be Gods voice as the Letter is certainly evident to be Gods Word for in that sense the said voice was to them that heard it most infallibly sure or evident so as nothing can bee surer to be God and I.O. in saying as he dotingly doth p. 66. that comparatively we have greater security from and by that written Word meaning the Scriptures or Writing for that is the Word written with all along such is his illiterate language then they had in and by that miraculous voice as he calls it and that the Scripture is more sure in respect of its giving out of its evidence to us then that voice of God was doth thereby absit blasphemia render the very voice of God himself whereby he spake in and to the Prophets that wrote the Scriptures to us less sure and certain more doubtful and questionable whether it might not be a mistake or no then the outward Writing or Text they wrote as it is transferred to our hands at this day through the hands of such a mighty multitude of fallible Transcribers none at all of which no not the first were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infallible or divinely inspired so that they could not in any thing mistake by his own confession p. 167. where I.O. confesses and grants also that it s known that failings have been among them from whence various lections of which it cannot be ascertained to men now which is right which wrong are arisen which so variously transcribed Scripture it is shame enough for I.O. to assert as he doth p. 10. under that term of Word by which he terms it and p. 153 under its own name of Scripture that it is come forth to us from God without the least mixture â—r intervenience of medium obnoxious to fallibility as is the wisdome truth integrity knowledge and memory of the best of all men or capable to give change or aâ—teration to the least Iota or syllable and more shame yet to say as hee doth p 27. that every Apex of it is equally Divine and as immediately from God as the voice wherewith or
whereby bee spake to or in the Prophets and is therefore accompanied with the same Authority in it self and unto us but most shame of all if he be not past shame so as not to see it in that he from this of Peter sets the Scripture the alterable and much altered Copies of his Letter his flexible Transcripts and Text that are and may bee turned and winded as himself confesses p. 22 23 24 25. of his Epist. at the wills of Criticks into â—arious senses not only in equality with but into a state of certainty abâ—ve the very immediate voice of God that was heard from heaven which true vâ—ice of God yet p. 66 67. hee sayes to the contradicting of himself in what he asserts as to the minority of its evidence to us then that of the Scripture hath tâ—at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accompanying it as evidences it self and ascertains the soul beyond all possibility of mistake and is that which we are at last to rest in as being discernable from and obliging men to discern it from all delusions though yet O Rotas I to go Round again the Scripture is that with him that is ultimately to be rested in and not the voice of God which he sayes may counterfeited witness the same pages where hee bems in and hedges up his speech concerning the infallible certainty of Gods voice beyond all possibility of mistake and concerning our resting ultimately in that a parte ante with this saying viz. Suppose God should speak to us from heaven as he spake to Moses or as he spake to Christ or from some certain place how should wee bee able to know it to bee the voice of God Cannot Satan cause a voice to be heard in the air and so deceive us or may not there be some way found out whereby men might impose upon us their delusions Pope Caelestine thought he heard a voice from heaven when it was but the cheat of his successour must we not rest at last in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that accompanies the true voice of God evidencing it self and ascertaining the soul beyond all possibility of mistake a parte post with this saying viz. If the Question be whether the Dâ—ctrines proposed to bee beleeved are Truths of God or cunningly devised fables we are sent to the Scripture it self and that alone to give the determination Thus ultimately we are to rest in Gods voice and yet ultimately we must rest in the Scripture which is another thing for those that heard and searcht the Scripture as I shewed above never at any time heard Gods voice though yet I beleeve I.O. to bee so sottish to suppose the Scripture or Writing to bee it from which yet himself sometimes distinguisheth it Now the Scripture the Letter what ever thou sayest of it to the contrary I.O. specially as to the present corrupted Copies of it which are your Canon are not Sure much less a Surer matter then the immediate voice of God neither 1 In that false sense in which I.O. interprets that Term more sure viz. more unquestionable and undoubtedly evident to bee of God for if wee grant it to be of equal Divine certainty as we need not it being as now but the Remote issue and product at the hundredth hand perhaps of Gods voice in the Prophets yea but Remote Transcripts of fallible men from the handywork or manuscripts of the first Penmen yet to say its of greater divine certainty then Gods own voice is absurdity in the abstract Nor yet secondly in that genuine sense which the Term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most properly bears viz. more firm stable stedfast standing permanent or the like for the Letter is changeable alterable flexible passing perishing corruptible at mans will who may mistransâ—ribe turn tear change alter burn it c. and so flecting and transient but as for that Voice surer then which I.O. sayes the Scripture is which Scripture he calls the Light or the Word of Prophesie and the Prophesie of Scripture mistaking himself when it is but the Scripture of the Prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Voice was as infallibly sure to its evidencing it self to them that heard it to be of God as any thing can bee though so permanent it was not as the Light within is â—nd the Voice of God that is to be heard in the heart of those that take heed to and turn not away from it for that particular Voice that came to them from God saying of Christ Hear ye him was passing and transient not abiding staying and standing as to the actual â—udibility of it but the Voice and Word of the Son in the heart of whom the Father said Hear ye him this is permanent lasting standing stable sure stedfast alwayes nigh in the heart of men that they may both hear and do it and this and not the oâ—tward Scripture or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I.O. scrafles for is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the more sure word or Prophesie of Scripture i.e. that that Scripture writes of or the light shining in the dark place of the heart good to be taken heed to here spoken of even the voice of Christ speaking from heaven in the heart and conscience of whom the Father sayes vers 17. hear him whose voice his sheep hear and who ever hears not in whatever he sayes shall be cut off from among his people whose voice which shakes the old earth and heaven where it s heeded it s more dangerous to turn from then t is toÌ„ turn from Moses and the Prophets and holy mens outward Writings for these whether old or latter speak and write though by motion from God yet on earth only but hee commeth from heaven and is above all as Iohn Baptist said of himself and Christ Ioh. 3.3.28 29 30 31. c. I am not the Christ I am but sent before him he hath the bride I am but the Bridegrooms friend who stand and hear him rejoycing at his voice he must increase I must decrease he that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth he that cometh from above is above all See therfore saith Paul He. 12.25 That ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Yea not the Letter but this Voice and light in the heart this inwardly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ingrafted innate Word or Spirit imparted implanted indelibly in mens consciences is as God and Christs Vicegerent there both revealing what hee requires of every man as to his own particular and taking account of him also in the name Majesty and Authority of God de facto how he answers it which Voice or Light of God and Christ in the conscience is called by thee p. 42 44 45 57. The
innate or ingrafted light of nature the voice of God in nature and common nâ—tions and general presumptions of God and his Authority inlaid in the natures of rational creatures and innate principles of reason and conscience and such like as if they were so de naturae de esse hominis so flowing from the meer natural being of men that they can be no more said to be supernaturally of God then the very natural faculties of reason understanding and conscience it self of which more an on both with thee and T.D. also though it be indeed that very way of supernatural Revelation which thou sayest p. 47. the Scripture is that as now in the world is handed to thee by the meer improvement of menâ— natural faculties in the way of transcribing printing re-printing as also studied by the meer improvement of your natural faculties of reading remembring understanding Hebrew Greek Latine English c. to the begetting of a meer animal or natural knowledge whereby yee know things meerly naturally speaking evil of what yee know not and corrupting your selves in what ye do know naturally as bruit Beasts for as a Horse or Bullock can finde the way to the Pasture where hee hath often been so the Priests by use course custome and concordance more than the work of the Spirit bringing all things to their remembrance can turn readily to Chapter and verse Which forsaid Voice or Light that God as thou sayest truly p. 43. hath indelibly implanted in the minds of men for the minde heart and conscience is as a dark place as to all spiritual moral and supernatural knowledge without the Law or Light of God shining in it and shewing good and evill is by thy own further Confession to thy own further confusion accompanied with a moral instinct of good and evil seconded by that self-judgement which God hath placed in us in reference to his own over us and that by which God reveals himself to the sons of men and that indispensable moral obedience which he requireth of us as his creatures subject to his Law and which is as effectual to reveal God as his works are to which there is need of nothing as thou sayest but that they be represented or objected to the consideration of rational crtatures and bears Testimony to the being righteousness power Omniscience Holiness of God himself and calls for moral obedience which is eternally and indispensably due to him and so shews the work of the Law written in the heart and is that by which the Gentiles or Nations that have not the Law in a letter are a Law to themselves and more then all this by thy own absolute acknowledgement whereby 't is evident that it even that thou callest the Voice of God and the Law written in the hearts of the very Gentiles and not the Letter of the Law written without with ink and pen is that ingrafted word by every one to be received with meekness Jam. 1.21 which is able to save the soul and that sure word as to it its evidencing it self to us or light shining in the dark place of the heart and that more firm stedfast constant standing permanent Word or Light or rule of life to us then that infallibly sure and certain though passing and transient Voyce that in the audience of Peter Iames and Iohn came from God himself that is here spoken of The said voice or light in the heart declares it self to be from God by its own light and Authority so that there is no need to convince a man by substantial witnesses that what his conscience speaks it speaks from God what ever testimony it bears or what ever it calls for from us in his name and so speaks and declares it self not only more constantly as it s ever with men but as to its certainty also that without further evidence or reasoning without the advantage of any considerations but what are by it self supplied it discovers its Author from whom it is and in whose name is speaks and is inlaid by the hand of God to this end to make a Revelation of him as to the purposes mentioned is able to evince its own divine original without the least contribution of strength or assistance from without and therefore I adde without an outward Letter undoubtedly though as undoubtedly an outward Letter cannot do all nor any of all this without the Light or said Voice Word or Spirit of Christ within which only doth and can evidence it unto the conscience that the Letter Scripture and doctrines declared therein are of so divine an original as they are Thus I have done with that Eminenâ— Text which is so much talked on so little to their own purpose by the most eminent talkers for the Text of the Scripture as that thing therein recommended to us to bee taken heed to as the most sure word of Prohesie the light shining in the dark place of mens hearts the Prophesie of the Scripture that is not of private interpretation but spoken forth in writing in the movings of the holy Spirit under which termes the holy Apostle intends not the outward Text in which as well as otherwhile by word of mouth the holy men testified to it and held it forth but that inward Word Light Spirit of Prophesie Truth witness and testimony of Iesus in the conscience which their outward voice words witness and writings were but a Testimony unto and an external means to turn men to upon the account of which Text in Peter and the 11. other aforesaid which I.O. impannels as his Jury to judge the case in question whether the Letter outward writing or Scripture is the spiritual Light or Word of God yea or nay I.O. makes such a full account to carry it his way and to have their unanimous universal verdict for him that the Letter is the Light and consequently the most perfect Rule and consequently the Word of God that in his blind hasty confidence he cannot stay from stiling it so till the trial about it be ended and while the cause is sub-judice and he but in his prosecution of the proof thereof but by way of Anticipation as it were throughout his whole book which is written mostly in ordine ad probationem as an enquiry after and examination of the matter he very often here and there if not as frequently and commonly as by its own proper names of Letter Writing Text or Scripture stiles and denominates it under the foresaid names of of the Light Rule Foundation Witness VVord of God as its nomen prâ—prium which hee will never prove to bee Proper to it whilest hee breathes And so hee runs on blindly in such over ample applaudings and most mighty magnifications of the Scripture that is the subject about which the Argument is driven on by what termes soever whether of the Truth the Foundation the power of God the Rule the VVitness of God the VVord of God c. hee expresses it by
that if he were set to extoll and set forth Christ Jesus himself in all his Dignity Authority Dominion Might Majesty and Glory unless it be the express names of the only beloved and begotten Son of God King of Kings Lord of Lords Mighty God the Ever-Father the Prince of Peace and perhaps some few more I can scarcely suppose on a sudden that he could finde any other or at least any more eminent Titles to dignifie him by then those by which hee dignifies not to say Deifies his adored dead Transcript Text and Corps of the Greek and Hebrew Copies of the Scriptures which hee vermilions over with the honour and veneration as to sundry of the most excellent glorious Titles and properties hee attributes to it that is due either to God or Christ or his living VVord Light and Spirit alone For howbeit every such particular expression of VVonderful Councellor Leader and Commander to the people Redeemer Saviour Salvation c. that Christ is stiled by may possibly not bee used in I.Os. book to express the outer Scriptures by yet I beleeve there is but little asserted in honour of Christ the Spirit the living Light and VVord througout the Scripture which is not asserted if not in the same yet in Termes equivalent in honour of the Scripture it self Witness all those most high flown phrases and eminent strains he flyes out and strikes up in in way of ascribing little less then all Authority Dominion Exaltation Transaction self-evidencing efficacy Light Power Dignity and Glory here on earth at least unto the Scriptures as if the Father had sealed it and not his Son and Spirit to be the disposer and orderer of all things next and immediately under himself as supream Iudge Rule Ruler Head and Governour over the sons of men and the giver and dispenser of the meat that endureth to eternal life CHAP. IV. ANd now I return to take more notice of what more is urged in his Latine Theses as concerning the Scriptures being the only most perfect rule of faith life worship and knowledge of God as to salvation The second Argument in proof whereof is its perfect operation and efficacy Ex. 3. s. 29. omnia perficit necessaria c. it accomplishes all that is necessary to Gods glory and our salvation in vindication of which a whole Dozen of Scriptures are urged eleven of which are above answered and one onely remains to be a little spoken to viz. Isa. 55.10 11. And as to that of Isa. 55 10 11. I grant That the Word of God as the Rain and Snow comes down and returns not without watering the earth and causing it to bring forth and bud and give seed and food so it returns not void at any time without working that for which he sends it to any person or people and prospering to the accompliâ—â—ment of what he pleases but I am half amazed to see that thou I.O. shouldest bee so silly as to interpret that of the Scripture since it so expresly speaks de verbo oris sui of the Word of his mouth which is asserted immediately from himself with his own voice so shall my Word be that goeth out of my mouth which Word expressed by his own voice speaking who so upon second thoughts and serious consideration shall say the Scriptures are properly too as I.O. excusing his ignorance for as much as not for want of incogitancy I my self sometimes so thought while I ran as our National Ministry now doth making haste and saying he saith before himself had sent mee howbeit I wanted no sending of man or had spoke to me or I heard his voice I shall make bold to accuse him of arrant Absurdity miserable mistake wretched blindness and utter unâ—â—rthiness to bee denominated a Doctor in that thing which our Divines call Divinity Nevertheless not having so well minded the matter as upon occasion they may do in time to come being carried in times past by custome to take things and term and talk of them according to tradition more then true discerning of them in their proper natures the very preachers of this Nation as well as the poor people that have lived on their lips have been so habituated by common Metonymies to miscall the Scriptures by names not proper to their natures that they now stand up to depend them to be most properly denominated by those Metonymical and improper names so that howbeit we are never so willing to allow them to express themselves by such figurative phrases as are frequently found in the Scripture it self as Act. 13.27 the voices i.e. Scriptures of the Prophets are said to be read in the Iews Synagogues every Sabbath and that satisfies them not but the Qua. are deniers both of the Scriptures and of the Word of God and spoylers of them of their proper names if they yeeld not to their as absurd as arbitrary Appellations of them by those glorious Titles of Gods Words Gods Voice as their proper names yea in this dotish disquierness and peevish perversnes of his prejudiced spirit doth I O. quarrel with the Quakers as bereavers of the Scripture of its proper name because they own not his improperties in ignorantly and impudently imposing the names of the Word of God and the spiritual Light on the Letter as its Proper names which it chalâ—engeth to it self from its preheminent participation of the nature and properties of the Word of God and of Light viz. Life power to quicken and save and to shine to the evidencing of it self J.O. I am now to deal against the Qua. about the proper name of the Scripture for this sort of men are glad that the care of this business is committed to them by Satan that they may spoil the Scriptures of that glorious Title the Word of God This name doth the Scripture challenge to it self So p. 49.73 74 77. That the Scripture is light we shall see that is so or can be called so unless it hath this nature and properly to evidence it self as well as to give light to others cannot in any tolerable corespondency of speech be allowed Whether spiritual intellectual light regarding the minde or natural with respect to bodily sight be firstly or properly light I need not inquire both have the same properties it is spiritual moral intellectual light with all its mediums that hath the preheminence as to a participation of the nature and properties of light Now the Scripture the Word of God is Light a Light â—hining in a dark place 2 Pet. 1.19 with an eminent advantage for its own discovery c. a glorious shining Light an illuminating Light compared and preferred abâ—ve the light of the Sun Psal. 19.5 6 7. Rom. 10 18. The most glorious light in the world the most eminent reflexion of increased Light and Excellencies the Psalmist ascribeth light power stability and permanency like that of the Heavens and Sun in commutation of properties to the word i.e. Scripture with I.O.
in it is the Word of God as T. 2. c 2 s. 5.6 that tam in esse reali as cognoscibili Ex 1 s. 1. the Scripture both is and doth infallibly evidence it self unto the consciences of men that are not blinde to be assuredly the Word of God See his first Title page and T. 1. c. 4. s. 1. and that men that beleeve not as he implicitly beleeves in this being obliged so to beleeve upon the penalty of eternal damnation at the peril of their own eternal ruine and such like are left unexcusable in their damnable unbeleef T. 1. c s. 5. T. 1 c. 3. s 6. T. 1 c 4. s. 14. and who saith That his chief business with the Qua. is de noveine Scripturae proprio Ex. 1. s. 1 2 3. about the proper name of the Scripture and to stablish it under that glorious Title the Word of God as that proper name of it which the chief business committed by Satan to the Qua. that they rejoyce in is to spoyl it of yea how will all those figurative forms of speech list I.O. out of that Quâ—gmire wherein he sticks and into which he hath rashâ—y run himself by his hasty quarrelling with the Qua. who is far from being satisfied if the Truth and Doctrine of the Scriptures be confessed to be sufficiently declared in the Scripture unless he be infallibly assured that every Tittle and Iota as it was at first written stands truly transcribed in his Copies of it and so far from being satisfied if by a figure it should be granted as it need not for it s no where called so that the Scripture is the Word of God that he professes Ex. 1.34 that if that Declaration that Writing which declares the minde and will of God be not the Word of God he knows not what is the Word of God if he may not call the Scriptures by that name the Word of God is so far Ignorant of any name else to call it by as to call out to the Qua. to tell him what to call it if he may not call it by that name Si hoc non sit verbum Dei quoth I. O ego nescio quid sit aut deceant nos Fanatici quid illud dicendum sit c if the declaration of the will of God i.e. the Scripture be not the Word of God I know not what it is or let the Fanaticks teach us what we may call it these and many more to the like Tune are the eminent Titles which I.O. not by a metonymy but in truth as their proper priviledge and real right attributes in words at length and not in figures to the outer Scriptures these are the lofty terms wherein in throughout all his Treatises he treats on their behalf not with all others only that are his Opposers in other matters but with the Qua. also who own the Scripture in its own proper name use and place and own the Truth written of to be the Word much more then he doth himself but about the Scriptures oppose him only as to these his childish thoughts Such are the high rigid unrighteous strickt streins he stands upon and stickles in and that so stifly that he is minded either to win all or lose all and if he be not owned as stiling of the Scripture truly and properly when he stiles it by the names of other things which truly and properly it is not he will no more own it under its own true and proper names of writing Letter Scripture but make himself altogether ignorant of these as if hee had quite forgotten and could in no wise call to minde that hee hath any other names at all whereby it can be called save those undue ones of his own imposing Now when a man begins to swell out with his wind of Doctrine into such a bubble as knows no bounds its time to blow him out and when he grows into such a giddy greedy hydropical humour as not to know what ground he stands on nor how to stand still and sit down satisfied when hee is well nor well to understand when he hath enough nor to slack his thirst with a just and lawful allowance its good Venienti occurre morbo Danda est elleboritali pars maxima Avaro As there is no reason that he should have all he desires so it s but reason that his brain be purged from such excrements as occasion such extraordinary extravagancies that if he will never be otherwise then so fantastically Fanatical yet hee may insanire cum ratione be moderated at least as to his height of madness be taken down a peg or two and brought from his high Garret into a lower Story about the Scriptures that if he will have no nay but they must needs be call'd the Word it may be no otherwise then the Cup is called the Wine which though by a Metonymy the Wine is sometime called the Cup yet is never or very seldome if at all For my part I am free rather then he shall take on ad ravimusque and cry himself hoarse and wrong himself as he doth with so much wrangling and restless wrestling for the Letter which he more loves to talk of then lives the life of and longs for so that is not likely he will be at quiet unless we still him by piping to the same tune with him at least a little to please him so far to his profit in order to the saving of his longing as to allow him a little i.e. so much leave as by the foresaid Figure to call the Glass window or the Lanthorn the Light which in truth and properly are not so but as that Taylor which having an inch of cloath granted him for his minds sake about so much as will serve for a pattern incroaches so as to steal an ell or enough to make a suit of and from Top to Toe cloaths himself therewith accordingly wouâ—d have no wrong to have his goodly garment torn off or else beaten well upon his back with his own yard so if I.O. who begs the whole question be not pleased with his poor pittance which yet is the largest allowance that Truth it self allows us to allow him but will be a chuser as Beggars must not be and his own Carver and carve out the Scriptures which is more then salva veritate we can give him or he can justly take on him to do into no less then a patern a lydium lapidem a touch stone of all Truth a standard for all Spirits even that of God by which it and all Spirits and Scriptures else are to be tried to be most truly tâ—ied by a Rule an immoveable stable perfect the most perfect the only Rule of Gods worship and our obedience in matters of faith and manners as Ex. 3. s. 20 24 25. Ex. 1. s. 5 6. Ex. 3. s. 32. Ex. 4. s. 17. so that since the Churches compleating of its Canon no Revelations internal Spirit and consequently not that
the House and Traytors that will not so own it to be and shall say Die mihi c. tell me what it is to be called if not so not heeding that himself calls it the House where the Parliament sits and that that is the most proper name of it I should judge that man utterly unfit to be chosen a Parliament-man or if he should be chosen as unmeet to meet there among the rest as in regard of his Clergy-ship I.O. himself once chosen to that honour as I hear was thought unmeet to meet among them Or to prosecute the matter rather under that Metaphor of the Lanthorn and the Light that shines in it with which the Letter and the Light the Writing and the Word doth so exactly correspond and hold proportion if there should appear such a man as would not be contented by the fore-mentioned Metonymy only to call the Lanthorn the Light it self which makes out it self thereby and other things also to the view of others but stand up to contend tooth and nayl that the Lanthorn is the very Light in very deed and ought so to be denominated as that which really is so yea and every inch of it from the Top to the very bottome or else it is spoyled of its own glorious due and proper name and denied to be what it is and abused and depressed quite below it self debased and disgraced at their peril of mens utter râ—ine for their damnable unbeleef though they beleeve own and acknowledge it to be a very special good serviceable profitable clear useful and perfect Lanthorn above all other Lanthorns as to all ends and purposes for which it was at first made and framed unless they see it with such eyes as his own and beleeve it with himself to be veraciter the real light and only rule and guide of the way that mafests both it self and all things else that are needful to be seen to all such as are neâ—r to and within the sight of it and as concerning the Light it self which reveals both it self and the Lanthorn and the dark room also round about wherein it shines and shews it self and other things as well yea more brightly when it s beheld immediately and is abstracted from the Lanthorn which it reveals and in which to say the truth it self is more properly vailed then revealed for the Light or new Testament is vail'd in the Old the Old Letter revealed in the new will not beleeve there is any such thing nor without impatience hear the Testimony of those that testifie of it unto him and tell him that he is mistaken 't is not the Lanthorn that enlightens the room as he supposes for that is though transparent yet a dark body of it self that can no more by and of it self without somewhat else i.e. the light to manifest evidence either it self or other things then a stool or chair or any such opacous body like it self but it is another thing within it that shews it self in some measure through it and as the whole room and all things therein are by it most evidently seen when it stands and shines in the room and is severed from it and that its that Light only and not the Lanthorn that can properly challenge to it self that name of Light and that the Lanthorn under no consideration whatsoever whether formally considered in its own proper nature as an instrument made into that form of of a Lanthorn of such materials as Wood Horn Tin Glass or the like nor yet quatenus containing the Light in it either iâ— or can properly be said to be the Light at all but the man will rather vilifie and utterly nullifie the Light for the Lanthorns sake so that men become his enemies for telling him the truth about it and his hand is up and at work against every man whose hand is against his crude conceptions stigmatizing them in Print as poor erroneous foolish Fanatical Knaves Ex. 25.22 deluded Dreamers c. and belying the Light as a meer â—ained imagined peece of business a figment of Fanaticks fanaticisme Enthuss â—isme dotage Ex. 2. s. 32. Nelcio quid vere nihil And moreover if the said man will not only positively assert but also not blush to profess in effect that if the Lanthorn be not to be called the Light he knows not what to call it and thereupon call out to such as deny it to tell and teach him what the Lanthorn is to be called if it be not properly to be called the Light saying you must either call it the Light aut doceat nos aliquis quid dicendum id sit and lastly shall not blush to put himself upon the proof thereof against all that shall gainsay the Lanthorn to be the Light and that in no better then such a piteous either flatly false or foul and fallacious manner as here under followeth viz. 1. The Lanthorn doth sufficiently evidence it self to be the Light therefore most assuredly unquestionably incontroleably infallibly the Lanthorn is the light by which men must see or not at all in which Enthememe the Antecedent is as most assuredly unquestionably uncontroleably infallibly false as I.Os. saying that the Letter doth so evidence it self to be the Light and consequently the Conclusion yet this is I.Os. way p. 68 69. For thou triest it out in these Termes which are the truest though the more thou keepest to them the more false thy Propositions as to the matter asserted in them both are and do appear viz. the Letter the Scriptures the VVriting with every Tittle and Iota that is therein arguing as aforesaid thus The Scriptures do abudantly infallibly incontroleably manifest themselves to be the VVord of God Therefore we know the Scriptures assuredly to bee the Word of God Tr. 1. c. 2. s. 5. c. 4 s. 1 21. Which Argument is fair and not fallacious yet its frame not more fair then its Antecedent flatly false understood as it must be by thee if there be at all such thing as uniformity in thy two Enlish Treatises and not so much noniformity as that we may not safely judge of thy meaning in that word Scriptures in one place by thy own expression and explanation of it in another of the writing or the written Letter and the transcribed Tittles and Iotaes of it the falsity of which Antecedent as uttered in such open termes being not unlikely seen by thy self to be too obvious to be seen by others thou fetchest it about in a way of fallacy acting arguing minus caste but magis cause from this foundation 2. Or else thus viz. The Light in the Lanthorn Tr. 1. c. 4. s. 14. doth evidence it self infallibâ—y to him that is not blinde to be the Light Therefore the Lanthorn is and is assuredly known to be the Light in which the Antecedent is most true but the consequence denied as no less false and fouly fallacious then the other is true and as non-sensical a non
sequitur as t is to say the Light declared of in the Letter is known to bee the Word or Light which is fallacia consequentis yet this is I.Os. way of arguing Viz. By this Light in the Scripture for which we contend doth the Scripture make such a proposition of it self as the Word of God that whoever rejects it doth it at the peril of his eternal ruine Therefore wee know and others may bee assured that the Scripture is the VVord of God In which Argument Mulier formosa superne Definit in piscem The Antecedent is most fair and true let him be Anathema that denies the Light in the Scripture to be the Word of God but the consiquence is fouly false fallacia consequentis and consequently the conclusion for it follows not because the light in the Scripture or VVord of God declared in it is so that therefore the Scripture it self is the Word of God Or else 3. thus viz. That which doth evidence it self to be the light is the light but the Lanthorn the light doth evidence it self to be the Light Therefore wee may assuredly know that the Lanthorn the Light is the Light Which Argument were it urged interrogatively thus viz. Doth not the Lanthorn the Light evidence it self to be the light Therefore is not the Lanthorn the Light were fallacia plurium interrogationum the fallacy whereby one thing is askt of two things at once which is true of one of them but false if affirmed of both but formed positively 't is fallacia either divisionis whereby the Sophister concludeth that to be true of two things joyned together as one which is true of but one of them i.e. of the Light considered figillatim or a part or else petitionis principii or a disputation exfalso supposit is from a false supposition of that which is not or of that to be granted which is not granted but remains as the main matter yet to be proved viz. that the Lanthorn and the Light are all one which yet is the way of I Os. proving the Scriptures to be the Word and Light Tr. 1. c. 4. s. 2. the Scripture or written Word of God and s. 6. The Scripture the Word of God is light therefore we may assuredly know that the Scripture is the Wâ—rd of God Or else 4. Thus making no express mention of the Lanthorn at all which is the main subject that is to be proved to be the Light viz. if the Light doth uncontrolably evidence it self to be the Light then we do infallibly know that the Light is the Light and properly so called But the Light doth uncontroleably evidence it self to be the Light Therefore we infallibly know that the Light is the Light and properly so called which is I.Os. manner of speech sometimes Tr. 1. c. 4. s. 1. the Word of God is furnisht with innate Arguments for the manifestation of it self i e. to be the Word of God So s. 10 11 12 13 14 15. Where ever the Word comes there is a sufficiency of light in it to evidence to all the Authority of God i. â— That its the Word and evidence of truth commending it self to the conscience of men No want of light in the truth it self The Word makes a sufficient proposition of it self where it is leave the Word to men and if it evidence not it self to them it is because they are blinded So Tr 1. c. 2. s. 6. Thy Word is truth S. 14. Over all his Name God magnifies his Word in all which places in an honest way of proof of the Scripture to be the Word of God that term of Scripture should have stood in the stead of that terme the Word of God but then the falseness had been obvious therefore we infallibly know the Word of God is the Word of God and properly so called In which Argument a man may take his choice of fallacies and of two call it which he pleases or both if he will and do him no wrong whose it is for as there is a begging of the grand question in the dispute and a taking it aforehand for granted which is not granted but denied and to be proved viz. That the Lanthorn is the light the Writing the Word which is called Petitio principii so there is a concluding aliud a negato another thing which is owned and not contradicted nor gainsayed viz. that the Light is the Light when the thing denyed and to be proved i.e. that the Lanthorn is the Light the Writing the Word is not affirmed in the conclusion at all which is called ignoratio Elenchi when that is inferred as contradictory to the thing denied which doth in no wise contradict it Or else 5. thus viz. the Lanthornquatenus it contains the Light may be the light Therefore the Lanthorn may be said to be the Light Which Argument is fallacious being a dicto secundum quid ad dictum simplicitor for it follows not in any wise if we should yeeld as we need not that as it contains the light the Lanthorn may be said to be the Light that therefore it may properly be said so to bee much less that the Light is the proper name of the Lanthorn which is that which is undertaken to be proved by I.O. for hee from secundum quid argues and sayes the Letter non respectu literae scriptae as it is Scripture but quatenns c. as it contains the divine truth is the Word of God therefore the Letter is the Word of God simpliciter and the VVord of God is its proper name and nature I say if the said man shall not only flye up thus into the height of falshood in his assertion of the Lanthorn to be the Light the Letter to bee the VVord decrying that altogether which is so indeed but also drive on his proof and evidence thereof in such a sorry way of either down-right falsity or evident fallacy and deceit as this is though I should not dare to deal any otherwise then fairly and openly with this man if I should come to argue all the utter untruths utttered by him about the Lanthorn back again upon as by and by I am to syllogize back upon I.O. his false tales about the Scripture and though I desire not that any man should bee caught with any other then that godly guile whereby Paul caught many out of the deceit yet whether he that deals thus treacherously doth not deserve when he hath done ex lege Talionis to be dealt treacherously withall Isa. 33.1 Let wise men judge and according to their judgement let such fools act and execute which I now am none of among whom Fallentem fallere non est fraus to deceive the deceiver is no deceit However thus much I shall make bold to say of the man aforesaid that t is fit he should bee told barely of his bruitishnes and fully forewarned of both his falsness and his folly that he fall not into the like for the
future and if he be indeed so blinde as he makes himself and so mean of memory as not to remember any name whereby the Lanthorn or Letter can bee called but that name of the light and VVord though himself calls it not the light or word only but by the name of lanthorn letter or Scripture also save that Trapezantius-like who in a long fit of sickness forgot his own name I.O. forgets himself and heeds not that himself often calls the letter as others do by its only due and proper name of letter or Scripture 't is fit he should be plainly told what to call it and minded of it as I here do tell and minde I.O. who calls to the Qua. to tel him what to call the letter that the name of Lanthorn by which though he forget that hee doth so himself doth call the lanthorn and the name of Scripture by which he though heâ— forgets it calls the Scripture is a more proper name then those of light and the Word of God and the most proper names that can possibly bee given to them And if for all this he will obstinately oppose the truth and wilfully wa'k on without wisdome then nescio quid indeed the dotage being so deeply dyed into him that its scare like to depart if he be brayed in a Morter I know not what more to say but Nescioan Anticcyram ratio illidestinet omnem Now I.O. ne Kideas be not so merry about the mouth for such a man there is and nigher to thee too then thou thinkest he is so nigh that thou canst not step an inch from him -- nete quaesiveris extra hee is a well known to thee as any man in thy cloaths and thou canst not bee ignorant of him if thou be not willingly ignorant of thyself yea verily Thou art the man that art found in that folly and falsehood that is aforesaid about the lanthorn and the light as is shewed so abundantly above that there needs little more to be said in proof thereof Tu Dominus Tu vir aut Doceas nos quid sibi vuls santa blateratio mugitus c. what means such a blâ—ating and bellowing out for the letter such a pleading it to be the true light which it doth but plead for such a striving to have it stiled the light and the meer writing and every tittle of it to be called the Word of God which bears in truth caeteris paribus but such a reference to the true light and Word of God respectively as the lanthorn doth to the light of the candle which is set up and held forth in it Quid sibi vuls detestaâ—io execratio tanta c. what means such direful detestation extrâ—am execration and thundring out of little less then Anathama Maranathaes against the light within and word within and all that confess to it as I.O. himself doth too but that hee forgets it and so curses himself by craft Ex. 1. s. 4. as Fantastical foolish deluded Enthusiastical enemies to denyers and reproachers of the Scripture because they deny the letter to bee that light and Word of God which as through a lanthorn glass or vail and not so brightly but more dimly then when viewed with open face as shining in the heart are seen and shew themselves through it siccine se gerunt ministri lucis sicut vosmet vos geritis O ministri literae tantaene a nimis caelestibus irae Quid sibi vuls tanta terminorum transpositio verborum ista tua mutatio mussitatio mangonizatio c. supradicta If there bee not such a man and I.O. be not he teach us I.O. plainly what thou meanest by that peeping and muttering out of thy minde by that mumbling and fumbling in such foul fallacious wayes about things wherein if thou wert not minded to mask over thy meaning that men may not minde too much where thy lame cause halteth nor finde where its false and falters thou mightest have made it fairer in it self I cannot say for the fairer and fuller thy openings of it are the falser and fouler it appears but tenfold fairer to bee seen in its falsness and foulness then now it is tell us what means that mess of medley that Mangonization and mixture thou makest of both thy matter and thy meaning that Tohu Vabohu that tangled and tangling kinde of talk that thy Treatises do consist of wherein not only like him that talks up the lanthorn into the name of the light and talks down the light as nothing thou triest to turn the outside inwards and that which should be uppermost downwards i.e. the light within which is the Truth it self out of doors and the outward letter which is but a Writing of it in its room place power use and name but also in the proof and prosecution of that most subsenseless subversion dost in one place or other one place well compared with another subvert thy self by thy own sayings and unsayings how much more I cannot say but little less I dare say then twenty times over tumbling about like a Bull in a net turning things to and fro transposing thy termes and introducing the prime praedicate in place of its own prime subject one while using the terme Scripture Letter Writing which witness thy â—itle pages is the sole subject expected by thy Reader according to thy intimation of no less to be proved to be the Word of God and treated on without varying from it under that terme of Scripture Letter Writing other while in thy very Argumentation for the Truth of thy untrue affirmation which is that the Scripture in esse both reali cognoscibili is the Word and in answer to that queston how is it known that the Scripture is the Word of God promiscuously putting all these termes viz Book Faith Bible Truth Writing Doctrine Letter Light Scripture Word of God Declaration minde will of God and things declared together again as if 't were already out of question which is the matter in question that these are all one thing and termes Synonymous and compounding and confounding them into one Chaos or lump of confusion chopping and changing popping out and pulling in mounting up and then dropping down as if thou wert sensible of being got too high then hiding they head again and there as those that are afraid out of their close places moving out of thy ho'e as a worm of the earth and twining every way fair or soul to secure the main chance and to make good thy bad cause and carry what thou contendest for which yet when all 's done beside the getting to thy self among seeing men the blot of blindness ignorance weakness folly falshood fallacy and confusion thou wilt which way soever thou orderest or disorderest thy Arguments for it even by thy own Management of it bee on the losing hand till at last thou hast lost it altogether for though thou makest as much of it to the utmost as another can well do that hath taken
melius c. for woe unto him that ever he was born if he repent not of it but run from him to the Letter which doth but testifie of him and call to him in the reading and searching of which if he think he hears Christs voice and Gods voice truly then the Scribes that read the Scripture as much as hee could not be truly reprov'd Ioh. 5. as not hearing it as they are by Christ And 2. I shall think hee is not only without his sense of spiritual hearing but as 't is shewed above of others in the like case not so well as he ought to be in his natural wits and understanding And as to that 2 Pet. 1.19 which I insisted so lately and so largely upon above if there were the weight of one half grain in it towards the turning of the scales to his purpose I would weigh it once again but he that shall say these words We have a more sure word of Prophesie to which yee do well if yee take heed as unto a light shining in a dark place till the day dawn and day star arise in your hearts hath ought in it if the Letter of Scripture were there meant as I have shewed it is not to prove there must bee no more Scripture written as from the Spirit after that verse was written on pain of damnation as I.O. doth for that 's his drift in quoting it doth no more condemne the Qua. by that Text of Peter then he damn Iohn himself whose Revelation was written as by the Spirit no little while after that As to that 1 Cor. 4.5 spoken to once before where I met with it Ex. 3. s. 28. yet twice here cited by I.O. to the self-same purpose as before from which because Paul there sayes hee would have none think of him and Apollos above what he wrote of himself and him as no more however Idolized by the Church then meer Ministers by whom they beleeved I.O. concludes there must be no addition of more Scripture to his Canon Rep. If any man be minded to look so long till hee finde a pin in a pack of wool which he may sooner do if lost there then finde I.Os. conclusion coming from the Text aforesaid let him look till he is weary for mee who will meddle no more with that And the same summarily and in short say I of 2 Pet. 2.18 another Text of I.Os. urging For when they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonness those that were clean escaped from them who live in errour Rep. He that will spend so much time as to study on that Text till hee can duely draw either of these Doctrines from it viz that the holy Spirit downrightly damns 1. All addings whatsoever of more Scripture or writing as from the Spirit to that Scripture now in the Bible which our Clergy calls their Canon And 2. All the wayes and means of knowing God and of communion with him even that internal Spirit and light in the conscience to use I Os. phrase boasted of by the Qua. as in some measure communicated to all men shall most assuredly have his labour for his pains The same may be said of 1 Ioh. 5.1 Beloved beleeve not every spirit but try the spirits whether they he of God or no for many false Prophets are gone out into the world Rep. What damnation is thundred out here at all to the Adding of any thing or Revelation that is true to the outward Writing or Scripture where the Scripture is neither talked on nor intended he talks of Spirits there and not Letters much more what follows thence to the condemnation of the inward light and spirit the Qua. talk of call to live and walk and hold communion with God in now according to the counsel of the Scriptures as Abel Noah and all holy men of God did from the beginning before the Scripture was Is this to adde to the Scripture and to fall under condemnation from that Scripture and from that Text too as Adders to the Scripture to hold forth preach publish in the movings of the Spirit and therein also to commit to writing the holy Truths revealed in the Light and Spirit of God they obey and walk in and to call men by Voice Scripture or Writing as they are moved to live and beleeve in the Light to walk not after flesh but the holy Spirit of God in them which reproves them of sin and lusts against their flesh as they did of old who wrote in the same Light and Spirit of God that outward Scripture ye more scrible for then walk by so long as ye walk not by the Light and Spirit as it bids you doth not the Scripture call to beleeve and walk in the Light and Spirit and not in the darkness and in the flesh and where is that Spirit and Light is it not within in the heart where the flesh and darkness dwells which lust against it And for as much as thou sayest here the Spirit damns all wayes and means of knowing God and communion with him beside the Scripture O thou Elymas Wilt thou not cease to pervert the right wayes of the Lord Doth not the Scripture and Spirit of God by it rather down rightly damn all them out of al' communion with God let them jactitare joy and boast never so much of their having the Scriptures that walk not in the said Light the Qua. testifie to which thy self only contrarily both to the Scriptures and sound reason and Gods Spirit also damnest down as Diabolical to the Pit of hell who yet sometimes again confessest it to be of God and Gods voice in nature by which he reveals his minde to men and that infallibly without the least contribution of strength or assistance from without and therefore surely without a Letter ad exera p 42 43 44 45 46. yea and rejectest with abhorrency and detestation Ex. 3. s. 28 Doth not the Spirit by the Scripture condemn them for Lyars and such are all the formal Professors of the Letter that have got the good words to talk on for hire and make a trade of whose portion is the Lake while they are not under the power of the Light but hate it and the holders of it out that pretend to communion with God out of the Light and own 's it any other way or means of fellowship with God but the light saying 1 Iob. 1 4 5 6 7. God is light and in him is no darkness at all if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship together and the blood of his Son cleanseth us from all sin dost not thou then instead of light walk in obscurity instead of brightness in darkness it self dost thou not grope for the wall yet like the blind as if thou hadst no
that beleeves not both beleeves neither But what of that what follows hence this quoth I O. for that is the very end hee infers this Text for and the very conclusion he infers from it viz. that Moses writings of Christ are more sure and of greater certainty as to the Churches use then Christs own words from his own mouth or then Christs Revelations of Gods minds to men as revealed to him from the mouth of God from the very bosome of the Father Siccine Itane is it so I O. indeed what the ouâ—â—ard remotely transcribed Copies of the writings of the Old servant that put a vail over his face too and spake so darkly in types and figures and shews and shadows that 't was hard to behold stedfastly to what end he spake more plain and stedfast and sure and certain then the immediate Voice Words Revelations of the Son himself whom Moses called to hear as coming and speaking more distinctly out of the very bosome of the Father O the dotage of our Vniversity Doctors the dimness of our Divines who profess to dive daily and deeply into the Scriptures that make the dark Writings and dead Letter and servant more clear and worthy and useful to the Church then the express Voice and Words of the Son which are Spirit and life it self I shall set but one Scripture to face this fancy of I.O. and so leave and let it stand to the shame of it self and its Father Heb. 3. vers 1. to the 8. See and read it Thus of the first The words of the second are these Be not soon shaken in minde nor troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of the Lord is at hand Rep. The business I.O. cites this in proof of is for this and that next before are of those that are subscribed to that purpose that the certainty of the Scripture is preferred before the certainty of true Revelations and Miracles but which way so much can be drawn unless it be as I.O. draws iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with Cart Ropes from that Text is more then I can tell Paul Silas and Timothy had told them it seems of the coming of the day of God both by Spirit Word and Letter they whose great hope lay in the comming of that day like such as look and long for what they love and are apt to thinke and hope it to be as they would have it did hope it to be nearer hand then it was and fearing left finding it further off then they thought they might bee troubled and shaken in minde and failing in their faith of it he gives them to understand the worst of it that the best might the better help it self that they should not mistake them in their Doctrine about that day as if they had said it was immediately to shine out upon them and so waver in their mindes flag in their faith and be troubled with doubts as if it would never come to them because not so soon as they wisht it might for there was a long night to interpose it self first he wills them withall to remember v. 5. that he told them no less in the Spirit by Word of his mouth as now he doth over again by Letter or Writing when was present with them howbeit as that 's never long that comes at last so that day would come at last to their salvation and destruction of the man of sin who caused the night with the brightness of it Here 's the short and the long of the business of that verse and those about it from which I who can see the Sun can see no such Doctrine follow as I.O. dreamingly draws from it nor one dram of Reason nor the least grain of Assent to his Asasâ—inated Assertion that the Scripture is of more certitude as to the Churches use then any true Revelations Other Arguments I.O. urges why the Light and Spirit cannot bee the Rule c. Therefore the Scripture must be it J.O. That to which we are never no where sent of God that we might learn the knowledge of himself and his will and take direction in our duty that cannot be the Rule Canon Principle or directory of our Faith Learning Knowledge and obedience But we are never no wheresent of God to any inward Light or internal Private spirit c. Therefore c. Les the Fanaticks produce but one place of Scripture wherein we or any are sent to their Rules or directions of faith and obedience and we will not say but they have cause to triumph in earnest but if they speak of their own they are Lyars they bear witness to themselves and their witness is not true Reply As for thy word Private Spirit we deny all leading by any Private Light and Spirit It is the Common Light and Publick Spirit of God which is one and the same in all though not in the same measure and not any thing of our own that we testifie to and profess to follow as our guide It is the gift of Gods grace in us that appears to all bringing salvation which teaches all that are led by it and learn at it to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live godly righteously and soberly here that we intend nor do we so much as pretend to any other inwardlight but that of God in the conscience which though thou foolishly stile it Natural yet thy self be â—rest such an ample testimony to sometimes that we need use no other then thy own words to prove it to be infallibly of God and from him an infallible guide and that we are sent of God to this inward Light Word or Spirit in answer to thy challenge to produce one Scripture I say what need wee produce one Thy own pen if thou l't beleeve it points out almost iâ—numerable places yea all in which the Word of God is said to be preacht publisht multiplied received where the Word nigh in the heart is meant and the outward Scripture that is the declaration of it considered formaliter or as written not at all intended yet for fear thou shouldest not beleeve thy own pen when such Truths drop from it as make against thee and indeed it hath let fall so many untruths pro and cons and fellaries from it that it little deserves to be beleeved by thy self but rather suspected when it writes the truth I am free here to produce some out of many more that might bee produced wherein men are sent in the Scripture if that be of God by whom thou sâ—yest they nunquam nusquam never no where are so sent to the rules and directions we call to which are not any mans own private spirit or fained light or Enthusiasms or dreams as thou dreamest and to the abusing of us to the world out of thy own narrow private light-loathing spirit divinest they are but the Word Light and Spirit of God which is
heavy on themselves is to be seen in a book of E.B. stiled a Word of Reproof where hee mentions about fifty sad examples of Gods vengeance on the Qua enemies where Dean Owen is also marked out for no great good but his excessive pride to which I refer thee And to this very day the Righteous God every morning brings his Righteous Iudgements to light but the unjust knows no shame Another Argument whereby I.O. would prove the Scripture to be the Word of God is on this wise I. O. It will easily appear to any one that never so sleightly reads it that the holy Scripture is by the holy Spirit very often indigitated by that name So p. 117. in every place it avers it self to be the Word of God So p 140. If the Scripture be what it reveals and declares it sef to be it is then unquestionably the Word of the living God for that is prosesseth of it self from the beginning to the ending Reply 1. In proof of thy Minor thou producest Mar. 7.13 which is nothing at all to such a purpose for its the Commandements written which were Gods commands before they were written and we confesâ— to be the Word of God whether they be written or not that are there spoken of under that Term Word of God and not the Writing or Scripture of the Commandements 2. Exer. 1. s. 28 Thou overturnest thy self clear as to thy minor saying thus Where the Word of God is said to be preached published multiplied received in innumerable places almost the Scripture formally considered is not meant nor intended Which is so though I know thou contradictest this again blaming the Qua. because they allow not the Scripture to bee meant in those innumerable places of Scripture where the Word of God is said to bee preached published and received Ex. 〈…〉 then how canst thou say the Spirit in the Scripture calls the Scripture from one end of it to the other calls the Scripture the Word of God and that the Scripture every where calls it self so Another Argument whereby thou wouldest evince the Scripture to bee the Word of life and so the Rule is a certain absolute necessity vel ad esse to the spiritual being of the Saints that thou fanciest to be in the Scripture saying Ex. 3. s. 39. Non pâ—usopuâ—est victâ—â— vestiâ—â—uâ— vitam haeâ—â—animatem traducamus quam Scripâ—utis 〈◊〉 ejuâ— cognitioâ—â— Dei sâ—iliâ—et atque side in dies â—â—udiamur We have not more need of food 〈◊〉 to the natural life then of the Scriptures to the knowledge of God and â—â—â—th and that its evident that the Qua. have with Less danger and loss assayed to fast forty dayes then they can lead a spiritual life free from deadly sins without the Word of God Rep. Without the Word of God I grant it but the Word still is in the heart and is not the Scripture formally or Lieâ—â—er without which thou with shame enough due if thou takest it to thy self sayest men cannot live spiritually without nor free from sin without As if there were no holy spiritual men that did no iniquity as the world doth or that were free from deadly sins before the Letter was What Letter had Abel Enoch Noah righteous and upright men that walked with God in crooked generations to live by and if they lived without the Letter to God is it as impossible to do so now as to live bodily without food that which is necessary ad esse and not bene esse only must be necessary for them as well as us and so the Word of God is which was before the Letter and which they then had who had not the Scripture yea both outwardly inwardly men live by the Word that proceeds out of Gods mouth else outward bread doth not keep men alive bodily Matth. 6. yea every creature that man lives by must be sanctified by that else it s a curse 1 Tim. 4. And for the Qua. fasting forty dayes without hazard There 's a miracle told by I.O. himself concerning the Qua. if that may convince such as look for miracles yet will not men beleeve 2. More Texts there are used and quoted often over and over again in proof of many particulars respectively about the Text or Scripture not one of which either of them truly serves one jot toward the proving of as namely that it is the Word of God and that so assuredly that who receive 〈◊〉 not as so are inexcusable in damnable unbeleef that that is asserted to bee The Rule and Standard The Touchstone of all speakings whatsoever That which pleads its reception not onely in comparison with but in opposition to all other wayes of coming to the knowledge of Gods minds and will the best and most effectual means of bringing men to Repentance That which all faith and repentance is immediately to be grounded upon Thâ—t by which God gives us greater security against all preâ—ences and pleas of unbeleef to the excluding of them and to the enforcing of beleef as a sure foundation for faith to repose it self upon and more moving then any evident miracle That true voice of God which assertains the soul beyond all possibility of mistake That which not only it self to be discerned from al delusions but determines al Doctrines also propos'd to be beleeved whether they be truths of God or cunningly devised fables more then the most signal miracles imaginable more then that greatest of Miracles even Christs Resurrection and otheâ— mans rising with him from the dead more then any voice from heaven it self not only then one counterfeited by men or Satan in the air but then any True voice of God himself speaking to us from heaven as he spake to Moseâ— or as he spake to Christ yea as safely to be rested in as such aâ— any voice coming from heaven with such divine power as to evidence it self 〈◊〉 be of God and to be rested in as such yea giving greater certainty and security then that voice which came to them in the holy Mouns That Moses and the Prophets which who hears not wiâ— not be perswaded to repent though one arise to them from the dead That which as to its certitude is preferr'd before the certitude of even true and miraculous Revelations That beside whiâ—h after the compleating its Canon no new Revelations about the same faith and worship are to be expected or admitted no more 〈◊〉 it as from the Spirit to bee added which is to stand alone as the only most perfeâ—â— Rule inalterable Standard for the trial of all Doctrines Visions Revelation Spirits Gods own not excepted to which we must stand come and are sent alone to stick stedfast and earnestly attend to without hearing or heeding Angel or Spirit without listning to any new blowings or inspirations of the Spirit which is now imited to the Letter though it was once at liberty and had the licence as well since the Letter was written as before
to blow where it listed Ioh. 3. without looking at any light within without walking in any way or using any other means of knowing God of having or holding fellowship or communion with him which was wont to be only in the light 1 Ioh. 1. but that of the Scriptures on pain of rejection and heavy damnation from God own Spirit in the Scripture In a word That Law and Testimony which alone is to be consulted with in all doubtful cases to which God calls from our seeking and attending Pythonibus aut Aryolis qui pipiunt qui mussitant to Wizards and familiar spirits that peep and that mutter yea that very word there spoken of Isa. 8. which whoever speaks not according to these is no light to him I say the two Texts abovesaid are not only frequently cited and recited in evidence of these various and sundry particulars but also judged by J.O. to be such sure grounds Hercules pillars firm props and principles as are not only satisfactory to mens consciences but sufficient to stand that way he draws them against all mens objections so that relying thereon men have a sure bottome and foundation for their receiving all the other Scriptures so assuredly as the Word of God and consequently all that that it abovesaid that who even from thence even from these Text own them not in that manner as such are left inexcusable in their dammâ—ble 〈◊〉 p. 56. That therefore the utter in â—onsequence of J.Os. deductions from them which are meer non sequiâ—â—â—s may the more plainly appear I shall letting fall J.Os. other trifling Arguments and sidling Replies to what the Qua. urge on behalf of the light of inartificial Arguments as himself calls them draw them into the form of artificial ones and express the manner of his illegal inferences from them which is in such wiâ—e as here under follows We are by that Text in Isa. 8.19 20. sent to the Law and to the Testimony to try what evâ—y Churches or persons speak about the things of God his will worship or our obedience to him who if they speak not according to that Word there is no light in them Therefore 't is evident that the Scriptures are the Word of God and consequently all that that is abovesaid The second viz. Christ Luke 16.31 bids men attend not looking for Miracles to Moses and the Prophets the written Word as the best and most effectual means to bring to repentance and which all faith and repentance is immediately grounded upon Therefore the Scriptures are evidently the Word of God c. Rep. In which two Arguments thou reasonest in Print well nigh as ridiculously as he works in Paint who doth Humano capiti cervicem jungere equinam For the head of the corner is strait sound and sure the body of the building upon it corrupt and crooked weak and rotten That we are sent to the Law and Testimony to that Word there talkt of and intended and to Moses and the Prophets and that that Law Testimony and Word that Moses and the Prophets spake of in those two Texts is that Word that is the true touchstone of all truth a greater ground for faith and repentance to be founded on then that of Miracles and a more sure stable firm fixt stedfast or standing Word then the voice which came from heaven all this I do not in the least deny but that the bare outward Writing which thou falsely callest the Written word and the external 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as at first written much more the present transcribed Copies of that Letter much more yet every Letter Tittle and Iota of it which thou keepest such a tatling for to be no less then the Word of the living God is that Law Testimony Moses and the Prophets or written Word as thou callest it intended in those two Texts or that by these termes in those two places is meant the said outward Scriptures and lastly most of all that it follows by any good consequence from those two places by such sound deduction as will stand against all objections gives such assurance thereof that he is a damnable unbeleever that beâ—eeves not from thence that the said Letter and Letters are infallibly known to bee the Word of God and the rest above said which are the things by thee inferred from them all this I both do and dare deny For the Law that in Isaiah is spoken of is not the literal Copy nor outward legible Letter that thou pleadest for and divinest it is but another Law which I see by thee thou art not yet very much ver'st in nor used to read even that in the heart not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Letter of a Law of carnal Commandements not the formal Letter or literal form of a writing without but an inwardly written spiritual Law or Light within which is the power of the endless life that Law in mens mindes which is warred against by that Law of sin and death that dwells in their members The Law in the Spirit lusting against that and lusted against by that flesh or evil spirit that is also in men lusting unto envy and all evill the Law of the Spirit of life which is by Christ Iesus that is powerful to that which the Letter or Copy thereof which is figuratively called the Law is weak to cannot do viz. to deliver such as take heed thereunto from that Law of sin aforesaid that leads men captive unto death The Commandement that is a Lamp and not a dark Lanthorn p. 6.23 the Law that is the Light it self that leads to the life it self for so that of the Spirit doth and not the dead Letter that is used instrumentally as a knife to kill but in any wise cannot quicken And that Testimony or Witness is that Testimony of Iesus which they have hear that keep the Commandements of God even the Light in the conscience as aforesaid This Testimony of Iesus who is the true and faithful Witness of God of whom also God himself testifieth and beareth witness is Jesus his own Witness or testimony for God born by his own voice and writing by his own Spirit and light immediately in the heart who there testifyeth what he hath seen and heard of the Father though few such a thou art receive not his Testimony whose light voice spirit speakings and counsel from heaven in their own hearts who so turns away from and hears not in all things is none of his sheep but shall be condemned and cut off from among his people and not the testimony or witness of men in outward Writings or Letters testifying though as moved by him what they have seen and heard from him not that Scripture thou so wâ—itest for and callest the witness of God for that of God is far greater the Testimony of Iesus is a Letter indeed a Writing and an Epistle Prophesie yet not the outward Writings Letter and Copies of the Epistles and Prophesies of
another that as the most must needs be false so 't is enough to confound and amaze mens minds they are so many to meddle to finde which is true among their meanings and to set a man out of his own senses to set himself so several are they to seek out their several senses on the Scriptures many bumbling Volumes larger then the Bible it self being written or some one Text of Sripture Is it for want of power or efficacy in the Letter Yea that is one reason for howbeit I.O. sayes It is absolutely called the power of God and effectual to salvation yet to his own confutation I. O sayes the Letter is dead and without the Spirit of no efficacy for the good of souls But another and that not the least is because they live in Rebellion against the light which while they turn not to though Moses is read and the Prophets also and all the Letter or Old Testament yet the Vail remaineth over Moses and the Prophets faces and as over the Iewes over the heart of these Christians also which Vail is done away only in Christ and in turning to his Light and the Spirit within their minds are blinded being off from the Light so that they know neither Christ nor Moses nor the Voyces of the Prophets that are so often read which through ignorance they fulfill as the Iews did in condemning Christ and putting him to open shame in his Light Doctrine and Disciples Nevertheless if their heart shall yet turn to the Lord that Spirit and to his Light which is within that vail shall be taken away and they shall see with open face behold the glory of God and be changed into his Image be led indeed to that true Repentance that is never to be repented of but if they continue in their unbeleef in the Light and their hearturn not to the Lord in and by the Light in the time and space that is given them for that Repentance yet at least the face of the covering that is now cast over all people and the vail that is yet spread over all Nations shall be so far removed and destroyed at last that there shall be repentance enough to no purpose when it is too late when the Gulph is once fixed and Abraham is seen by these rich worldlings and Belly-gods afar or and Lazarus in his bosome when every eye that look's for him shall see him who now cometh in the Clouds and they also that have pierced him and all Kindreds of the earth that are no kin to him shall wail because of him Even so AMEN The Fourth Apologeticall and Expostulatory Exercitation CHAP. I. NOw to proceed in way of answer to I. O's Arguments for the Scriptures and Letter and Book and Bible and Texts and outward Writings of Moses and the Prophets as the onely Rule in alterable Standard now compleated Canon Touchstone of all Truth to which since its close and consignation after Iohn had written no new Revelations Writings or Scriptures of the old Truth as from the old Spirit of it are to be added no immediate manifestations inspirations motions missions from God as of old to be expected or if pretended to be admitted or owned but to be damned down as Delusion Fanaticism Enthusiasm Quakerism Diabolism vain uncertain unprofitable fancy figment detestable meraae tenebrae caecitas fines salutares quod attinet as to salvation meere darknesse and blindnesse it self and what not that 's naught Seeing it is so as abovesaid that all these false Prophets and Divines can prevail no further then to tangle and hamper and hinder men and to hide the truth by that hideous heap of unharmoneous Heterogeneous Heterodox more then Orthodox volumes of Divinity and to smoother darken confound and drive men away from the naked truth and draw them off from the Scriptures themselves that are plain and cleare to honest and plain-hearted men by their Smoak and Clouds and Circumferences and by that boundlesse bottomlesse incomprehensible chafly Chaos of their contradictory and confused Commentaryes with which the world is now burdened even beyond what it can well bear and contain sith I say there 's none to guide these poor erring lost perishing and as yet more deformed then reformed Nations into the life of God and power of godlinesse from which they are alienated because of the blindnesse of their hearts among all the Sons whom they have brought forth Isa. 51.18 Neither any that can take them by the hand and lead them in the true way of eternall life of all the Sons whom they have brought up at their Vniversities who sit together with them under the shaddow of death notwithstanding all their Tumbling ore of so many Tames about the Scripture is it then for want of true Prophets or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men divinely inspired and sent of God to call people to Repentance and to turn them to that light of God within that leads to Repentance by voice and writing to them as them elves have had the true way thereof manifested in them by the light as themselves being taught of God have learned and practiced it and are moved of the holy Spirit to preach and presse the practice of it upon others according to the scope of the Scriptures No! For there are many in England at this very day speaking reproving writing and prophecyâ—ng from the same light and by the same Spirit that the Scriptures came forth from and as themselves have received and heard from the voice and mouth of God and seen felt and handled of the word of life as the Prophets Amos 7. and the Messengers and Ministers of God and Christ of old Act. 26.16 17 18. 1 Ioh. 1.1 2 3 4 c. The Spirit of the Lord is not more straitned in these days from blowing where it lists then it was in the dayes of old howbeit because it lists not much as it never did to blow upon or inspire the learned Scribes Hypocritical Pharisees chief Priests aspiring Rabbies Divinity Doctors Proud Diotrepheses preheminence loving Praters hireling Preachers Fawning prudentiall Parasites Politicall Polliticians and such like but mostly upon a meaner sort of men as to outward account these wise men are most hardly brought to beleive it to be so and so as said the Priests Scribes Pharisees Rabbies and Doctors of old of Moses and the Prophets we own them know them and their Scriptures which yet they knew not nor the power of God We are their Disciples wee 'l stick to their writings that 's our compleat Canon our stable Standard our immutable measure to which nothing must be added and of Christ and his in the dayes of his flesh we know God spake to Moses as for this fellow and his fellows we know not whence he is and whence they are they are of the Devill have a Devill and are mad Why hear ye them they speak blasphemous words against Moses and the Law and this place the holy Temple and
any more accounted on And though this seem such a mervailous matter I.O. in thy eyes and utterly beyond that diminitive belief and that little faith thou hast which if we may believe thy self is for ought thou knowest just none at And what Testimony soever the spirit of God beaves of the Scripture or of the Word of God or of the Gospel or of any anything else to us so as on pain of Gods d spleasure to bind us to the belief thereof it beares it in the hearts of men also as well as in the Scripture though thou say falsly that all it now testifies it testifies in the Scripture and by that onely to the heart and not in the heart immediately by it self or else it requires not the belief of it thou concludest thus viz. And if this be not a â—â—â—teme and foundation of faith and sure enough it is not so if the spirit speak not the same within that it doth without in the Letter then I publickly professe that for ought I know I have no faith at all He that doth not know that he hath any faith may thereby know assuredly that he hath not any all yet must it therefore be such a mervailous thing in the eyes of God and of his people who are not so incredulous of the Scripture as thou art that God should speak with his own mouth to his own people and vouchsase them so much mercy as to heare the joyfull sound of his his own voice and reveale his mind and will to them by his own spirit indeed sometimes he is pleased to speak in one to another as he did much in the Prophets to the Fathers in Paul to the Churches 2 Corin. 13.3 in one Prophet in his Church or two or three to all the rest as he was pleased to move and inspire them by his spirit 1 Cor. 14.24 25 29 30 31. and reveale any thing to them and by his Spirit press them in their spirits and give them utterance to utter it to others yet if any spake as they ought they were to speake as the Oracles of God and to minister not onely as of the ability that God gave and not man bought at University but also as of that which came to them as the Word of God uttered by his own voice in their hearts from his mouth out of the holy Oracle of God 1 Pet. 4.11 when he so speaks his voice is known and owned by his own who own not the voice of strangers when their tongues run before their wits out of their time to tell talk in words of the self-fame truth which but by bare hearesay they know not and at this day he speaks out in his servants to people and to you Scribes that search the Scriptures who call on you to heare what hee saith in you though as your forefathers John the fifth you have not at any time in your selves heard his voice which if it were the Letter you have often heard that read nor yet heeded such as spake to you from him in whom he speaks But doth all this exclude God from speaking when and what he pleases to any or every man immediately within his heart Was there ever any age wherein he debarred himself from this unlesse in the case of aforesaid wherein he was pleased to hold his peace because men would not hear him but stopt the eare like the deaf adder to what he said because being evil doers they did not like it In which case terras Astraea reliquit is there not a time wherein his very Adversaries that will not hear his voice in order to their own peace shall heare it whether they will or no to their own terrour will not he that fits in heaven as far off as you think that is utter his own voice as the roaring of a lion so loud within their consciences that they shall hear him speake to them in his wrath vex them in his sore displeasure who have vexed his spirit And do not the people of God though you do not hear what God the Lord himself will speak And will he not Psal. 85.8 speak peace to his people and to his Saints And are not such as have ears to hear bid to hear what the Spirit saith not in the Scripture onely for that properly is not a voice though figuratively it may be called so no more than my Letter to a friend in which he may read my minde is truly and properly my voice and our controversie with I. O. is much about proper names but in the heart where to them that hear he speaks the same that by his motion is written in the Scripture And do not Christs people hear his voice who though they may read the Letter too yet in that act can no more properly be said to heare his voice than he properly to hear his Masters voice that is an hundred mile off while he is but reading something or other that was written not by his Master neither but by some other by his approbation or appointment And are we not commanded to hear the welbeloved son of God And is it not dangerous to turn away the eare from him that speaks still from heaven more then to turn away from Moses or the Prophets in whom he spake and who spake but from or by him here on earth And is not Christ theâ— Light of the world that great Prophet who preacheth himself the Gospel in every Creature whose voice whoever heareth not in all things whatever he saith must be cut off from his people And is there not much more in the Scripture itself which sends men not to itself so much as to the hearing of God Christ and the Spirit declared to the same purpose Why then should it be thought an incredible thing with thee I. O. or any else that God should speak to men and manifest himself and what is to be known of him and of his mind to their salvation if they heed it to them now in their own hearts and consciences Doth not God himself speak are yea twice though man perceiveth it not Iob 33.14 Rom. 1 19â— or that Christ should manifest himself in a more speciall manner and measure then to the world who observe not when he speaks nor â—what he commands to his servants that love him and keep his commands or that he should come into them Rev. 3.20 sup abide and be familiar with them and not by the Scripture so much for the world hath that declaration that know him not but by his Spirit of truth which the world receives not but resists though it strives in them and not without onely by the ministration of holy men conviaceth them and preacheth to them as in Noahs dayes not by Noah onely but in their consciences should dwell in them and not in writings and proverbs onely shew them plainly of the Father John 14.17 to 26. John 16.25 Or that any of his people that give
they shall be blessed that sow beside all waters and the soul of the diligent shall thrive and be fat but the soul of the vile person and niggard and of the sluggard shall desire but have nothing yea their Vintage shall faile and their gathering shall not come and their fruitful field shall be turned into a forrest they shall be stript and made bare and sit with sackcloth on their loins and lament for the tears for the pleasant fields and the fruitfull vine and their pallaces shall be forsaken their tents and towers shall be for dâ—ns and that which now is the pasture of wild asses Iob 11.12 Isa. 29.18 24. shall be no more enjoyed by them for ever Isa. 32. Wherefore then â—ayest thou I. O. with Restriction of the Spirits guidance to those first generations thus viz. While the infallible spirit continued his extraordinary guidance and thus viz. guided therein by the infallible direction of the spirit of God and by way of exclusion of after-ages and more expresly of this age thus viz. They were born acted carried out by the Holy Ghost to speake deliver and write c. and suppose a man were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. inspired of God and should professe himself so and were so indeed as the Prophes of old Am. 7. Let me expostulate the case with thee a little about these expressions whereby thou seemest to shut all the past primitive times from any participation of the movings and actings of the Spirit as those that have neither part nor portion in that matter of his infallible guidance and direction First then not denying what Christ himself foretold Iohn â—4 28 30. Iohn 16.16 viz. That he would go away for a while and his Disciples should not see him and the Prince of this world which hath nothing in him should come and interpose himself to the great interception of that primitive Communion the Saints then had with him and his Spirit so that he would not have very much talk with them thereafter let me ask thee this much Did he say he would leave them for ever and never have any talk or words with them more then what they should find of his written in the Scriptures of such as should write some few things and a little of that much which they knew of his minde Did he say he should not speake at all not so much as by his Spirt Nay rather did he not say that so soon as his fleshly pretence was withdrawn he would send the holy Spirit himselfe the comforter to supply the room of that personall and bodily appearance wherein he then stood among them which they were so in love with and so loath to part with that they were ready well-nigh to dote so upon it as to let sorrow fill their hearts to think they should be utterly without his tuition as sheep without a shepherd if that should vanish and be removed In the departure and absence of which notwithstanding he told them it would be never the worse but much the better and more expedient for them For if I goe away saith he the Comforter cannot come but if I go I will send him unto you which Comforter was himselfe in Spirit the presence of which in the heart gives nearer acquaintance and fellowship with Christ and the Father then his abode among them their sight of him in the flesh could possibly do for the sight of him in the flesh the world may have and had which is to little effect if the other be wanting but his presence in the Spirit is that which is of Power and Efficacy though yet in two different wayes viz. of bare conviction or condemnation to the one and refreshment and consolation to the other both to the World and to the Saints though there be no sight of him as in the flesh any more by either I will send the Holy spirit the comforter to you saith he and he shall convince or reprove the world also Doth Christ therefore say he will leave them comfortlesse i.e. Orphans Iohn 14.17 18. deprived utterly of his presence because he said he i.e. in flesh would go away Nay saith he I will come to you i.e. in Spirit the Spirit of truth which dwelleth in you and shall be in you and though the world seeth me no more when I am gone because though the Spirit of Truth be sent into them and is nigh to men even striving preaching reproving in them yet they recieve him not neither see him nor know him yet ye see me and because I live ye shall live also and doth he not say that this spirit of truth should lead and guide them into all truth and bring all things to their remembrance whatever he spakâ— while he was seen in the flesh Which the letter doth not for there were many more things that Iesus spake and did that are not written there so many that if they should be written every one it might be supposed the world could not contain what should be written John 14.26 13 21 25. And howbeit he intimates a more sparing Communion in Spirit with his Dâ—sciples and Church which would be permitted to come to passe by the coming in of the Prince of this world wherein there should not be so much talk as there should be before and would be again after that gloomy day was once over wherein the manifestations of him though as infallible in that small measure wherein they should be made for gradus non variant naturam rei yet as to the measure would not be so great as at other times of which going away and withdrawing even in the spirit also he seemes to speak when he saith A little while and ye shall not see me in which Eclipse the chidren of the night must have a revelling night of rejoycing over the Word and Spirit and Saints sitting in sackcloth and an hour of laughter and merriment at the power of 〈◊〉 its prevailing Iohn 16. to 22. yet doth he say that Eclipse should be â—oâ—aâ—l Was there not some few in every age in whom the Spirit bare a testimony and by whom to the blind world also of little truth And did he not say the Spirit should be in them and abide with them i.e. in the same manner of infallibility in manifestation of whatever he makes known though not in the same measure of manifestation of the truth even for ever Iohn 14.16 And did he not say that the Spirit of truth should testifie of him when he came and so consequently his testimony must be with his Disciples and Church for ever Iohn 15.26 Which testimony is not that of the letter which men wrote at his motion as thou falsely supposest for that is mans mediate testimony and not immediately the Spirits any more then the testimony that men bear by word of mouth as they are moved of which in the very next verse i. e. Iohn 15.27 Christ calls their testimony and not the
of things which is Tantamount to infallible Luke 1.1 2 3 4. Act. 1.3 and to have plerophorian full assurance but also Omniscient Omnipotent panta anakcinontes eidontes iscuontes c. And whereas T. D. sayes p. 33. the Apostles themselves did not partake of that Divine property of infallibility giving also this reasonless reason for it viz. for then they would have been infallible at all times and in all things which they were not as appears by the instance of Peter Gal. 2.11 Rep. In this as he contradicts the Scripture so I. O. himself serves us so far as to contradict him to our hands for howbeit he denies any participation of infallibility to us or any Ministers in these dayes and also to the very immediate Transcribers of the Scriptures saying p. 167. we say not they were all or any of them Anamartetoi infallible yet he denies it not to the first Writers p. 60. And as for his proof that if they were infallible at all then they would have been so at all times and in all things That is as pedling a proof as he would count it if I should go to prove that David was not at al partaker of the property of holiness because he was not holy but wicked at that time and in that thing wherein he was desil'd in the matter of Vriah which T. D. would judge as silly an argument as I judge T. Ds. assertion silly who sayes that David was not i â— a condemned but in a justified estate alias accounted just in the sight of God at that time when he was under the guilt of adultery and murder which a wise man need not be taught to see the folly and fowlness of Thus then I. O. and T. D. do unminister themselves at least by denying any to be Theopneustoi infallibly guided by the infallible spirit in these dayes both of whom I may truly bespeak thus Say ye that Gods inspir'd ones are all gone Then ye of Gods inspired ones are none And who that 's wise will mind I. O. much in what he saith about things of God who cannot pretend so far as to say he is but rather yeilds to the contrary viz. that he is not mov'd acted carried forth nor guided in what he does speak write minister by the infallible direction of the infallible Spirit of God but by the fallible guidance of his own and other mens fallible spirits opinions conjectures thoughts c Who but fâ—ols will take such a fallible guide as I. O. is fain to confess he is while he denies any guided by the infallible guidance of Gods Spirit in this age Yea doth he not utterly unminister himself and all his fellows while he supposes none now to be Theopneustoi moved and inspired by the spirit in their ministerial functions nor to speak as the Spirit only gives utterance and as they receive the word immediately out of the mouth of God and while he can say no farther of himself and them but only that they minister out of that furtive furniture which in their fleshly minds they filch from the Letter which out of which and from their fallible expositions of which they minister and of which they are Ministers and not of the Spirit as the Apostles and Prophets were which gives the life And is not he an ill bird that bewrayes his own nest an ill son that discovers his own and his fellows and his fore-fathers nakednesses so far as to print it out as obvious to all that the infallible guidance of the infallible Spirit is not continued with them nor to be found in these dayes directing any otherwise then without by an outward letter which is fallible and lyable to be falsified at fallible mens pleasure and fancy and to deny all inward pure Revelation and immediate inspiration as Enthusiasm and to say that there 's no means of doing and determining any thing about the matters of God or Doctrine of Christ now but the letter or writing T. 1. C. 1. S. 16. and yet in the self-same Section to the contradicting of himself to say that that Doctrine and these things of God and Christ are things of pure divine revelation the knowledge whereof depends upon no such fallible thing as all outward writing is now by his own confession but wholly solely on their Revelation from God And what difference is there I.O. between such a one as is pheromenos upo tou pneumatos and one agâ—menos or to whom the Spirit of the Lord is odegos or egoumenos are not all these so neer kin that he who is agomenos is pheromenos Is not he who is led guided acted by the Spirit moved and carried forth by the Spirit And are not all Saints led by it And what difference between one that speaks as moved by the Spirit or as the Spirit gives utterance and one that hath it given him by the Spirit what to speak so that he need not premeditate what to say And have not all the Saints and Disciples of Christ a share and part in that promise of having it given them what to speak at the same houre when they are call'd before Rulers and Governours for Christs sake Mat. 10.18 19 20. and what between one that is divinely inspired to speak and one in whom the Spirit of the Father speaketh Is it not intended of all Gods children and Christs Disciples in the case aforesaid as well as of some when it s said It is not you that speak but the Spirit of the Father which speaketh in you And is it not said of all that Prophesie in the Church of God as all are to covet to do and are in capability to come to do and may do one by one as they grow in the Spirit and have any thing revealed to them as they sit before the Lord in which caâ—e they are to give way to each other that the unbelievers and unlearn'd ones in the mysteries and language of the Spirit and such are ye that surseiting with your inferiour literature out of the Light and Spirit in which holy men wrote it ly looking in the letter of the Scriptures which ye know not as the old Scribes did not Mat. 22.29 but wrest to your own ruine O insipidi sapientes obtus Acuti Academici quae supra vos nihit ad vos in the account of Christ Paul and Peter as unlearned as Christ himself was with some and as very Babler as Paul was at Athens as unlearned as Peter was counted by the chief Priests Scribes when he and Iohn stood before them Acts 4.13 2 Pet. 3.16 being convinced and judged of them all and having the secrets of their hearts manifested shall be forced to their own shame to fall down and report at last that God is in them of a truth 1 Cor. 14.23 24 25. And what difference is there that can help thy cause between pneumaticos and Theopneustos a spiritual man and one by the Spirit inspired or a
at knees with Rings or Ribbons and Aprons of Points and costly if not golden Buttons and such like Garments gay and gorgeous attire neither is it so much of that fine linnen their Bishop-like Boot-tâ—ps and double Cuffs are cut out of as of that which is the Righteousness of the Saints by reason of which these as internally golden as externally earthen vessels that bear Gods Name and bring his heavenly Treasure are ill treated turned out and trampled on by both themselves and the people of those guilded high super-celestial earthly minded empty Carks that ever sound the loudest among their shallow waters which make such a noise together with them that the still small voice wherein God is can come at no audience 1 King 19.12 13. Ecclus. 9.14 15 16 17 18. These not bearing such a broad bulk as the other nor bringing so much of that all sorts of externall excellencie and ornament as the other doe which commends their persons though never the more to God nor good men yet to men that have not Christs mind but being many of them as Christ was of low outward birth and education and till he was sent to preach a Carpenter by occupation Mark 6.3 Amos's that by the Priests good will should never come so near the Kings Chappels and Princes Courts as of late some have been admitted to do by such Rulers as will never repent of the admittance of them into their presence if they repent from what wayes soever the light within them manifests to be evill as they are advised to do by such of the Lights Children as the Lord at any time sends unto them Amos 7.10 11 12 13 14 15. Aquila's and Priscilla's Phebe's Prophecyers by the Spirit of both Sexer Sons and Daughters Servants and Handmaids as to the lower sort of literature unlearned Iames's Peter's Iohn's few of the Priesthoods function as Ieremie and Ezekiel once were for as many Priests as were obedient to the faith at first I find few or none of them that came forth to be Prophets and few Lawyers or Learned ones of any sort unless in some handicraft employments one able Paul well skill'd in the Law brought up at the feet of Gamaliel an indifferent honest Doctor at the Law very dark and doubting yet more moderate then his fellows Acts 5.34 38 39. 22.3 which Paul was a kind of Pursievant to the chief Priests till he became a Preacher of what he ignorantly persecuted before Acts 9.1 2 c. and then turned Tentmaker for his living Acts 38.3 Likewise Zenas another Lawyer at least a Disciple And Luke an honest Physitian that wrote some of the Acts of Christ and of some of the Apostles of Paul especially whom he travelled much with one Apâ—â—â—os eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures Acts 18.24 Col. 4.14 Tit. 2.12 One Mathew an Officer in the Custome-hense and the rest for the most part of the inferiour sort as they are at this day few or no Rulers of the Pharisees some rich wise mâ—ghty noble not many the rest mostly Tradesmâ—n some such as I. O. speaks of in a place fore-cited Baâ—bers Porters perhaps some Alehouse-keepers why not the Calling being as honest in it self as that of Gaâ—us the Churches Host or any other Inne-keeper though often much abused as what Trade is not when evill men manage it Carpenters Shoemakers Taylors Tentmakers Tributegarberers but no Tithmongers that I yet know of Shop-keepers as Lydia an honest Purple-seller that lived at Philippi and kept shop or market at Thiaâ—yâ—a Shepherds Heardsmen Husbandmen Farmers Fishermen out of all or most of which sorts Christ makes some Fishers of men in these dayes while the Popish Parish Priests and other flaunting unclean spirited spirituall men fishall their dayes and get nothing but unclean croking Frogs like themselves Rev. 16.13 14. Howbeit it is but few that receive the true Faith because such as broach it bring little or nothing with it of that outward pomp that people look for at the Kingdâ—mes coming And so Sinihil attuleris ibis Homere Fâ—ras 4. Partly both Priestâ— and Peoples iâ—câ—gitancy â—scitancy non observation of it that the Kingdome comes not with so much outward observaâ—ion and sumptuâ—us shows as they seek after and as the Kingdomes of this world come with but with all its glory which the Saints see in Christ and the Spouse when the world doth nor Psal. 45.13 Iohn 1. lyes more inward then men are ware of viz. in righteousness peace with God and joy in the holy Spirit a little thing a grain of Mustard-seed at first though to be at last the greatest among the Hearbs and so they dâ—spise the day of small things though it tend to the greatest good and truest glory They consider not no not when they read the very writing which is their own Rule as the Iews did not when Moses was read the vail being over his face and their hearts what the Scripture itself saith but in their lâ—ftiness and lordly minds which fly up above the Light overlook the lowly mind of Christ in the very Scriptures they to themselves seem to be so much skilled in they heed it not when in it God declares that out of the mouth of Babes he will perfect his own pâ—aisâ— Psal. 8.2 Matth. 21.16 that 't is not by such a fierce people as are for five and faggot as Papists are and carnall weapons Prisons and other punishments as I. O. is to defend Truth by nor by a people of a deeper speech then can well be understood by plain honest hearts as the Scribes and Disputers of this world but by stammering lips and another tongue then that they think of in which all are Riddles and Parables to them he will speak to people and especially to such as hearing will not hear and seeing will not see when things are plain that hearing they may not hear yea that such may go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken Isai. 28.9 to 14. Isai. 33.18 19. 1 Cor. 14.21 and that it is that foolishnesse of preaching as it is called by such as perish that God is pleased to save such by as will bâ—lieve that he will destroy the wisdome of the wise and bring to nought the understanding of the prudent and turn wise men backward and make their knowledge foolish and frustrate the tokens of the Lyars and lead Councellours away spoiled and make the Iudges fools and remove away the speech of the trusty and take away the understanding of the aged and take away the heart of the chief of the earth and cause them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way and make them greap without light and stagger like a drunken man and befool the Princes of Zoan and caâ—â—â— the counsel of the wise Councellors of Pharoah to become bruitish and decâ—ive the Princes of Noph that have seduced and been the stay of the Tribes thereof and mingle a perverse spirit among them
spoils them Souls and Bodies and nought to be deceived of but deceit and darkness it self yet they are ever noysing it out Deceit Deceit by means of which unanimous out-cryes and simultaneous sounds of these Heterogeneous multaneous multanimous false Prophets drowning the still voice of Wâ—sdome which yet cryes aloud too and uttereth her voice to these simple scorners in their streets Pro. 1. It is not heard nor heeded though the Wisdome of God send them now as of old he did to the like Generation of evil doers Matth. 23.34 Luke 11.49.50 Prophets and Apostles and wise mâ—n and Scribes yet some of them they even kill and some of them they imprison and persecute out of their Synagogues and some they stone dirt and bemire not only with their belying lips and pens but also their merciless hands the dark places of the earth Cathedrals Monasteries Abbeys Academies Colledges being ever full of the habitations of cruelty Ps. and some they sorely whip and scourge supposing they do God service in all this Iohn 16.2 that the righteous blood of all the Prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may come upon them which verily is to be required both of this and in this present evil Generation For the Lord is now in earnest bending Iudah for himself and filling the bow with Ephraim and raising up the Academically-unlearned sons of Sion against those sons of Greek and making them as the Sword of a mighty man in his own hand to do vengeance on those heathenish nursing Mothers and to punish not only all others but more especially their Pope-like Priests and people to bind their Kings in chains and their Nobles with fetters of iron to execute on them the Iudgement written in the Scripture itself they scribble about far more then they are skill'd in it to speak to those Drunkards with the wine of their own wisdome with stammering lips and another Tongue then any they can talk in or understand by precept upon precept line upon line here a little and there a little that they may go backward and stumble and fall and be broken and snared and taken and to reject those Greeks that seek so much after mans wisdome in the promulgation of the things of God to whom the Cross of Christ is foolishness and to reject those Scribes and Disputers of this world and by that preaching which to them is foolishness itself to make their wisdome foolish and to chuse out foolish weak base things and persons even Laicks Mechanicks Rusticks Russet-Rabbies as they term them even Babes Bablers and such as Are not in their eyes to confound and bring to naught these mighty wise and prudent ones that Are and to draw the night and darkness over those dreaming Diviners that they shall no more divine what things and strange acts are transacting in this time and to cause the Sun to set upon their learned Seers that scoffingly call to the Qua. out of their Mount Seir Watchman What of the night So that the Vision of all both to them and their unlearned people that live upon their lips shall be as a book seaâ—ed and to search out the hidden things of those Lord Esau's that hunt abroad for their learning and to supplant them by his plain honest-hearted Iacobs that dwell and learn truth at home in their own Tents and to cover Aegypt with a Cloud and to mingle a perverse spirit among her Ministers and to manifest the folly of these Iannes and Iambres that resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the Faith as he did theirs that withstood Moses of old and to leave the Princes of Zoan to become fools and the counsel of these wise Councellors of Pharoah to become bruitish so that it shall be said of them as of old Iâ—a 19. Where are they Where are the wise men Let them tell now let them know what the Lord of Hosts hath purposed upon AEgypt yea surely these Princes of Zoan are already become fools the Princes of Nâ—pâ— are deceived They have also seduced AEgypt even they that Tribe that is the stay of the Tribes thereof and to divide in Iacob that Tripâ—Lâ— Tribe of Levi whose anger and wrath is cursed for it hath been cruel and as they have scattered the Israel of God so to scatter them in his Israel and to set these â—oâ—sheards of the earth to drive with each other about their own foundation and to râ—ze their own Babel to the ground and to break themselves to pieces one against another like a Potters Vesselâ— so that in the bursting thereof there shall not be left at last so much as a sheard fit to use to take fire from the hearth or water withall from the piâ— and to render all the works and voluminous Tomes of these Turners of his things upside down of no better esteem among men then the Potters claâ— and to take all these subtil foxes in their own craftiness both the great and the little oneâ— that Spoil his Vine which bath tender Grapes and hurt the cluster or gatherings of the Saints together in which is the New Wine and the Blessing and to unhoâ—se this Tripple-crown'd Harlot that hath so long rode and at upon both Powers and their people her nursing Mothers of lâ—arning true Religion and piety in pretence but in truth of all ignorance superstition and abomination and to call to account the whole Ct Clergy upon which a Consumption is determined throughout the earth and to summon both the Pope and his Cardinals Mount Seigniors Iesuites Monks Fâ—yers and also all Arch-bishops Bishops Arch-deacons Deans and their Officials also all Parsons Vicars Curates and all Spiritual Persons whatsoever also all learned Linguists Scribes Text-men Translators Commentators Tâ—eaters Tythe-Teachers Talkers of Truth for their own turns and Tradâ—râ— out of the Scriptures profit-seeking Prophets and Pastors that for pay have made a prey of his people and to plead with them for his flock and to come down to fight for Mount Sion and for the hill thereof and to Roar through the mouths of his Prophets against these many sorts of Shepherds that are now so loud and full of noyses and clamours to keep their flocks from fleeing from them crying out Heresie beresie Schism Quakeâ—ism Fanaticism c. and to scatter their people from them and to gather his own sheep into his Fold whom they have driven to and fro from mountain to hill in the dark and gloomy day and to take their prey from the midst of them and like a Lion roaring on his prey when a multitude of Shepherds is call'd forth against him he will not be afraid of their â—ice nor abase himself for the noyse of them In a word to stretch out his hand so strongly against them all that those powers and people that helpe them shall fall and those Priests Universities Doctors Schollars and other Students there that are holpen by the earthly powers shall fall and they all
Tâ—mbs R. Bax. dark conceits to the contrary which is sufficient to bring them that follow it to Salvation but only that it s not attended to And this together with that about the Letter above spoken to which ye lay as your chief foundation being the chief matters at first intended by me to be controverted with I.O. but that well nigh at my beginning in carnest to enter the Lists with him T. Ds. two young Cubâ— one some while after another coming out upon me occasioned me to make many an extravagant vagary after them into some other doctrinal accountative and narrative businesses for the Truths sake more then my own that people might no longer unless they will be led aside from it by his lyes and guâ—â—'d with his guilded glosses and counterfeit colours wherewith â—he â—awbs and smooths and sooths them up in sin and sinister suâ—mizes against the truth and the tellers of it in the points abovesaid and covers himself and his false doctrines of Iustification of Saints in Sin personal Election of all but a very few non-puâ—gation from sin in this life and sundry others either more directly and largely as that of Iustification or more briefly occasionally or but interlinearily resured before in which I.O. is as co-incident with him as he with I.O. in the rest I shall now betake my self to some more single though short Animadversion thereof as it lies in difference between the Qua. who hold it out for truth and I.O. T.D. I.T.R.B. and the owners of their books extant in which they oppose the Qua. in print very much if not more then in any other whatsoever and so I shall have done with them both at this time And first I shall begin with T.D. his two Do-littles and take account of his mighty weak mannagement of his many meanings as to that matter of the light against the Qu. of which in many things he means much what as I.O. does and is confused and contradictory to himself not a little about it yet I must needs say not by ten-fold so much as I.O. is in his mad mangâ—nization of his mind in this matter howbeit T.D. as to his Dispute goes clear beside the Question as it was stated about the Light as he did about the Letter and Iustification and strikes much more upon the Anvil then on the iron and yet he gives us the Quest. too at the very beginning to dispute it as he did those two about Iustification and the Scripture as may appear by what follows The Question between the Qua. and T.D. was as he relates p. 1. of his 1. Pamph. viz. Whether every man that cometh into the World be enlightned by Christ which when R H. affirmed T.D. as himself relates replyed thus viz. But what Light is it you intend we grant that every man hath some Light by which he discernes though dimly many sins and duties and severall divine attributes but the mystery of Godliness as it is summ'd up 1. Tim. 3. ult God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit c. we deny that all men have the knowledge of To which Question of T.D. What Light is it you intend When R.H. honestly and truly replyed thus viz. The Light i.e. the Light of Christ about which only the Question was is but one T.D. replies thus viz. The Lights mentioned viz. â—aturall and supernaturall Light are two and though all have the one yet few have the other Rep. 1. Here let all reasonable men judge whether thou T. D. dost not clearly yeild us our Question which was not at all about the measure of the Light whether all have the same measure of it or not for we affirm not that but whether all have some measure of that same light that shines from Christ the light of the world yea or nay not whether all have so much as whereby they actually see all the things of God and the Gospel which are to be seen or arè seen by some but whether every man hath some or no i.e. so much as whereby to discern some of the things of the Spirit of God and the Gospel severall divine Attributes and many duties i.e. so many or such as God requires of him in particular who requires of every one according to the ability and degree of light he giveth and accepteth every one according to what he hath from him and not according to what he hath not which measure walking answerably to they stand excused uncondemned alias justified in the sight of God but rebelling against stand accused or condemned and this T.D. thon consentest to and affirmest with us so clearly that all thy after dispute upon it does not fetch that again which thou grantest to us it being about another Question of thy own starting which we deny not viz. Whether all have the actuall knowledge of the mystery of the Gospel in the light yea or no For mark We grant sayest thou that every man hath some light i.e. is in some sort enlightened by Christ for thy grant is to the Question above whether by Christ or not or else thy Answer is beside the purpose And besides p. 4. thou denyest not but the Gentiles afore Christ were enlightned by Christ as God though yet to the contradiction of thy self again as if the being enlightned to know and a man knowing were all one thou there sayest they were afarre off from the knowledge of that by whose light be discernes though dimly and how dimly or clearly is nothing to the purpose many sins and duties and several divine attributes In which words thou sayest as much to our purpose as we would desire thee It s ill stumbling at the threshold T. D. at the very entrance of thy work and yet no lesse thou didst again in Limine at the very beginning of our Disputation with thee about the Scriptures being the Word of God as is to be read in thy own Relation of the second dayes work p. 25 26. of 1. Pamph. where thou sayest the Question I promised to discourse upon was Whether the Scriptures were the word of God and that indeed was the Question to which as soon as in answer to thy desires of knowing what I held about it I denyed that the Graphe the Gramma the Scriptures ieâ—te writing or outward text is the Word of God thou repliedst by way of compliance with me saying You cannot believe us so simple surely as to affirm the Scriptures in that sense to be the Word of God And I say if not in that sense then in no sense are they so truly and properly that I know of but I.O. his foresaid non-seâ—sâ— who howbeit he is forced to confess Ex. 1. S. 28.40 to the yielding the cause to the Qua. that the matter contained in it only is said to be so but that the Scripture formally considered or the littera Scripta or letter written is not within and is not intended in those innumerable places of Scripture where the word
rest is the spirituall light and that but naturall which comes from Gods own Light into all mens Consciences which Light they will by no meanes allow to be called spirituall but 〈◊〉 naturall I affirm that to be but the naturall knowledge of the meer Annuall naturall man that is scrued out by the improvement of their naturall faculties of reading remembring c. in their Academicall Arteficiall Scrutinies into the Scripture which naturall knowledge though theirs who wrote the Scriptures to be by immediate spirituall Revelation I deny not abounded among the Iewish Doctors Scribes and meer naturall Rabbies that stole the true Prophets words yet knew not God spiritually by hearing his words which are Spirit nor by that spirituall Revelation or inward immediate reception of ought from his own Councell Light and Mouth from which only comes the true spirituall understanding little lesse then it doth among our modern Ministers of the Letter who not coming to the Light know as little of the Spirit of God who is a Spirit though they read and preach he is a Spirits from the Letter and as little of the Mystery of the Gospell spiritually as they Though then I. O. and T. D. both call the common Light in mens Consciences whereby they know much of God of his Will as to marter of sin and duty and of his divine Attributes Iudgements c. and all the knowledge that comes thereby but naturall and call the Letter and all the knowledge that comes now by reading of that only spirituall see T.D. p. 1 2 3 5. of his 1. Pamph. p. 1. 3. of his second by the Statutes and Iudgements given to Israel which with T. D. is the outward Letter of the Old Testament are meant the supernaturall light or knowledge of the Gospell but Rom. 2.15 which speaks of the Light or Law in the Conscience is spoken quoth he of naturall light opposed to the knowledge of the Iews And I. O. p. 77. The Scripture is a morall and spirituall not a naturall light But that in all mens consciences he calls p. 42. the light of Nature and p. 47. where he calls that from the light a naturall Knowledge arising from the innate Principles of Reasâ—n and that which is from the reading of the Letter a supernaturall Revelation Ex. 4. where how to the contradiction of himself he also calls it spirituall and not naturall may appear anon S. 15. speaking of the Qua. negant lumen hoc naturale esse aut itadici debere sed a Christo Spiritu Christi esse they deny this light to be naturall on that it ought to be so called saying it s from Christ and the Spirit of Christ S. 17. Lumen internum omnibus commune naturale est The Light within common to all is naturall and so proceeds in suo genere to prove it Likewise I. T. and R. B. say the same p. 33. it is yielded that there is naturall light from Christ given every man Such light as Christ as Mediator conferrs not on every person but all sorts of men is termed supernaturall So p. 40. and elsewhere they call it light by nature and humane light Yet I say the quite contrary the Letter and the knowledge it gives is the naturall as I have shewed above by which wicked men that corrupt themselves also in those things come to know naturally and not spiritually nor savingly the mind and will of God ex principiis naturae by custome often use and memory c. as brute beasts may by outward observance and custome know somewhat of the mind and will of man Iude 10 but the light in the Conscience some of which all have and the knowledge that comes thereby is the spirituall supernaturall and not the naturall light and knowledge 〈◊〉 this in the Power of God I trust in brief to make good against you all though enough hath been said afore to any but such as you that will look for more proof of it then wise men would do One Argument by which its evident to all that are not blind as ye are that the Law in the Heart or Light in all mens Consciences is not naturall and so consequently is spirituall is even this from whence T.B. concludes it naturall viz. because opposed to the knowledge of the Iewâ— of the Iews knowledge by the Letter was but naturall The light within and knowledge by that being opposed to it must be not naturall and so consequently spirituall but that was but naturall for they were mostly but naturall men and worse as they are at this day persecuting and opposing ever the things of God Christ the Gospel and the Spirit and all that are born after it and have the spirituall knowledge of the mystery by it as the naturall knowers by the Letter do at this day and that the natur all man discernes not any otherwise then naturally and not savingly and so not spiritually the things of God and the Spirit Paul tells us 1 Cor. 2.14 and T.D. also tells us p. 3. of his 2. Pamph. from that very Text of Paul where he gives this irresistatâ—e Reason for it also Because they are spiritually discerned Whence I take occasion to argue further thus viz. Argum. 2. That Light which gives to discern savingly as heeded the deep things of God and the Spirit which none but the Spirit of God and Christ searches out knows and savingly reveals and which as to salvation are not by the naturall man but spiritually and by the spirituall man only discerned who hath the mind and Spirit of Christ must be not a naturall but a spiritual and supernaturall light and the knowledge that comes by it is not natural but supernatural and spirituall But the light in the Consciences of all gives to discern the deep thing of God the Spirit in some i.e. in such a measure as it s heeded which none but the Spirit of God searches c. Therefore it and the knowledge that is by it is not naturall but supernatural and spiritual The Mino which our sore-named Divines do deny is as evident to such as live in the light as the light it self is and not a little of it evidenced by their own handy-works who oppose it Two Particulars there are in it to be proved 1. That the Light in all manifests or gives as heeded to discern in some measure the things of God and the Spirit 2. That as heeded it manifests them savingly As to the first I need go no further then your selves for witness we have it under your own hands T D p 1 Pamph. confesses of that light of which all men have some that thereby all discern not may sins only which are the works of the flesh which the letter sayes are manifest not by it self but by the light Christ gives Gal 5 compared with Eph. 5â— 13 14 but also many duties and severall divine Attributes Now mens duties to God in matter of declining sin eschewing evill and doing
good and Gods divine Attributes are things of God and the Spirit or else neither I nor those who wrote the Scripture neither know what the things of God and the Spirit are for they tell us that our duties of Love Ioy Peace Meekness Long suffering Temperance Patience and such like are the fruits of the Spirit and that not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh in the sins of adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness hatred wrath strife envy drunkenness revellings and such like works of it is the fruit effect and issue of walking in the Spirit and if these Love c. be not things of the Spirit excuse me if I say the Spirit which moved them to write that Gal. 5. knew not his own things himself and if ye say that Gods Divine Attributes Mercy Iustice Iudgements Truth Holiness are none of his things excuse me also if I favour not foolish fancies so far as to spend time pains and paper to prove they are to them which is so clear that 't were as idle a thing to make clearer then it is as 't were to light a candle to shew a blind man qui ad sâ—lem caecutire vult that the Sun shines And that the light doth manifest not only sins and duties but the said Divine Attributes also as we have had T.Ds. witness against him so let us take I. Os. testimony against himself too and then we shall be pretty well as to that Which I.O. preaches it out in print in two Tongues lest one should not be loud enough in English thus p. 42.43.45.46.47 by the innate light of Nature so he calls it and principles of the Consciences of men that indispensible moral obedience which he requireth of us his creatures subject to his Law is made known by the Light that God hath indelibly implanted in the minds of men accompanied with a moral instinct of good and evil seconded by that self-judgement which he hath placed in us in reference to his own over us doth he reveal himself to the sons of men the Voice of God in Nature so he calls it declares it self to be from God by its own Light and Authority there 's no need to convince a man by substantial witnesses that what his conscience speaks it speaks from God whether it bear testimony to the Being Righteousness Power Omniscience or Holiness of God himself or whether it call for that moral obedience which is eternally and indispensably due to him and so shews forth the work of the Law in the heart c. Those common notions are in laid in the natures of men by the hand of God to this end that they may make a Revelation of him as to the purposes mentioned and are able to plead their own Divine Original Mark of Divine Original here in-laid by Gods hand yet anon flowing ex principis naturae without the least strength or assistance from without and in Latine Ex. 4. S. 14. Non tantum multae Coinat Ennâ—iai c. Englished thus Not only many common notions and principles of Truth abide fixed in the understanding by the efficacie of which men may discern some divine things and discern between good and evil but also by the help of the Conscience take heed to themselves as concerning many duties with respect had to the Iudgement of God which they know they are liable to Moreover this Light in all at years of understanding by the consideration of the works of God Creation and Providence manifesting his Eternal Power and Godhead and in some by the Word preached may be improved and confirmed but how far this Light can direct stir up and provoke mens minds to yield obedience to God and they by it be left without excuse it pertains not to this place more precisely to discuss One of the main things pertaining to this point about the Light to be discussed among the rest yet I. O. I believe was afraid to thrust his fingers too far into the fire here for fear lest prâ—ying too narrowly how far the efficacy of this Light extends he should being forced to see somwhat that he is loath to see both looâ—e his cause and open his conscience too wide and therefore would wade no further there I need not open it to him that is not defective in his naturals how in all this as if not more abundantly then T. D. in that above I. O. confesses and witnesses to the truth of the first part of my minor Proposition viz. that the Light in the Conscience of all as heeded gives the knowledge of those things of God and his Spirit which the Spirit of God only knows searches and shews and reveals to such as wait in his Light to have the mind of Christ manifested in them therein which the natural man by a natural light cannot so know and diâ—cern Only Ob. If it be objected those are the deep things of God there spoken of 1 Cor. 2. which your Light in the Conscience of all is too shallow to search out yea the glorious things of the Gospel it self the mystery of which T.D. who knows it not yet himself for want of turning to it sayes by that Light within All know not and the natural man discerns not Answ. That the natural man which is he that leans to the Letter and his own understanding and looks not to the Lord in his own Light and Spirit in the heart as spiritual men do and in the doing of which men of natural become more and more spiritual de facto discerns no otherwise then naturally not savingly and spiritually I still grant but a non esse ad non posse still nil valet Our question is how far that Light heeded avails that way which I affirm is so far that according to the measure of it in men and their attendance to it it leads gradually as the Light and Spirit and anointing of God is said to do such as abide in it as it in them into all truth the knowledge of the very deep things of God and the Gospel a dim shallow sight of which it gives to such as turn to the least beam of it in them E. G. the Iudgements of God are one of the deep things of God thy Iudgements are a great deep Rom. 11.33 His Judgements and the wayes of it and Wisdome of God therein are a depth O the depthâ—hewr unsâ—archable his Iudgements his wayes past finding out No natural man by the improvement of his natural understanding in reading the Letter can know them Israel did not who had the Iudgements and the Statutes in the Letter for want of looking to the Light and Spirit any more excepting the few spiritual ones and children of the Light that were ever hated among them nay nor so much as many Heathens that had and heeded the Law or Light in the Conscience yet had no Law in the Letter but were more sottish stupid fearless of God ignorant and prophane then the Heathen among whom the
Psalmist they can perswade others from what they have seen felt and handled of Gods Word and his Iudgements which are a gâ—eat deep yet to the rest that live alienated from the Light and by them have bâ—en purged from their filth and warned from the wickedness of their way and of simple been made wise of which precious uâ—e Gods Iudgements are to all that thus witness and know them as Psa. 19. Yea these are that Nation of Israel and not that which is now become a curse and perished out of what ever outwaâ—d Nation or People they are gathered into the one Light and Spirit of whom it s said Who is like unto thee O Isâ—ael â— a people saved by the Lord who rideth on the Hâ—avens for thy help And in that of these mens quoting Deuter. 4.8 What Nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Iudgements so righteous as all this Law which is set before them in the light their keeping and doing of which shall be their wisdome and understanding in the sight â—f those Nations which though now they count them fools shall at last see themselves to have been infatuaated and say of Gods now dispersed and despâ—sed Seed of Israel after the Spirit Surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people And as for others though as R. B I. T. T. D. and ye all say God hath not dealth so richly with any as he does with them that receive the riches of his Grace and they have not known his Iudgements in such a measure as these know them yet all as they heed the Light in that may know them as in some degree the Heathen heeding the Light are said to do Rom. 1. and degrees never vary the nature of a case neither follows it that because some know not so much as some therefore many neither do nor for want of Light can know nothing of the Gospel or Saving Truth of God at all The 30th from Rom. 7.7 is thus The Light within neither did to Paul nor doth nor can discover sin even the sin of Lust without the Law therefore the Light within each person is not a sufficient guide of it self to lead to God and to warrant mens actions without the written Word i. e. Scripture with them Rep. Why not as well as before the Law was written in an outward Letter at all if by the Law ye will needs understand nothing but outward Scripture for some sure knew lust before Moses wrote the Law But in very deed how deeply soever ye dream in this as ye do in most things this Law without which the Lust is not well known is no other then the Light it self within for the Letter sayes lust is a sin but 't is the Light that shews thy lust to filth envy or any evil to be thy sin within thy self and that Law by which the knowledge of sin comes is that Law and Commandment which Prov. 6.23 is said to be the Light and the Lamp even the wâ—rd that David hid of him that he might see the way of covetouâ—ness that was eâ—sewise hid in his heart and so not sin against Gâ—d by which only the young man in whom lust is strong taking heed thereunto shall come to cleanse his way which is never clean while he hangs only on the lips of Letter-stealers and meer Letter-lauders who lauding the holy life they liâ—e not in are at best but lyars when they preach the Tâ—uth But this being elsewhere handled I shall need to say the less of it here So having done with these two mens thirty Arguments a few words more to their ten wâ—aâ— Reasâ—ns against the true Light in all men and then I have done with them as to that Reason 1. Because what each man conceives according to his Light within him cannot be right and â—rue for one mans conceits do sometimes contradict anothers Nor are thâ— Quak. all of one mind when they follow the Light within them Rep. This is one of your own croâ—ked odd conceits indeed but far from truth and good consequence that the Light or Rule it self cannot be true or right or a safe rule because mens conceits of things to be or not be according to it may be contradictory one to another and so not both true 'T is true contradictoâ—y conceivings abâ—ut one Rule cannâ—t be both true but he contradicts aâ—l truth and common reasâ—n who conceives the Rule or Light it self to be ere the worse or ere the less a true Rule or Light because of that Two men may have contradictâ—ry thâ—ughts and conceits whereof one must needs be false about a piece of Cloths agreeing or nor agreeing with the yaâ—d or measure but it follows nor therefore from any thing but these faithless mens false and foolish fancies that the Taâ—d is not a Yard or no good rule or measure and if this were good consequence R. B. and I. T. but that they are blind still might see it conclude more strongly against their Letters being as they plead it to be the only true Light or Rulâ— then against the Light since there 's as many silly senses misty meanings and contradictory conceits in the minds of them that are Ministers of it almost as they are Ministers of it For whereas they tell us of two Qua. contradicting one another I have told these four men I.O. T.D. R.B. I.T. of contradicting one another many times o're in their books against us and shall do yet a little more before this book I here write be at an end yea â—n truth as I have shewed already before and shall do more behind there 's little else then confusion and contradiction to themselves by our men called Clergy well nigh in all the Doctrines they have to do with besides this reaâ—on rendred by them is not at all against the Light of God but against mens meer conceits which we are more against then any men whatever calling men out of their own conceivings into Gods own Counsel the Light So quid hoc ad rem Reas. 2. Because that which unvariable and alterable cannot be a persons Rule for its the property of a Rule to be invariable and the same at all times Rules Measures Weights Dials Squares and what other things are made if they be varied câ—ase be Rules Rules should be fixt and certain but nothing more variable then mens light in them Rep. Igrant that 's no rule which is variable and alterable and therefore have above from hence concluded and do here again from your own premises conclude the Letter the Rule ye talk for more then walk by not to be that only Rule of Faith and Life as ye would have it but Gods Light in the heart which the Letter came from sith as I. O. teaches us in his Epistle though he will not learn the same lesson himself but teaches in his book as much against it as he does for it that the Letter in the very Original copies of it
his Commandements Next T. D. as he relates p. 11. 1 pamp asking me whether I could produce one single example of a perfect Saint in our sense I told him yea instancing in Zachary and Elizabeth Luke 1. 6. who were both Righteous before God not before man onely but before God walking in all the Commandements of God not in some few or many but all and Ordinances of God blameless To this accounting for more then that he then said though 't is one to as little purpose as the other first quoth he how appeares it that righteous before God is meant of a perfect inherent Righteousnesse seeing a believers person with his works are accepted with God though his works be not perfect And in proof of this imperfect and crooked conceit of his own he coats Heb. 11. 4. By faith Abel offered a more excellent Sacrifice then Cain by which he obtain'd witness that he was righteous c. and then adds that blameless is meant but comparatively as Phil. 2.15 that ye may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke c. in which same sense he sayes Luke 4. understands the Phrase to which he adds Phil. 3.6 where Paul while a Pharisee sayes he was blameles as touching the righteousness of the Law which he was onely externally conformable to and how Zachariah was at the same time blamed and also punish't for his unbelief Rep. in which piece of Reply of his 1st something is true but nothing to T. D's turn but rather such as serves the truths turn against his but 2d something most abominable confused false and fained viz. That a believers person with his works are accepted with God though his works be not perfect For how ere T. D's calls and counts men as he does dain'd Saints and Believers c. while their works are not perfect and not only not perfect but abominable also wicked sinful filthy hypocritical deceitful gross iniquity Adultery Murther and despite to the Commands of God as Davids acting in Vriahs matter are called Psal. 5.1 2 Sam. 13. guiltless c. yet no such imperfect evil workers while so are any more deem'd upright by God then David was who was not vouchsafed the name of upright in that case 2d much lesse are such as are not perfect but evil works such as are at best but unclean dung iniquity and filthy rags yet such and no better does T. D. call the duties and as to the manner the best performances of himself and his sort of Saints of any acceptance at all as I have shewed well nigh newly above but rather an abhorrency in the sight of God by what person soever acted nor was Davids adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Vriah nor himself as acting it nor any service he did or Sacrifice he offer'd while under the filth and blood-guiltnesse and unrighteousnesse of it till he had throughly repented of it was wasn't from it and recovered out of it any more accepted as a sweet smelling savour with God then the adultery of another man then Cains murder of Righteous Abel and the persons and performances of all such unrighteous livers whose very Sacrifices while they are such God hath no more respect to then he had to that of Cain whose seed they are whose Image and nature while they are doing so wickedly they all beare and are found in David himself as so doing not excepted which Sacrifice of Cain though else perhaps as costly as his brothers had together with his person no such acceptance as Righteous Abel and his had because at that time he was an evil doer and then 't was the evil doer that did the good Sin lay at the door and kept the Sacrifice from acceptance as it ever does where ere it lyes for where and while there is a turning away the care from the law ther 's the wicked one there the person and the performance are both a stink before the Lord yea the very prayers of the wicked are abominable And in bringing Abel for an instance of a believers person and his works being accepted with God though his works be not perfect He quite cuts the throat of his own cause for both Abel and his works were true and perfect and righteous before God and so they are both cal'd Mat. 23. 35. Heb. 11. 4. 1 Iohn 3. 12. while Cain and his works are both call'd evil and of the Devil and therefore had Abel and his works acceptance when Cain and his had none because he was righteous not so esteemed of God while he was not so indeed as T. D. deems who because he so does deems that God as himself deems those and theirs to be good and righteous which in themselves inhaesive are nothing lesse but saving that contrary account T. D. supposes God to have thereof really rather evill and unrighteous For had Cain bin righteous and done well in other matters he had done well in offering and bin accepted if thou do well shalt thou not be accepted but because he did Bonum and not Bene being an evil doer and a sinner when Abel being righteous did both and was accepted yet he was not accepted in his material doing that which else was good in which case Israels most solemn assemblies were Iniquity as those of Saints and believers are not notwithstanding T. Ds. say so because their hands were defil'd with blood and their fingers with moral iniquity So by faith which purified Abels heart and wrought by love and overcame the world in him and the lust thereof and which was both made and proved to be true and perfect by his works did Abel and so all true Saints and believers also do come to offer a more excellent and acceptable Sacrifice then that of Cain and his wicked Race by which they obtain not mans but Gods own testimony that they are righteous as Zachariah and Elizabeth both did in the place and case now in hand which Testimony of God who counts no things to be other wise then they really and truly are is true and will stand against all T. D's tattlâ— to the contrary and will be believed before his by every true believer though many such nominal believers as himself is will believe no more of what God himself declares plainly by such holy ones as wrote the Scripture then what they list and that 's little or nothing at all of that that leaves them no license at all to please the lust and therefore the Righteousnes blamelesness Innocency harmlesness of the Sons of God themselves Phil. 2. 14. that are found in all good conscience towards both and without rebuke before both God and men whose blameless and righteous works which are from God himself and not of themselves Isa. 26. 12. 54. 17. deeper dye then that of Pauls own Exact Pharisaical Traditional External Conformity to the meer outward Letter or Law of a Carnal Commandement in matter of external Ordinance which yet to the full was as
the deeds of darknesse which are sin For the light and Spirit lead none into sin But there be such as walk in the light in the day in which if a man walk saith John he stumbles not 1 Ioh. Much lesse fallsâ— There be some that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit and are led by the Spirit and those that are led by it are not under the Law the lash of which they would be under as all sinners are if they transgressed it but under grace And these are the Sons of God those that are born of God whom the world knowes not 1 Ioh. 1 2 3. for they are his hidden ones Psal. 83. against whom they take crafty councel as against an impure generation though they purify themselves even as Christ himselfe is pure whilst such as know neither the Sons of God nor whose Sons themselves are while they sin are that generation that 's pure in their own eyes though not yet washed from their filthiness nor meaning to be so here Who ever walkes after the Spirit and no more after the flesh and lusts of it at it seems by that very Text Rom. 8. some do to whom alone there 's no condemnation because no sin for they are in Christ so out of the transgression in the light out of the darknesse in but one of which a man can be at one time such sin not who ever they be unless T.D. I.O. and the whole Gang of blind guides who tell people that none but that person that Christ appeared in a Ierusalem ever were shall or can be fuâ—ly freed from sinning in this world will being â—ore shooes in that sink of sottishness run ore boots too so as to say the Light and Spirit leads such as follow and walk after it into lust and sin Therefore there are some that live without sinning And this is one infallible Argument from the very letter it self if it were not become now as a Book sealed to the learned lookers into it that freedom from sin was attainable by the power of Christs light and the grace of God which alone even we say is sufficient to that end and was attained by Paul and others then and therefore may be now even in this life in that Panâ— declares concerning Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Iesus the head from whence as the holy ointment it runs down to the Skirts of the Garment and as the unction 1 Ioh. 2. abides in his body teaching all things it had made him free from the law of sin and death of which Law of sin and death he relates in that 7. Chapter that he was once wretched by reason of its carrying him captive to it self of its motions of sin working in him and bringing forth fruit in him unto death of its warring in his members against the Light or Law of God in his mind by which he had the knowledge of sin in the very lust of it as that he should not covet nor lust to envy anger uncleanness c. Which the Scribes and Pharises Mat. 5. and Paul himself while a Pharisee looking into the lâ—tter without only as he did from a child knew not till he turn'd to the light within and came to the Law in the Spirit till he and it came to look each other in the face from which time and not from his looking into the letter he saw the Law in the spirituality holinesse righteousness and goodnesse 〈◊〉 and for all his former formality and strict pretence to unrighteousness profession of a letter ad extra his own meer naughtinesse and carnality as that of one that was still sold under sin and a committer of it in the sight of God from whose wrath that old drosty dunghilly righteousnesse of his own Phil. 3. which was not Christs as T. D. blasphemously belyes it to be p. 22. 1. Pamp. could not deliver him till he witness'd himselfe cloth'd with another even that righteousness which is of God by faith in Christ not imputed onely but imparted also to the true sanctification as well as justification of every one that believeth which passages nevertheless of that 7th chap. to the Romans and that 12. of his 2d Ep. to the Corinthians our senseless Seers have made among others one of their main common places from whence to prove the very contrary even that there is no such freedom from sin while in the body but that of necessity it must be acted by the Saints themselves while they breath upon this outward earth For say they if Paul complained of a body of sin and death while he liv'd and how he was sold under sin and carryed captive to the Law of it and of the Law of sin waâ—ring in his members against the Law in his mind so that he could not do the good he should but when he would do good evill was present with him and also of a Thorne in his flesh a Messenger of Satan to buffet him as he does 2 Cor. 1 2 3. c. and all this after his conversion to his dying day Then much lesse can any other Saints expect to be set so free from sin by what power soever in this life as to live and not sin and such like But Paul did so therefore what man can do otherwise Who can ever live and not sin Thus they argue against Qua. as a damnable sort of Hereticks that deliver a doctrine of Devils because they hold out as attainable that hellish thing as they count it call'd holiness and such freedom from sin in this life so as not to commit iniquity any more not considering all this while that Paul in those terms speakes what he once was yea even after his conversion to the light till sin was wholly subdued by the light condemning it in his flesh and bringing forth in him judgement over it into victory and not of what he was at the writing thereof in which time he sayes the Law of the Spirit had made him free from that Law of sin Not yet heeding at all that the Thorn in the flesh was not a transgression but a temptation with which God exercised him that he might shew the sufficiency of his own grace to support and keep him from transgression even from that sin of being exalted above measure and that no lesse then 14. years before he wrote this and not just then when or while he wrote it much lesse a transgression that remain'd unmortified in him till his dying day One argument more I shall urge from I O's own book thus viz If perfect Salvation from sin be the proper end of the Scripture and it be perfect to that its end and does perfect it and yet does what it does in this present world or nowhere to which it is accomodated only and ceases to do ought into the world to come then that perfect Salvation must be wrought out by it or here or no where at all But
is to but one and 999 are peremptorily personally possitively ordained to dye Yet to go round again If ye all beleeve his love to you ye shall All live if any dye 't is his own fault because he beleeves not the Kings love to him and comes not away out of his Fetters and nothing else and though he can't come out of his Fetters yet let him know its but just that I should leave him there because his father offended the King before he was born it s enough for them that he is so rich in mercy to the whole thousand as to save one and proclaim salvation to All with no intent of pardon that he may take the more advantage on the rest by their refusal to come when they cannot to do execution on them with ten fold more wrath rigour and severity then if the pardon never had been proclaimed to them at all In much what such a rambling confused self-contradictory manner do our Nationall-Messengers and Ministers of Gods grace Consideratis considerâ—ndis hold out their Gospell to All men as Embassadours from God to them All. One while extolling extending it over all Gods works to All men and otherwhiles when they have carryed it about long in a vast circuit and circumference of Commendatory conference To go round again in their niggardly News-books they wind it about and wrap it all up within the narrow corner of their conceited wheel within a wheel or little world of a few Elect ones only extenuating it till they allmost quite extinguish it in their talk preach it welnigh into nothing Witnesse I.O. as is shewed more at large in the book aforesaid and T.D. also telling us indeed that God offers Salvation to All men but intends it only to a few Contradictions Confusions and Rounds about the doctrine of perfect freedom from sin attainable in this life V. As to Salvation from sin in this life which Christ gives to all that follow him in his light One while they teach it to us themselves as attainable here by the grace of God as the Qua do in these or the like deliveryes of themselves in their preachings and writings according to the Scriptures People ye must deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and live Godly righteously and soberly mark in this present world The grace of God that bringeth salvatioe to such as take heed to it and receive it not in vain appears to All men and teaches them so to live but that they turn from it and turn it into wantonnesse and if we walk in the Light as God is in the Light we then have fellowship with him who hath none with sin and sinners and not only so but also the blood of Iesus Christ his son cleanseth us from All sin and though we cannot say we have no sin since we and all men have sinned yet if we confess our sins God is faithful not only to forgive us our sins past but which is a further matter to cleanse us from All unrighteousnesle Having therefore such promises let us cleanse our selves from mark All filthiness of flesh and spirit who knows any more then all perfecting holiness in Gods fear The blessed men Psal. 119.3 are the Saints or Holy Ones that do no iniquity but walk in Gods way and though ye think well of your selves because your sins are little yet no sin is so little but if liv'd died in its damning therefore take heed of the least iniquityes while ye have time and space given you to repent from them in leave forsake foregoe them live according to the Scripture which allows of no sin which is written that men might not sin which is able through faith to make a man of God perfect and wife to salvation from sin which is perfect to its own end which is Salvation which end it attains not hereafter for its of no use then and therefore must do it here or no where so that if you dye in the least of your sins unrepented from better ye had never been born for there 's no Purgatory in the world to come as the Pope sains but as the Tree falls it lyes as death leaves you judgement finds you if ye lye down in your Graves in your sins you will rise out of them full of sorrowes Listen unto Christs Ministers who are given for the work of the Ministry for the perfecting of the Saints the edifying of the body till we all come to a Perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullnesse of Christ himselfe so as to be as he is in this world and whoever saith he abides in him ought so to walk as himselfe walked in whom was no sin and who hath true hope in him purifieth himselfe as he also is pure and a multitude more sayings of like sort we may hear them utter Otherwhiles that is when the Qua call men to the same living without sin telling them these things are possible to be done by Gods grace who of his good pleasure hath wrought in men to will and to do so that by the power and sufficiency of that they may now work out their own salvation if they neglect not this day of Gods long suffering and salvation wherein God would succour them if they will and that God requires not by either his Ministers or their Scriptures Impossibilities from his creatures under such paenalty as eternall damnation if not performed then to go round again they tell us other matters which as contradictory as they are to those above-said we must notwithstanding or else be held for Hereticks believe from them to be the truth viz. That t is most false to affirm that the Scripture the perfection whereof they plead to lye in nullâ aliâ re in no other thing then its sufficiency to its end which it can't attain hereafter if not here sith there it ceases as to all its uses either doth or can obtain its end which end they say also is salvation from the sin that destroyes the soul dum in hoc mundo haremus so sayes I. O. Ex. 3. while we have a being in this World Then they make as if the Ministry of them who wrote the Scriptures were such as their own is viz. a meer Antick mockage of men a conclave of contradictions confusions absurdities and Rounds a Ministry of flat falsities not to say fooleries a mad-message of impossibilities wherein they stand all their dayes calling upon all men for money as Homines Domini in Nomine Domini in the name of God on pain of his eternall displeasure and their demnation to do what they are to believe to as an Article of their Faith on pain of the Hereticks condemnation All men can never possibly do God empowering but very few by true grace to do ought at all of what he requires nay not empowering any one at all to do all that viz. to cease from all sinning against him in the time of this life
off then in one of the self same pages wherein he begins his discourse with me about it to go round again they plainly enough confesse the Scripture to be neither the Word of God nor the Rule witnesse T. Ds. words who when told what the Scripture is viz. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the letter writing that holy men wrote replies you cannot think us so silly sure as to affirm the Scripture in that sence which yet is the only sense in which it can properly be called Scripture to be the Word of God but we mean the matter contained in the Scripture which is another matter then the Scripture whether that be the Rule of faith or no witnesse also I. O. who Ex. 15.50 sayes Scriptura non verbum Dei vocatur formaliter quatenus scripta c. The Scripture formally considered and if not so not properly say I for forms dat esse et est id per quam resest id quod est is that by which every thing is what it is is not called the Word of God And yet to go round again p. 140. If the Scripture be what it reveals and declares it self to be it is then unquestionably the Word of the living God for that it professeth of it self from the beginning to the ending and Exer. 1 S. 32. Scripturam saepius eo nomine a spiritu sancto indigitari cuivis eas vel leviter inspicienti faâ—ile apparebit that the Scripture is very oft specially pointed out by that name is plain to him that but lightly looks into it Exer. 1. S. 28. Scriptura verbum Dei est locis poene innumeris verbum Dei dicitur The Scripture in well nigh innumerable places is called the Word of God Joh. 17.17 a Text that vel leviter inspicienti touches on no such matter and yet to go round again in the self same Section in the very next clause for all those innumerable places if there were as there are not so many in the book as the Scotchman said ubi verbum Dei ennarratur promulgari c. where the word of God is said to be preached publisht multiplyed received that most holy truth it self which is in mens hearts and is the matter of it is but the Scripture formaliter formally considered in no wise is intended And yet to go round again Exer. 1. S. 3. Fault is found with the Quakers by I. O. as meer seigners from them of that verbum internum or inward word they talke of because they do no more then I.O. does i.e. not own the Scriptures to be intended in those well nigh innumerable places but that holy matter truth or Word the Scripture speaks of as nigh in the heart of which I.O. himself Ex. 1. S 40. sayes also thus verbum quod in nobis est c. The word in us is that word of faith the Apostles preach Which well nigh innumerable places also I. O. himself sayes cannot be intended of Christs person neither quoniam autem millies fere mentio facta est verbi Dei c. because there is well nigh a thousand times mention made of the word of God and its preaching publishing receiving in those places which can't possibly be meant of the person of Christ and the Qua will not acknowledge the Scripture as intended there neither they carve from thence and wrest from thence I know not what Internall Word of which they are possessors in chief Haeredes ex Asse of such as held it shut up among themselves of old So shewing himself to be none of those Disciples of Christ among whom his Testimony is bound and his Law sealed up and hasting in his haughty mind to quarrell with the Qua for that which is no fault unlesse it be his own also he proves himself to Haeves ex Asseitlorum quos tenebrae antea inclusos tenuerunt who were justly shut up in groapable darknesse for despising the true light so as to groap for the Wall like the blind as if he had no eyes to stumble at noon day as in the night and as one horrendo percussus scotomate to run round with other blind guides in his giddy mind without sense or reason so as not to feel when he interferes and hacks one leg against another yea somtimes he confesses that the very Greek and Heb. copies or Transcripts are not only as well as Translations by the fallibility of the Scribes and the Criticall faculties of men liable to be turned eight wayes in one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some as contrary one to another as life to death and what way any Critick will and that the very immediate Transcribers of the Originall both might and also did erre faile mistake and that thereupon various lections when as I.O. at first said there was none at all not in a Tittle are risen witnesse I. Os. own confession and so not fit to be a foundation or a rule which to goe round again they say witnesse R.B.I.T. must not be variable and those though nickt in at next word by I. O. into the lesse offensive and formidable number of a few yet at next word to go round again both clearly confest and plainly cleared by I. Os. own self to be many among which though I. O. at the next word nullifies them all under that diminutive name of Apicular inconsiderable accents not at all intrenâ—hing on the sense or at all of any moment of no importance yet some to go round again are confessed to be of some importance and those of importance quoth he are considered by Glassius and consisting not only in superfluity of words unnecessary but in deficiency of words necessary to the sense of the places and that some of them are of such moment as Textum sacrum et in literis et sensu corrigere that they do alter the Text both in its letters and its sense And though to get from under that grievous gash which this grant of his own gives to his grand assertion of no variation of the Text in Tittles I. O. glazes it over with this glosse viz. That those that are inconsistent with the sense in their stations of more or lesse weight or moment are but private obscure and novell not above two or three hundred years standing in some late but no antient copies yet by and by to go round again I. O. denyes not but that some are not only of such publick and open observation as to be obvious to the view of all but also of long standing witnesse his words p. 190. There are quoth he in some Copies of the new Testament and those some of them of good Antiquity diverse readings in things or words of lesse importance and those which are of importance quoth he p. 193. have been already considered by others specially Glassius is acknowledged the proof of it lyes within the reach of most in the Copies that we have and I shall not sollicit the reputation of those who have afforded us
others out of their own private furniture and pag. 27. of his Epist. he grants that there are Corruptions mark and various lections in the Greek Copies of the Scripture and our grant quoth I. O. is founded on this experience that we evidently find various lections in the Greek Copies we enjoy and so grant that which ocular inspection evinces to be true And though I.O. having yielded the Greek Text to be corrupted which is enough to prove his foundation faulty and fallible if the Hebrew Text were to a tittle entire fills up that gap again with this fiddle-fadling defence viz. Tet there are none able to shew out of any Copies yet extant in the World or that they can make appear ever to have have been extent that ever there were any such various lections in the Originalls of the Old Testament Neverthelesse to go round again notwithstanding what hath been spoken quoth he p. 178. We grant that there are and have been various lections in the Old Testament and the New and so falls a shewing in many pages together many varieties in the Old Testament himself to save his Antagonists the labour of shewing what he tells them they are not able to shew some of which are not obscure and private as I. O. sayes they are but publick and open as I.O. sayes not as I. O sayes they are of no importance but of importance and inconsistent with the sence as I. O. sayes to go round again not novell and of late only as I. O. sayes they are but as I. O. sayes to go round again of longer standing of some good Antiquity Thus I. O. all this while gives and takes grants and begs back again abates exacts the whole again allows and pulls in again owns and denyes le ts go and commands home again his Assertion till by a little and a little he hath let it go and granted it all away and then to go round again fearing he hath let it go too far from serving his turn does what in him lyes though hoe a liquid nihil est by a little and a little to fetch it all in again to his first pretended purpose he goes on granting from ore shooes to ore boots till in the quagmire wherein he quavers too and fro in his quarrel for his quick-sandy foundation he sinks first up to the Ankles then up to the Knees anon up to the Loynes by and by up to the neck And Lastly fearing lest he hath gone so far in granting to the weakening of his own Assertion of the Texts integrity to a little that he shall hardly ever recover it to stand for truth in that ex sui site primitive posture wherein he at first exerted and propounded it unlesse he utter somwhat more like a man more to the purpose then all those childish pedling put offs I.O. urges a knocking Argument from the multitude of the Copies to the impossibility of the Texts being corrupted thus viz. p. 175. There was a multiplying of Copies to such a number that it was impossible any should corrupt them all willfully or by negligence which hath as much reason in it as his other confident conclusions have for Riddle me this ye Rabbies why might not the same fate fall out to one Copy of Scripture in its transcribing as to another and if the fate and fault of falsity and mistake to some why not to all Yet if it were never such a solid consequence we need not deny it I. O. who still saves us the labour of confuting I. O. knocks it down and confounds it himselfe while elsewhere he argues from the multitude of Copies to the impossibility of their escaping corruptions For To go round again That so many Transcriptions quoth he should be made without some variation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is impossible thus running out in hast to recover his lost Assertion he runs himselfe or'e head and eares in the Gulf of most irreconâ—ileable contradiction and irrecoverable confusion yea how many various Lections and various contradictions to himself are to be found yet here 's not all in I. Os. opposing of that one plain undeniable truth viz. That there are various Lections in the Copies of the very originall Texts of the Scripture which they call their Rule which though they say truly witnesse R. B. I. T p. 43. 51. That a Rule and grid should be certain which will not deceive and that which is variable and alterable cannot be a persons Rule for it is the property of a Rule to be invariable and the same at all times the Rules Measures Weights Dialls Squares and what other things are made if they be varyed they cease to be Rules for Rules should be sized and certain and confesse also withâ—us that Error minimus in principio fit major in medio maximus in fine the least errour in a foundation makes a thing not fit to be a foundation and so if the Scripture be not intire to a little so but vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one jot or tittle fail and every letter be not preserved by Gods providence from being lost they must needs cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have no footing nor foundation for their faith and see no means of being delivered from utter uncertainty in and about all sacred truth Witnesse I.O. Ep p. 25. and much more of that sort in his book as its more at large talkt with in the second of my four Exercitations and do confesse also the Scripture is not only flexible and lyable to be changed easily at every Criticks will and the Transcribers might and did fail and mistake so that various Sections are thence arisen witnesse I. O. p. 167. and Epist. p. 21 22 23 24. where he tells how many wayes its easie for a Critick to alter it Yet To go round again and face about half way at least they plead the said confessedly variable and much varied Text to be the only fixt firm foundation sure Basis stable Standard right Rule true Touchstone and such like Yea and to go the whole round and face quite about as they were that it is neither so varied nor variable by reason of the loving care and aspect of God over the Transcribers whom yet for all thaâ— he would not guid infallibly whose promise and providence which cannot fail are engaged to preserve the Hebrew Greek Texts in their integrity to a tittle but that its most fit to be own'd as the most perfect and only steady Rule and foundation Moreover how entirely true soever the Transcriptions are the Translations which is all the Rule the people have unlesse the Priests prattle must be their Rule are confessed to be most various and abominably and wofully corrupted Witnesse I. O. who is scarce more busie to evince the entirenesse of his Hebrew and Greek Text then in evidencing the erroneousnesse of all Translations some of which that are most a client and of most account among most
they have it for their further ruine yea while they keep the Scripture quoth I. O. of the Iews and I of I.O. and such literal Christians as he is we shall never ment weapons out of their own Armory for their destruction like the Philistiâ—e they carry the weapon that will serve to cut off their own heads Thus Though I. O. who sayes elsewhere the Scripture is without need of other helps or advantages or revelation by the Spirit or Light within per se sola sufficiens living absolute full of power and efficacy to save souls and yet rides the Rounds so here as to say that without the Spirit the word and that 's more then the Qua dare say howbeit he means thereby but the Scripture is a dead latter of no efficacy to the good of souls yet horrendo percussus scotomate he stayes not here but having said the letter is dead rather then the Qua he so hates shall be owned by him in saying the self-same that himself sayes hee 'l ride round back again to his first stage that he may not seem to side with them and therefore in Ex. 3. S. 40. where I.O. brings in the Qua arguing strongly against the Letters being the only most perfect rule thus Scrâ—ptura est litera mortua Spiritus vivisicat quis litera mortua nisâ— ipse sit mortuus idhaerere veâ—it The Scripture is a dead letter the Spirit quickens who but he that 's dead will adhere to a dead letter as his Rule I. O. brings in himself weakly answering thus viz To go round again to the confounding of all his own former sayings that the letter is dead Falsissima est ista assertio Scriptura est verbum Dei quod vivum est et efficax neque uspiam litera esse mortua dicitur i.e. That 's a most false assertion the Scripture is that word of God which is living and efficacious neither quoth he Trapezuntius like who forgot his own name forgetting its the name of I.Os. own imposing in the same book is the letter any where at all said to be dead I. Os. Rounds and Contradictions to himselfe about the Hebrew punctation Moreover as to Hebrew Ponts I. O. capers about quavers up and down and runs round like a blind Horse in a Mill One while asserting them coavo'us with the Consonants of such necessity that without the owning of these to be of Divine original men are left which is as much as to say all the Iewish Church were so left from Moses to Ezra if the Points were added but by Ezra and his companions and not by Moses at the first writing unto great uncertainty in all Translations and Expositions of the Scripture p. 202. That who owns them not as so and are otherwise minded then those who maintain the Antiquity of the Vowels and Accents so as that the Hebrew Language was written with them from the beginning not only make doubtfull the Authority of the Scriptures but even pluck it up by the Roots sith without the Vowels and Notes of distinction it hath nothing firm and certain p. 2.13 That he that reads it without Points as the Church did before Ezra if Ezra was the first Author of them is as one that rides a Horse without a bridle that may be carried he knows not wither whereupon relating the opinion of Radulph Cevall to be that the Hebrew Language was plainly written with them from the beginning This mans judgement quoth I. O. is also mine yea p. 205 207. He makes the foundation of all Questionable upon the supposition of the Novelty of the Hebrew Points insinuating it as a just consequence which great and wise men suppose naturally and necessarily flows from the opinion of the Novelty of the Vowels and from the state of the Hebrew Language and Bible unpointed Otherwhiles notwithstanding not knowing whether he had best assert them to be so ancient or no he to go round again at first faces halse about and leaves those who held them up as high as Moses to prove it saying only He shall not oppose them that maintain the Points Coaevous with the letters and yet after a while does no less in effect then face quite Round about and oppose them in the same sentence by this confident assertion viz. I no wayes doâ—bt but as we now enjoy them we shall manifest that they were compleated by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The men of the great Synagogue Ezra and his companions p. 210 211. and p. 226. Pleading against such as hold them to be more Novel and of no higher invention then from the Tiberian Missorites on his own and their behalf who affirm Ezra and his companions to have been the Authors of the Points he sayes their sayings whom he opposes cast a probability that Ezra laying aside the old letters because of their difficulty together with the new introduced the Points to facilitate their use which if so then he leaves all ages of the Jewish â—hurch before Ezra even the true Saints meerly for want of the Hebrew Vowels and Accents as men riding Horses without Bridles who were carried they knew not whether but so the Saints then were not and though the generality of the Iews were yet 't was not because they had no Vowels Accents and Points to attend to as their guides though I am of I. Os. mind t is like they then and till Ezra's days had none but because they refused to be led by the Light within and guided by the Holy Spirit which for all their attendance to the letter they as Stephen said Acts 7. had allwayes resisted Thus I. O. to the contradiction of his first selfe is run round down the hill from Moses as low as Esdras about his punctilio's and Hebrew Points but there he reckons to stand and keep his ground against all that come against him to bring him and his Ancient rich possession of Pins and Points any lower or at least so low as the Tiberian Missorites and here he fights like a man in a fâ—ight or frensie left all truâ—h be for ever lost if he can't make it uncontroleably manifest that the Points are better guides then may be expected from such bad men as the Tiberian Massorites And first to make that good to the begetting of an infallible and divine faith of the Points divine original and not such a humane one as they must have if from the Massorites that these Charecters the Hebrew Points mark as we have them are not to be ascribed to the Massorites as their Authors he does not more make severall silly consequences then he does himself confound them even as fast as he makes them First Not to meddle here with those many paedantick proofs and put offs which I have elsewhere viz in the 2 Exer of my Book call'd The Country correcting the University sufficiently already disproved he treats it out throw a great part of his two Treatises with no other Tool then that Toy of Tradition
Hee goats Horn broken So I let them passe Witnesse also T. D. who though he together with I.O. p. 77. Nor doth it in the least impair this self evidencing efficacy of the Scripture that it is a morall and spirituall not a naturall light owns the Scripture specially the light in the Scripture or holy matter contained in the Scripture to be a morall spirituall supernaturall and not a naturall Rule or Light yet affirms it to be common or universall i. e. in some measure in the hearts of all even the very Heathen p. 16.2 pamp The matter contained in the Scripture quoth he is a Rule to all men so far as t is revealed to them and was so before 't was put into writing and so much of it as is written upon the hearts of the Heathens is a Rule to them Rom. 2.12 Thus T. D. who before made the one light to be Two viz. Naturall and supernaturall here to go round again makes that light which is in the Scriptures and in the Heathens hearts Rom. 2.12 truly One and the same and no lesse then supernaturall and spirituall Witnesse also I. O. who calls the light often naturall yet to go round again Ex. 4. S. 9. Splits this one light which they all somtimes falsly call no more then naturall into a Light which is both naturall civill supernaturall and spirituall as it were all at once This Light quoth he or faculty of understanding so he foolishly calls it splits it self into meerly naturall and civill and supernaturall i. e. spirituall which discerns spirituall matters and all things in order to the last end and this inward spirituall light quoth he or faculty of understanding spirituall things spiritually is various c. Where note how I. O. falsely calls the light no other then the faculty of understanding which he calls elsewhere truly enough but naturall and yet to go round again calls the very faculty of understanding which is common to all men as men by the Title of this inward spirituall light which discerns spirituell things and that spiritually in order to the supernaturall and ultimate end i. e. Salvation And this inward spirituall light common to all that discerns spirituall things spiritually in order to that ultimate end I. O. sayes is various too and very well he may if it may be divided again into those two severall sorts into which I.O. sub-splits it for whereas here he calls this Light in the Conscience which the Qua. call to lumen internum spirituale c. An inward spirituall light which discerns spirituall things spiritually in order to the supernaturall spirituall and ultimate end yet a little lower viz. S. 17. to go round again he calls it meer darknesse it self by which no divine saving thing can be seen witnesse his words This Light within common to all however attended to is quoth he in no respect saving but in all divine matters so far as to the ultimate end meer darknesse and blindnesse One while again they deny this light to be the visive i.e. Intellective faculty or eye of the soul or to be given for any such end as so much as to remove the defect of the visive faculty Witnesse I. O p. 77. Light will not remove the defect of the visive faculty Light is not eyes Otherwhiles to go round again It is the very visive faculty as Ex. 4. S. 9. This light or faculty of understanding which is meerly naturall c. This inward spirituall light or faculty of understanding spirituall things spiritually c. So S. 8. 18. Lux quae proprie mentem respicit seu facultas illa intelligendi est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oculus acies mentis The light which properly respects the mind or the faculty of the understanding is the sight the visive force the very eye of the mind One while they tell us that its true among the Gentile Philosophers there was light that guided well and that in the Law there was light and that no light that is truly such though dimene and imperfect as say they that of the Philosophers and the Law was is to be rejected Witnesse R.B. I.T. p. 68. Otherwhiles some light yea even the Philosophers light which led them well as they say asore in some did in most things lead men into crooked and dangerous wayes therefore unlesse men love and it be best to be led into crooked and dangerous wayes to go round again to be rejected Witnesse against themselves R.B. I. T in the self same page the next line but one after the other witnesse also I.O. against them both who Ex 3. S. 28. sayes of the spirit and light within the Qua calls to among other things that he calls incerta periculosa inutilia minime necessaria rejicienda atque detestanda that they are to be both rejected and detested Thus when they begin of their own accord among their own supposed friends somtimes these men commend and extoll and call men to heed this light in the Conscience which the Qua call to so eminently that the Qua scarce need more words to recommend it to men in as to its excellency divinity usefullnesse profitablenesse needfullnesse and necessity to be heeded and obeyed then the same which our Divines themselves who hate it do seem to set it out in Otherwhiles that is when any Qua begin to call men to it to commend and extoll it among their Parish people though in their own forms of speech about it and when the Qua desire them as they will prove themselves true Ministers of Christ with Paul to labour to turn all men to the light within themselves then to go round again either they 'l be silent or if they sing anything at all concerning it sing out no more so loudly as before to the praise and glory of it but rathe what they are able they sing their old new song to the Turncoats Tune of Truth turned out of Doores in way of dispraise and disparagement and utter detestation of it to the utmost as if t were the vilest kind of Canting in the whole world to utter one word in order to the begetting of any people into so much as any measure of any good opinion at all of a light within so that I may truly say of these Seers as the Poet once of one of Caesars Singers Omnibus hoc vitium est cantoribus inter amicos Vt nunquam inducunt animum cantare rogati Injussi nunquam desistunt c. To shew the World how Sepharically these Ministers sing out the high praises of the light of Christ the light of the World the light in the Conscience when they please to begin of themselves and to go round again how symphonically they set it at their heels in opposition to the Qua rather then the Qua shall prevail with them to say any thing of it that is any better then nought
I shall hereunder shew both their voluntary calls to and commendations of their unjustly occasioned cautions about condemnations of this light of Christ in the Conscience of men when the Qua commend and call to it and set the one of these immediately under the other only premising this that whether they speak of the light which themselves call Christ which the letter holds sorth and testifies to or the light wherewith God shines and shews his will and mind in some measure in the hearts and minds of all men even Heathen Philosophers or others which we call Christs light though they do not we mean however they divide these no other but that one Law of God which the Letter is the Copy of which is spirituall holy just and good which T. D. confesses to be the Heathens Rule so far as is written in their hearts Christ the Light of the World and his light in the heart which the Scripture testifies of abundantly not any such thing as mans own thoughts wisdome imaginations inventions c. Which the Heathen became vain in Rom 1. which the Qua call all men out of and the Divines that lead men by no other are themselves yet led by more then any steering by nothing but their own many minds and meanings on the Scripture c. Some few calls to and Commendations of the light with Cautions to take heed to it collected out of many more that are in R. B. and I. T. his Book P. 68. It concerns us say they to take heed how we dote on our own reason or the most exact writers of morality and neglect the light which Christ hath brought into the World Let us be wise so to use Candles as not to burn day-light that we so make use of all the reason humane wisdome and virtue we have our selves or discern in others writings or examples that yet we chiefly eye and follow the grand light the Sun of righteousness the Lord Jesus learning him by studying the great Counsell of God which he revealed and denying our selves take up our Crosse and follow him as his Disciples Christ is to be chosen and followed as our Light An Exhortation to use Christ as our Light that was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World be induced to imbrace and follow the Lord Christ as the great Light of the World besides the evidence out of Scripture to prove him to be sent from God a light into the World c. His sayings and doings do amply confirm it And p. 88. 89 they go on thus Though the Jewes contradicted and blasphemed the Romane Emperour raged Lucian jeered Libanism wrangled Iulian calumniated Papists corrupt Gnosticks Hereticks Fanaticks Quakers here they abominably bely the truth for the Quakers call all and only to the light of Christ adulterate and cloud the truth of Christ they do but pisse against the Sun the light of Christs Doctrine the truth of the Gospell doth and will shine forth nor can all the cavills say they of moderne Atheists or the dust raised by new Phantasticks take away the brightnesse of Christs light or hinder its enlightning others then themselves and shall we after all the Arguments given of Christs being the true light follow after ignes fatuos who these be but that fraternity who would have men follow their fancies and not Christs light in the Conscience which is that the Quakers call to I know not What reall comfort or spirituall help to holinesse or heavenly directions do they give to lead men to God better then Christ hath done May you not discern a vain glorious spirit a self-seeking proud carnall spirit in them what do their censures of others shew but a mind to extoll themselves their affected speech looks carriage but a desire to hide their falshood what do all the devices of Iesuits Popes and their Agents tend to but either by force or subtlety to set up the monstrous powers of the man of sin and their own domineerlng over mens consciences underhim â—aSenus recte quidem sed et etiam de te fabula O Parochialis Sacerdos What is in their conclave but pollicy in their counsell but deceit in their Iesuists and Casuists but jugglihg shall we go after such Masters and leave Christ Remember we that one is our Master even Christ when any shall sollicit us not to adhere to Christ as our Teacher reject them Christ hath warned you say they and so say I too as concerning any that lead forth from his light within therefore saith he go not forth after them nor follow them If any say low here is Christ or there and so do all Priests and Professors and their Teachers in their sundry forms and outward observations in which they look for the Kingdome which comes not in them believe it not We will not venture our lives upon Mountebanks and will we our souls upon deceivers Shall we follow our own conceits which often prove foolish and neglect Christs Doctrine which say we still is his teaching light and counsell in the Conscience which alwayes proves wise and safe no no let us answer as Peter Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternall life Alas what can we expect but if we follow blind leaders as all are that teach the things of God otherwise then Christ and his Apostles did who say I called all along to walk in the light within we should fall with them into the Ditch into everlasting perdition On the otherside there is so much plain and clear light in Christs doctrine as will guide our feet in the way of peace Away then with all such obtruded insinuating Teachers as indeavour to hide from us the light of Christ shining in his Doctrine recorded in Scripture Let 's say none but Christ none but Christ that Christ which preached dyed at Ierusalem that word of his which is written in my Bible of which the Bible testifies say I that its near in the heart to heare and do it shall be my light to the Testimony of Jesus which sayes tho Scripture is the spirit of prophecy the sure word of prophecy that as a light shineth in the dark place of the heart and is to be taken heed to to his Everlasting Gospell I stick So Bixt Ep. p. 7. speaking of the Qua Do they affirm that all men have the light of reason who denyeth it of any but Idiots and Infants Do they maintain that this light is from Iesus Christ both as the Authour and restorer of nature and by whom among us is this denyed Do they say that repaired or reprived nature may be fitly called grace about this also we have no mind to quarrell with them so they will not exclude supernaturall grace thereby as we do not but hereby conclude it Do they hold that common supernaturall light is given to many at least of the unsanctified c. and who contradicteth them in this Do
alterius tamen aedificandae turri é cujus fastigio fastu quodam Giǵanteo signa inferant adversa lucis Perfectioni solio illi Dei literae scilicet in terris suis summâ consentione unâ omnes incumbant See I.O. Ex. 3. S. 2. * See Pag. 314. The Distemper pretended that there are corruptions he allen the Text by varieties from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is dreadful and such as it may well prove mortal to the sacred Truth of Scripture * How contrary is this to J O. pa. 294. who saith Nor let men please themselves with the pretended facility of Learning the Hebrew Language without Points and Accents and not the Language only but the true and proper Reading the distinction of it in the Bible * Ex. 3. S. 24. Discipline cujusuis Perfectio consistit in relatione ad finem eaque perfecta habenda sit quae sufficiens est respecta sinis sui proximi ea vero imperfecta quae finem Propositum assequi potis non est †Let T.D. consider this quotation of two Caâ—dinals by I. O. who would argue me to be a Papist for saying a Truth which he said Bellarmine wrote whom I never cited at all which T.D. will hardly conclude I. O. to be a Papist though he quote two Popish Authors whereof Bellarmine himselâ— is one and makes use of their Testimony against his fellow Protestants whom he fights against but me mutire â—efas and if I mention but any truth that any Papists hold though I cite them not yet it s enough to subject me to suspicion of Popery among our senselesse suspecters truthl fle thinkers and groundlesly confident conjecturers but no marvail fiâ—h as the Proverb is among such evil surmisers Some men whose Brothers will never say they are theeves may more securely steal a â—orse then some true men peep o're the hedge †Tr. 1. chap. 1. S. 22. †Ex. 1. S. 3◠†Tr. â— ch.2 S 1 †If Transcribers might go of 2000. times from the Original in Transeribing a Translation why not once or twice so as to corrupt it in more then Tittles in transcriptions No quoth I. O credat Apella * Quae nam sit tua ipsius sententia de haâ—Questione an Scriptura 〈◊〉 verbum Dei Hand facile quis declarabit preterquam enim quod tocum non convenias ita inepic â—rque odiose in explicandis animi misensibus garris dubiae incertae significatiâ—nis vocibus ludis peregrinis quibuâ—dam phrasibus quae imperitos homines aut reâ—eant aut illiâ—iaâ— nihil sani sensus aut quod ab ullis saâ—e 〈◊〉 intelligi possit continentibus uteris ui multo faciliâ—oâ—r sit Argumenta â—ua pristigare quammenteâ— percipere Imo cum â—â—pis inhâ—nesta sit tua senâ—entia quae emuleatè exposita remoâ—iâ— strophis atque sucis ipsae sibi apud prebos omnes etiam non palam improbos satis esset ad exitiâ—m datâ operâ quâ— imposturam faciaâ— vel ipsam non palam Eloqueris vel verbi i. á consutis consaâ—cinatis ut nihil pene omnino significent eam mangonizas atque ita consilium sermonibus obtenebrans nihil mâgis cavere videris quam ne intelligaris * T. 1. C. 4. S. 7. †T. 1. C. 4. S. 1. * T. 1. C. 4. S. 10 11 12 13 14. †Which witness of God the Word is â—â— confess thou needst not prove it But that word is not the Scripture but that the Scripture writes of * VVhich witness of men for God as mov'd the Scripture iâ— and no more as will be seen anâ—n * Mark how he intermingles these two terms in his discourses T. 1. c. 2. s. 12 13 14 15. * Mark what J. O. here ascribes to the Light in the Conscience the Law in the heart concerning which he makes so strange sometimes that he will not believe there 's any such thing at all Nescio quod Lumen c. †Which Word that God magnifies over all his Name is Christ Jesus whom God hath highly exalted and given him a Name above every Name that is named of things in Heaven Earth and under the Earth that at his Name every knee should bow Phil. 2. And not the Scriptures unless J.O. will say the Scriptures are exalted above Christ and so make God a lyar †And that was by the Truths Opponents at the Disputation at Ashford for Infants Baptism on the 27. of the 5. Month by the Heathen called July 1649. who in the Preface to their own falsly called True Account thereof extant with my Answer to it confessing not onely their own defects and their zeal of Infant-Baptism to be more then their abilities to maintain it but also the weakness of their Arguments on its behalf fall a beseeching people in their charity to cover the weakness of them * Whereupon some Prophesies were stil'd The Burden of the Word of the Lord. * In Linguisistis quibus Scripta est verba disposita sunt per Spiritum sanctum neque arbitrio Scriptorum relicta * Ex. 2. S. 14. Inter media quibus ad sui cognitionem revelandam Deus utitur sacra Scriptura non tantum longissime omnibus aliis antecellit sed fines salutares quod attinet unicum est seu singulare * Pag. 330. But we are in a way and business wherein all things are carried to and fro by conjectures and p. 180. All things here are uncertain uncertain whether any such things were done uncertain who are intended by the Sopherim Ezra and his companions most probably All that I know of the various Readings of the Oriental or Babylonian Occidental Palestine Jews is that they first appeared in Bombergius his Bible under the care of F. Pratensis I wish those that know more would inform me better to professe my ignorance I know no ne that do give account of their original in my present haste I cannot enquire after them and such ike stuff so canis festinans caecos parit catulos * Here 's a deal of Divinity as deep as the dung-hill it self where it s more fit to stand then in divine Labors of Drs. in Diviniâ—y that pretend to be the chiefe Labourers in the plain honest Gospel and servants to that simplicity that is in Jesus †As the feel thinketh so the Clock clinketh * For so saith I.O. Etenim si in sententâ— am hanc cujus patrocinium proviribus suscipâ— mus de plenitudine Scripturarum lubenter disâ— cederent utque omnis cujuseunque tandem generâ— in Religione Controversia verbo Dei i.e. Scriptura secundum te sistatur consentirent erroâ— res isti Teâ—errimi quorum causa lucem Scripturae fugientes Andabatarum more in tenebriâ— demicant atque uti olim Ammonitae Moabitae habitatores Montis Seiris Bellum adversus populum Dei suscipientes internecioni semutuo devovent ad Lumen Solis hujus manifestim ovane scerent Ex. 3. S. 3.4 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
self-condemned and that we will not easily yield to a Renouncing of this Confession Is all this then that thy self Confessest of us the Quakers whom thou Condemnest for utter rejecting the Scripture consistent with such an utter rejecting it as thou Chargest them with Dost not here clear the Quakers out of thy own mouth out of which thou Condemnest them for the same thou clearest them in to the Condemning of thy self to be one out of whose one and the same mouth comes to the same men Blessing and Cursing Excusing and Accusing for the same thing Doth any good Fountain send forth sweet Water and bitter at the same time Is not thy Tongue an unruly Member which thy self can'st tame no better then therewith to blesse God and men too that are made after Gods Image as owners of the Scriptures and yet to Curse them with thy Lyes as denyers thereof when thou hast done Art thou not herein right Baalam like who for the Preferments-sake from which God kept him would sain have Cursed Israel with his Divinations as thou dost with thy Divinity Disputations and yet was against his will forced to forbear and to his own shame to blesse them altogether Object Oh but quoth I.O. no matter what the Quakers confesse of the Scripture now no doubt had things fallen out accordinn to their desire and if People could have born the denyal of it who bore such respect to the Scripture that they would have flown with fury on the Quakers Pates if they should have seemed to deny it the Quakers from whom the fear of that more then the force of Truth forces that Confession Proculdubiò Jamdudum rejecissent had doubtlesly Rejected them utterly long ago Ex. 3. S. 19. Reply This is not so true not well-grunded a Surmise as this viz. No matter how the Priests fawn own the Kings Protectors Parliaments or Powers still that are in present Being to save their Standings in their present Places and Preferments No heed's to be given to their Crouchings Cringing and Humble Representations No doubt but as things fall out and succeed to the serving of their Interest they will turn still to what best serves their turns and have Exceptis excipiendis been generally known to have done so now long ago even from Henry the Eighths time to this very day As for the Quakers could they have dissembled so as ye do for fear of mans Fury they might have escaped many if not all those furious Fallings of your bloudy mad-brain'd Parish-Professors upon their Pares and have saved Oxford and Cambridge that labour pains they more like Fiends then Friends of Truth have been at to persecute them long since also Again I.O. Dost not thou say 't is evident enough that some of us Read the Holy Scripture in Private or at least Remember what we have Read or Heard out of it and for the most part carry the Holy Bible about with us and that in our Digladiations or Disputes we very often rehearse and urge the words of the Scriptures and that the reason why we own Translations is because being not learn'd farther then our Mother Tongue we shall then deprive our selves of all use of the Scriptures which we are loath to do Which of these two I O's must we believe Or if it be but one I.O. as no doubt it is divided against himself and telling two contrary Tales whereof but one can be true which of his two Testimonies must men give credit to That wherein he sayes we strive to bereave men of All Vse of the Scripture and count it odious and abominable to have Heresies Errour false Doctors and Doctrines Convicted and Confuted out of it Or that clean Contrary one wherein he tells all men that we use it so as to Read it in Private Remember what we Read or Hear of it Carry it about with us use it and urge out of it in our Disputes and are shy of denying it to be Translated into English for our use least we should be deprived of All that Vse of it our selves which we are willing to make For my part let others do what they will I have found I.O. telling so many Lyes when in his malice he talkes against the Quakers that I shall rather take that for Truth now which against his envious lying self he here talks for them for some Vse and that not a little himself here affirms we make of the Scriptures and in other places quotes many Scriptures out of which we argue against our Opposers and if it be never so little use it s enough to stop his mouth out of his own mouth who sayes we utterly reject the Scriptures as to All its Vse for he that rejects it as to its Whole use or All its use must be one that makes no use of it at all And if I. O's Testimony had been only that we deny many ill uses of it that himself and other Scribes make that spend and take up more time in scraping and scribling for it then take care to live the life of it and that wrest it to their own ruine he had said the Truth Or had he said we deny many of those good lifes that many make of it he had much lessened his Lye and his Folly in it but because we own it not as useful to all those extraordinary weighty and mighty lifes which he sayes falsly are to be made of it which indeed are to be made only of the Eternal Internal Spirit Word and Light it came from to say we deny all Vses of it as if it were good and profitable and useful and fit for nothing this renders his Lye the more lyable to all mens view and himself to be as blind as one that can see no difference between staring and stark mad What I. O. is that which is not said to be good for all things thereupon said to be good for nothing If I should say soft Wax is not useful to stop hot Ovens with must it straitway be thrown away and must it be taken for Granted that I say it s not good to Seal with or that its useful for nothing That may be good to Cut and Kill as a Knife that when it hath so done can't quicken nor heal nor save nor cure The Letter kills as an Executing Instrument but the Spirit only gives the Life And whereas thou sayest we wish it blotted out that men may come to the Light within in which is the life Nay stay I. O. no hast to hang true men we would have all come to the Light and Life within indeed no such hast yet of the Scriptures going hence though old it will wax once and wear away there 's many pretious Uses though not all the Eminent ones thou talkest of to be made of it before it go hence One whereof is that very thing upon the account of which thou falsly sayest we wish it blotted out viz. That men may come to the Light within which
any such distinction in the sound of that Term This Rule whereby if it were meant of Scripture as it s nothing lesse to give us to discern that Paul in that Expression includes his Two Epistles to Corinth and that one to Ephesus and this to Galatia and the rest of his own and other Apostles Writings even the Revelation it self that was not wrote in his dayes that are Concincinated in your Copies as intended of God to be the Standard and excludes his first to Corinth his first to Ephesus and that to Laodicea as not intended of God to stand in the Standard but to stand below it to be tryed and judged by it Or by this Rule did he mean no more then what was already Written which of you Wise men that render in your Interpretations that Term Rule there of an outward Letter can Riddle me this If so as ye say then he quite cuts off what should be Written after this either by himself for any other Inspired Writer and so all Iohns Epistles and his Revelation rom coming into that right it hath to Rule as the Standard among the rest Or if no then that place and indeed it doth not makes not at all to I. O's purpose who yet quotes it in proof of his Canon as carelesly as others do for customs sake among a vast Company of other Texts that he crowds on a heap one a top of another not one of which proves the Point he there Propounds viz. Scripturam post completum ejus Canonem esse Regulam perfectissimam ita ut nullae Revelationes sint admittendae That the Scripture is so perfect a Rule or Canon that after the Compleating of its Canon which was not when Paul wrote to Galatia if Iohns Epistles and the Revelation be a part of it mark that no more Revelations must be admitted See Ex 3. S. 25 26. not one iot more then the Green Circle that is seen about it in some misty Nights proves the Moon to be made as they say of Green Cheese And now I am upon that Term of thine I. O. Post completum ejus Canonem let me take it while it is in my mind I much muse what ye mean by this so often Compleating and Bounding of your Canon and marvel what Epoche Iuncture and Period of time this perfecting of your Canon and Standard as to all its Integral parts must take its being and beginning as such and be counted from so that before that time it can't be called a perfect Rule or Standard If it be from that time which I. O. calls the Close of the immediaâ—e Revelation of Gods Will Pag. 28. made when Iohn had written the Revelation after which I.O. thinks nothing more was ever to be added by way of new Inspination which Thought of I. O's I shall think to talk with hereafter it from that time I say and not before then t was not compleat it seems when Iohn wrote that Iob. 20.31 nor yet when Paul wrote that Gal. 6.16 And so neither of those Two places cited by both I.O. or T. D do prove their Rule-perfect as to its Integrals and compleat already when Paul and Iohn wrote them And yet for all that I can find by I.O. and T.D. both they not only count their Canon compleat and perfect at the time of the Writing of those Two verses but likewise produce those very Two verses viz. I.O. both and T D. one of them viz. Joh. 20.31 and expresly and in effect the other to prove their Rule to be a most perfect Rule and compleat Canon already long afore the supposed Close thereof in the Revelation yea counting from the time of the Penning of that place Ioh. 20.30 31. we have already quoth T.D. Pag. 28. as much as God thought sufficient as if that History of Iohn had pin'd the Basket and brought up the Recto all the whole Standard of outward Scripture and compleated it alâ—eâ—â—y as sufficiently as God thought fit it ever should be yea so sufficient as that all that should be written after should be held superfluous No more then a most perfect Rule it is now a compleat Canon sufficient Standard adaequate to all Cases that come to be tryed by it inalterable Touchstone immutable Measure to measure all Spirits by to which nothing may be added and I confesse if the Writing be the Rule Standard Measure true Word of God which its but a Writing of it ought to remain from the first to the last ad amussim exactly the same as to its Measure as well as to its Nature and to have not one iot not an inch not a tittle added to it to make it larger longer or wider then at very first Canonizing and Authorizing into its Office it ought to be steady and standing stedfastâ—y the same within it self as well in its Quantity as Quality as a Substantive and not such an Adjective as can't stand by it self without more and more and more Words and Writings still from time to time newly adjoyned to it to shew its sense and signification about those things its to measure determine and to be the All in All even both the Rule and the Iudge of as ye make it I say it can be no more now it s thus compleated as it is by successive Additaments from Moses himself to the Revelation and not one jot lesse it was according to you conceited Canonizers thereof before Iohn or Paul or any of the New Wâ—iters ever wrote no lesse then a perfect Standard that had its Consignation and Canonical Bounding and its borders so set out that what came not to hand what appeared not at the Session of that Sanydrim that sate in Ezraes dayes to Try and Iudge on and Authorize what was fit to be the Iudge and Rule for themselves and all after Ages to be Tryed by must be Condemned as Apocryphal for ever and no lesse then so that little was that was in the dayes of Isaiah before himself or any of the Prophets aâ—ter him had Written To the Law to the Testimony cry out Anti-Testimonists from Isa. 8. 20. like Rooks and Frogs that gape and croak all alike for Companâ—es sake to the same Tune as if that were that little of the Letter only that then was which I shall shew anon was another matter and no lesse then a compleated Canon that little was that was in Davids dayes which was little more then the meer Five Books of Moses if Ioshua and Iudges and Ruth were then written the Word was a Light to Davids feet the Law the Commandement of God David said was perfect converting the Soul enlightning the Eyes rejoycing the Heart giving wisdom to the Simple say the Simpletons of these times never heeding that that Commandement is the Lamp Prov. 6.23 and the Law that Light in the Heart the Quakers speak of Maâ—th 25.8 Luâ—e 12 35. and that Word by which the young Man was to walk and cleanse his way and that was a
by Inspiration is preserved without Corruption i.e. variety from the first Original Manuscripts in the Copies we have Pag. 137. The whole Scriptâ—re entire as given out from God without any losse is preserved in the Copies of the Originals in â—hâ—m all we say is every Letter and Tittle Pag. 10. Tâ—e Word i.e. Scripture with thee still for thou denyest the words coming any other-way to your selves or any now is come forth unto us from God without the least mixture or intervenience of any medium obnoxious to fallibility as is the Wisdom Truth Integrity Knowledge and Memory of the best of all men Pag. 13. We have not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Mo es and the Prophets the Apostles and Evangelists but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have or Coâ—iâ—s contain every Iota that was in them Hebraeâ— Volumina nec in unica dictione corrupta intenies S. Pag. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 5. 18. To which Answers that Pag. 316 317. Doth not our Saviour affirm of the Word that was among the Jewes i.e. Scripture Secundum te still That not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it should passe away or perish where let the Consonants themselves with their Apices be intended or alluded to in that expression c. And Epist pag. 27. None are able to shew out of any Copies yet extant in the World and that they can make appear ever to have been extant that ever there were any such various Lections in the Old Testament And pag. 319. Neither the Care oâ— God over his Truth nor the Fidelity of the Judaical Church will permit us to entertain the least suspition that there was ever in the world any Copy of the Bible differing in tâ—e least from that we enjoy or that those we have are corrupted And pag. 317. Let the Authors of this Insinuation prove that there ever was in the World any Copy of the Bible Differing in any one word from those that we now enjoy let them produce one Testimony ne Author of C edâ— Jâ—w or Christian that can or doth or ever did speak one word to this purpâ—se let them direct us to any Relick any Monument any kind of Remembrance of them and it shall b of weâ—ght to us c. Many more exceeding and extraordinary high strict streins thou deliverest thyself in in other places about the non-corruption non alteration of the Text of Scripture in one Letter Tittle Iota or Syllable since the first giving it out so but that in the Copies extant to this day there 's an exact Unity and entire Identity with the first Originals a kind of Summary Collection and Câ—pitulation of which thou makest pag. 153. speaking to this purpose thus viz. I O. The Sum of what I am Pleading for as to the particular Head to be vindicated is That as the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were immediately and entirely given out by God himself his Mind being in them represented unto us without the least interveniency of such mediums and wayes as were capable of giving Change or Alteration to the least Iota or Syllable So by his good and merciful Providential Dispensation in his love to his Word and Church his whole Word alias the Scripture with thee as at first given out by him is preserved unto us entire in the Original Languages where shining in its own beauty and lustre as also in all Translations as far as they faithfully represent the Originals it manifests and evidences unto the Consciences of men without other forreign help or Assistance its divine Original and Authority Reply This is the Capital Cardinal General Assertion or Position which branches it selâ— into several Particulars or petty Propositions viz. The immediate coming forth of the Scripture from God to us its self evidencing power to evince it self by it self alone to be of God and his Word it s descending to us at this day entire to a Tittle without corruption by alteration in the least Letter Iota Vowel Point or Syllable its uncapablenesse of such Change and Alteration in its coming to us so are thy words here and pag. 10. to the least Iota or Syllable Unto which General Head and its branches the Ramuâ—culi lesser twigs or little Sentences scattered here and there throwout thy Book are Reducible and each to its own suitable Branch respectively That which I am here under Consideration of thy piâ—tiful Plea for is both its non-Alteration de facto as it s handed down by Transcribers from the fiâ—st Scribes of it to us in these dayes and its Unalterablenesse or Uncapablenesse of Alteration which if thou mean as thou sayest thou here Assertest to the least Iota or Syllable These are to thee as thou sayest such important Truths that thou shalt not be blamed in the least by thy own Spirit nor thou hopest by any others in contending for them judging them Fundamental parts of the Faith once but say I thou knowest not when delivered to the Saints Reply Though I who cannot hold thee because I cannot find thee guiltlesse in either thy hasty holding or thy heedlesse unhandy handling thy weak vindicatory piece of Probation of them at so high a rate do advise thee to praise a fair day at night assuring thee that if ever thou come to learn the Truth in the plainnesse and power of it as it is in Iesus the Light of whom the Letter testifies thou wilt find these no Fundamental parts of that One Faith which Paul and Iude speak of Eph. 4. Iude 3 which was One even of old from Abraham Enoch Noah and downwards from the beginning before the Letter was delivered to and earnestly to be contended for by the Saints and wilt find thy own Spirit also however it now seems not to blame thee in the least blaming thee nor a little for thy ignorance in due time and howbeit being bolstered up for a while above it by the Aery Academical Applauses Gratulatory Euge's J O's Hic est's and such like blessings of thy blind Brother literatists that are as the rich mans wealth to him Prov. 10.15 thy strong City thy Murus Abaeneus a high Brazen Wall to thee in thy own conceit thou feel'st no Check and seemest Nil Conscire tibi nullâ Pallescere Cultâ Yet let others and thy own heart also Clear Chear and Cheat thee as it will thou wilt once know that as to every work there is a time to do it in and a Judgment after it so thy whole lame Anti-Scriptural work about the Scriptures as well as thy other part of it against the Quakers though fenced in the Frontispice with the fair formal pretence of A Vindication of the Purity and Integrity of the Hebrew and Greek Texts and Pro Scripturis and such like must come to another account then that I am here taking of it before the world even to a Judgment from God within thy own now blinded Bosome and closed Conscience as the Book thereof comes to be
Whether it be sufficient to make men obey it c. that 's the Grace we are speaking of that causeth men to hearken believe and obey for faith is not of your selves but it is the gift of God and mens hearts must be opened as Lydia's was Act. 16. to hear abd receive the truth revealed Now to say that the Light or Grace which is given to cause us to believe and obey is sufficient if we will believe and obey is ridiculous as if Christ should have said to Lazarus I will raise thee if thou will raise thyself Ans. Here R. B. sits besides the cushion as much as he that queries beside the Question for that 's not the Grace we are speaking of that is sufficient to cause men to obey but that which is sufficient if obeyed that 's the testimony the Qua. bear to the Light of God it is saving to such as walk in it and if it be not sufficient Grace from God to R. Baxter that he hath given him a Light that will lead him to life if he will follow it but he lacks more even to be caused to walk in that light or else he quarrels with it as not enough and with that Grace of Gods as no Grace because he is not compelled by force to accept of it he may fret himself till he fry in the fire of his own peevish spirit before he shall find such a Grace from God to his Salvation while himself lives in the neglect of that he has like the unprofitable servant that charges God foolishly as a hard Master though he hath given him a talent to trade with unless while he sits still God force him to trade with it whether he will or no. As for us called Quakers we judge God hath done well for us in working in us to will and to do i.e. the Power and hath though not in R.Bs. compulsive way caused us put us into a capacity to work it out and left us as he looks all men should do when he has done the other Phil. 2.12 13. to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling and that he doth by a Ministry without and a measure of his spirit within counselling us open our hearts as he did Lydia's to attend to what himself and his servants say and if ever we believe in his Light to our life that Faith is his gift though our act as 't is his gift that we may or have power either to sit or stanâ— and of his Grace our act when we chuâ—e either to stand or sit nor we count it ridiculous as R. B. does to say That Gods Light and Grace is sufficient to bring us to life if we attend it though God leave us to chuse when he hath given it us whether we will improve it or turn fâ—om it nor was it ridiculous in Christ to say to Lazarus I will raise thee if thou will raise by self for Christ having done in his part in quickning left Lazarus to his part in rising and in effect said the same which R. B. counts ridiculous viz. Lazarus come forth which if Lazarus had not done he might have perisht in that Sepulchre for all Christ had quickned him so as to giâ—e him the power to come forth for Christ would not have pullâ—d him out by force if he had refuâ—ed to come forth when he called him nor any more then 't was in God to say Hear ye deaf and look ye blind that ye may see But as for this man R. B. and his fellows 't is not grace enough nor couâ—t sie sâ—fficient it seems if a man invite poor folks to dinner and prepares meat enough for all comers and bids his Guests Welcome when they are come and compels them by all earnest perswasion to sit down and bids them as God does Eat O friends drink yea drink abudantly O beloved when they are â—ate unless when they refuse he open their mouths in some forcible manner and cause them to eat all that is set before them such troublesome guests as these of which sort are R. B. and the rest that look for such a compulsive causing when the grace of a sufficient Feast is vouch fast unto them are not fit to sit at great mens tables much leâ—s at Gods and by my consent he that unless he be forcibly fed refuses to feed when the meats before him whether it be at a feast of sat things of mans making or of Gods shall while others hearken and let their souls delight themselves in fatness have his choice to sit still and as the Proverb is may fast and welcome I conclude then as to Query that God puts men into capacity to come to the Light if they will not chuse darkness before it that Light is sufficient to save if obeyed yet all men who all have sâ—me of it are not saved by it and the reason is because they will not come to that Light of Gâ—d which in Gods good will towards them in come into them R. B. Q. 10. But how can Light be sufficient were a man never so obedient to reveal that which was never manifested by it or by any Revâ—lation that doth accompany it No Light among the Heathens in America doth tell them that Christ was Incarnate died rose ascended or intercedeth for us or is the King Priest or Teacher of his Church or will raise the dead and judge the world how then can this light be sufficient to bring them to the belief of this Ans. Is the Light in America then any more insufficient to lead its followers to God then the Light in Europe Asia Africa the other three parts of the World I have ever lookt upon the Light in All men since I began to look to it in my self as one and the self-same light in all where it is in sort and kind though different in degree and measure which varies not the nature of any thing and that according to the measure of it and in â—uch wiâ—e as it s attended to withall it shews the same things in all men as to the mystâ—â—y substance and spiritualiâ—y of them though the outward History of this in an outward Letter some may be better skill'd the ein then some I wot how Cornelius came to be accepted in his Prayers and Almes as a man truly fearing God before by an outward Ministry he ever heard of Christ Incaâ—nate dying rising ascending interceding c. after all theâ—e things were outwardly and actually transfacted also since all you agree and we with you that out of the knowledge of Christ the Light there 's no acceptance at all with God nor in any other name either Iustification or Salvatioâ— Was it not in his obedience to the Light he had which came from Châ—ist the Light though as yet he knew him not after the flâ—sh And by what light did they who wrote of Christs Incarnation Death Resurrection Ascensiâ—n c. See them before they wrote as some did
viz. Abâ—aham who saw his day before any History or Letter of your Scripture at all was wâ—ittâ—n Was it not by that as they walk on with God in it from Abel Enoch Noah and downward some measure of which but that they minded it not as some few did but were ever alienated from it walking in their own wayes was in all Nations as well as some and not more save only in measure in the Prophets then in other men And did not this light without and bâ—fore the Letter help some even such still as walk't after it to the belief of this and that God would raise the dead and judge the world which they wrote in the Light and Spirit in which they saw it and in that wisdome which in all Ages Wisd. 7. entering into holy souls that heed it makes them friends of God and Prophets Were these things then as R. B. thinks in his Query never manifested by the Light without the Letter nor by any Revelation that doth accompany the Light were men never so obedient to it What darkness is this of R. B. in his ten Queries who yet to pin the basket at the end of this tenth Query to add weight to the lightness and light to the darkness of it adds one more of his own thoughts and odd conceits in these words R. R. I think its past controversie that no man hath sufficient Grâ—ce to his Salvation till his last breath For if God add not more for his preservation all will be lost Ans. By which hasty speech the man proclaims his being in the darkness and besides the light that is in him so loud and exalts its fâ—lly and sets it so on high that All may see it save such as are with him in the dark where he is for besides the absurdity above spoken to of his arguing from Gods adding more and mens not having so much yet as they may have that therefore they have none at all of that Grace which is sufficient he turns from the true terms of his Question taking the word suffienâ— here in quite another sense then it hath been taken in along viz. for the highest dâ—gâ—â—â— only of that Grace of God when as the question is about the sufficiency of it to save from that sin it shews such as keep to it in the very least degree and lastly expresly contradicts the Scripture which speaks of the suffiâ—â—ency of God Grace to keep men that keep to it in such degrees of it as are attainable in this life witness that of God to Paul full fourteen years behind the time wherein he spake it and many more before the time of his last breath 2 Cor. 12. My grace is sufficient fâ—r thee I conclude then all R. Bs. Queries notwithstanding that though all are not saved by it yet all have some of that Light and Grace which is â—aving and that all are not saved as some are it is becausâ— they come not into that Light and Grace â—f God which is come intâ— and unto them And now I return to R.B. and I.Ts. Arguments against this whose 26th fâ—om Iohn 6.44 45. 65. is thus There 's need of a further drawing or gift of the Faâ—her that a man may come to Christ as there would not bâ— if his own light without other help would make known Christ to him therefore each mans own light is not sufficient c. Rep. Here R. B. layes on hard again upon the Anvil beside the Iron in diâ—proving the sufficiency of mans own light by which he means mans thoughts wisdâ—mâ— c. which we count daâ—kness and foolishness much more then himself does when the Question is about the Light of Gâ—d in the heart of which we say that though none can come to Christ without Gâ—d draw him yet by that Gâ—d dâ—aws all meâ— though aâ—l mâ—n câ—me not after hiâ— And so the reaâ—on why they perish still is not because God does not dâ—aw thâ—m to life by a light sufficient to lead to it but because they resist hang back and will nto follow it therefore sayes God I drew them with the coâ—ds of my love with the bands of a man yet shall they go into captivity because they refused to return The 27. from 1 Iohn 4.1 1 Thes. 5.21 Mat. 4.24 Believe not every spirit but try the spirits c. Prove all things take heed what ye hear is thus If each persons light within him were a safe guide of it self to God then no men need to try other mens spirits nor to prove all things left he be deceived sith if he follow his own light he is fallible c. But these things are absurd and contraâ—y to the warinest Christ prescribes therefore the light within each person is not a sufficient guide to God I shall instead of his own light placing the Light of God about which only the Dispute is syllogize these mens silly Syllâ—gisme back upon them thus If the Light of God within each person were not a sufficient and safe guidâ— to lead him to God then no man need to trouble himsâ—lf sâ— much as to try other mens spirits or prove all things left he be deceived for that is but labour in vain sith if he have not a measure of Gods Infallible Light and Spirit in â—im whereby to judge of things even of that Light of which the Letter sayes That all thingâ— that are to be reproved Eph. 5. are manifâ—stâ—d by it and no truth is infaâ—liby manifested but by it which only leads into all truth he is not infallibâ—y guided nor undoubtedly sure of his hand let him look search prove and try as much as he will any more then a man can infallibly diâ—cern and distinguish of colours in a dismal dark night or dark place where not one beam of the Sun shines so as to discover them But these things are absurd and contrary to the wariness that Christ prescribeth who doth not bid men try all things by that Light and Spirit of God which only makes all truth and all that is knowable of God and all things of God manifest in men Rom. 1.19 and yet not vouchâ—afe them one beam of that only sufficient Light to try any thing by yea 't were no less then as meer mockage as to bid a man read for his life in a dark Dungeon without sufficient light either of Sun or candle or take heed to himâ—elf by that Light that shines in a dark place 2 Pet. 1.19 when there 's no true light there at all and contrary also to all common sâ—nse and reason therefore there is in every man some of that Light of God which as its heedeâ— according to the measure of it is able to guide him infallibly to judge of the matters truths wayes dâ—ctrines spirits he is bid to try on peril of being deceived to damnation and a sufficient safe guide to lead him unto God I wonder what Light Spirit Rule and Touâ—hstone all Truth and all
in his name and done great things nevertheless for as much as they departed not from iniquity they shall be doom'd from Christ with Dâ—part from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not 16. Then shall the whole multitude of Transgressors of the Law i. e. of the Light of God in the conscience by which all even those that have not the Law written in an outward letter are a Law to themselves having the work of the Law written in their hearts that the Lamb of God came not to tolerate but to take away the sin of the world and that Iesus was sent not to give liberty to sin but to set his people at liberty from their sins and that in the greatest liberty wherwith Christ freeth his people there is the least licence and that the Father having raised up his Son hath sent him to blesse men they turning away every one of them from his iniquitie that those blessed ones to whom the the Lord imputeth not sin whâ—se iniquities aâ—e forgiven whose sin is covered are such in whose Spirit there is no guile and that there is in no wise any remission of sins unto those who still accustome themselves to a dayly commission of them 17. Moreover the great and terrible day of the Lord now cometh wherein the Light which is risen in the conâ—ciences of men shall dayly more and more clearly shine forth in which also the â—he book of conscience must be opened that â—ut of it all men may be judged according to all things that are written therein where by the Light which is Gods faithfull witness all sin is written down in the sight of God as with a Pen of Iron in which day by the Light God will come night to us to judgement and then the righteousness grace and mercy of God shall be revealed towards all who standing still in his Light wait for him to come as a Redeemer to them from their impieries that they may be saved from the wrath that is to come upon all the children of disobedience by which light the wrath of God shall be manifested from Heaven in their own conâ—ciences against all ungodliness unrighteousness of men who retain the Truth in unrighteousness in which day God will reign down upon the wicked Snares Fire Brunstone and an horrible tempest all which things shall be the portion of their Cup. 18. Moreover in the hand of God there is now a cup and the Wine thereof is Red and it is full of mixture and he poureth one of the same and Iudgment is begun at the House of God and God hath begun to bring evil upon the people upon whom his Name is written and his Nature Image is imprinted they whose portion it is not in such a measure as they have drunk of the Cup of abomination and fornication have drunk also of the Cup of indignation and wrath before they could take the Cup of Salvation and praiâ—e the name of the Lord in no wise therefore shall the wicked go unpunished but the worshippers of the Beast and those that receive his image must drink also of this wine which is poured one of the mixture into the cup of his indignation and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angells and of the Lamb yea the very dregs hereof the top whereof the Children of the Light and of the Day have tasted the Children of the Night and of the Darkness that is all the wicked ones of the earth shall drink and wring them out 19. Wherefore whilst in the long suffering of God opportunity is not wanting unto you whilst the day of your Visitation is neer unto you from God let my councell be accepted of you All and turn your selves to the light of Christ in your own consciences and take councell thereat for ever which seriously and sincerely minding you shall be taught by Christ himself whose Testimony to you from heaven that is to your both externall internall and eternall Peace and Salvation and shall be brought to Christ himself and to see him and his Father from both whom it comes to the saving knowledg of whom there can be no coming any other way whatsoever for as the Sun of this outward world is not seen but by that Light which flows from it self unto us so neither is the Sun of righteousnesse but by that measure of Light how little soever it be that shines from him in the heart 20. For although the Scripture which speakes of the Light and directs to the Light maketh mention of the Father and of the Son so that there ye may read of them and speak of them also according to what ye there read yet this the Scripture it self witnesseth that none can know either the Father or the Son but he to whom the Father and the Son do mutually reveal each the other whose revelation also is made within for that which may be known of God sufficient to Salvation is manifest in men saith Paul for God doth manifest it in them and the Gospell is preached in every creature which is under heaven by the Light of God in the conscience so that they are left inexcusable before God who else would be excusable blameless forasmuch as though they know God yet they glorify him not as God neither like to retain God in their knowledge but knowing the judgement of God that they which do such things as they do are worthy of death yet not onely do the same but have pleasure in those that do them 21. In the mean while we do not affirm Christ himself to be in all men who yet is known to be in all that are not Reprobates as that hope of glory nevertheless all for there is no difference but what is made by different degrees of light which do not vary the nature of the thing have some measure or other of his Light at least one Talent committed to them that they may trade therewith to profit withall which using well and doubling they have entrance into the joy of their Lord but hiding of which and not gaining therewith they shall be thrust out at last from the light they have into the utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth This Light therefore shines in all even the heatheâ— in some measure although not in all in the same measure 22. To the measure of which Light of Christ which in you is you will do well to take heed while you have it as unto a light shining in a dark place to give you the knowledge of your Salvation and guide your feet in the way of peace and that you may find true rest to your burdened and wearied souls and lest darkness come upon you for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whether he goeth nor at what he stumbles 23. This Light is the Law of God for the law is light saith the wise man written not
with Luke but with the Spirit of the living God not in tables of stone as of old for a figure hereof by the finger of God but in fleshly tables of the heart in which may be read and understood not onely as in the Scripture and the Law without the right that is what you should do and should be but the fact also that is what you do and what you are For to know Thy self whom if thou knowst not thou knowst not Christ whom if thou knowst not it s no profit to thee to know other things this comes no other way then by an inward beholding of thy self in that more inward looking-glass namely the light of Christ by which God shines in the conscience which light leads those that follow it to hear that true and living word of God of which the Scripture declares that its powerfull and mighty and sharper then any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing of the Soul and Spirit and of the marrow and reines discerning the thoughts and cogitations of the heart before which all things are naked bare that it is as fire and as an hammer breaking the Rocks in pieces and causing all things to tremble at the hearing thereof which was in the beginning before the Scripture was which testifies of it concerning which the Scripture both Old New doth truly testify it 's not far off but nigh in the heart and mouth that thou maist do it even that very word of Faith the Apostles Preached 24. This light is that good old way Older than the Eldest among the Sects of this age whether of Iewes or Christians who all in the mean time namely both Catholiks and Lutherans and Calvinists Baptists c. every one professing themselves to be the Antient est have divided the Grand Tree of the old Roman Church into so many branches lesser boughs and little twigs that the whole Body thereof wil ere long be sick even unto death She who hath been so long the Mother of so many children is almost now devoured of Her own children This light I say is that Antient way unto which God by the Prophet Ieremiah called back the Israelites when degenerated from God into their own traditions saying stand in the wayes and see and ask for the Antient paths where i that good way walk therein and you shall find rest unto your souls but they said We will not walk therein hearken to the voice of the Trumpet but they said We will not hearken 25. This Light is a Teacher that cannot deceive for it is the Testimony of God which is greater than the Testimony of man nor yet can it flatter for it reproves every one justly not justifying the wicked and condemning the Innocent but telling every one the Truth concerning himself directly as the case is and no otherwise accusing and excusing then God himself from whom it is for if by that which is shining from God in thee thy own heart condemns thee there is no God without that holds thee guiltless but when by that thy heart condemns thee not then maist thou have boldness before God 26. Finally this Light is that perfect law of Liberty of which whoso is a hearer and not a doer he is like a man that beholds his natural face in a glass which so soon as ever he hath beheld and is gone away he straitway forgets what manner of man he was but whoso looketh into it and continueth therein and is not a forgetful and an idle bearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed Henceforth therefore who ere thou art who wouldst know thy self do not seek thy self out of thy self but behold thy self within in that inward Light which inwardly gives the diâ—cerning not only of the good and perfect mind and will of God concerning thee but also of thy own mind and of thy whole self and that so perfectly that concerning these and even all things pertaining to the Salvation of the Soul and the Kingdom of God with the Righteousness thereof and what Haereditary right thou hast therein which is nigh wch is within saith Christ to the Pharisees who never entred into it there is no need that thou shouldst go forth of thy self in order to a further evidence and understanding of them yea thou knowest more than enough already if of the good will of God thou knowest more than thou livest up to for what good is only known and not done tends only unto thy condemnation In all openness and plainness and not in knowing what is to be done but in doing what is already known stands the Salvation of the Sons of men 28. Moreover what hinders unless they be delighted in the blinding of their own eyes the stopping of their eares and the hardning of their hearts in rejecting the councell of God to their own perdition but that the wicked may come to the life of God from which they stand estranged for the way to that life howere it 's narrower and straiter by reason of the Cross of Christ which is dayly to be taken up by those that follow him then that wide and broad way that leads to destruction for which cause it is that so many enter in by this and so few by the other yet is together with that which tends unto death so plainly made manifest by the Light that unless it be to such as are willingly ignorant it cannot easily be hidden 29. For the fruits of the Spirit or works of the Light which are righteousness love goodnes faith gentlenes sobriety temperance chastity which who so brings forth to God lives with God and sees God are manifest to every one that doth not wink against the Light in his own conscience and the works of darkness or of the flesh such as are adultery fornication uncleannes lascivicusness idolatry witch-craft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envy murders drunkenness revellings and such like which whoeever doth shall never enter into the Kingdom of God are manifest saith the Scripture and that not so much by the Scripture as by the Light to which the Scripture testifies and by which they were manifest in the consciences of men before the Scripture was and are made manifest at this day where the Scripture is not by which also they would have been made manifest if the Scripture had never been For all things that are reproved saith the Spirit in the Scripture are made manifest by the Light for whatsoever doth make manifest is Light 30. To this therefore all apply your minds to this come in this walk and continually abide even in the Spirit of God which reproveth the world and comforteth the Saints called redeemed and chosen out of the world Here stand continually that ye may both know your selves and comprehend false Spirits with the works and children of darkness who are comprehended and discerned by the Spirit by the