with which we are mystically united and in asmuch as it was fulfilled in our Head it is ours as surely by imputation as if it had been possessed in and performed by our own persons 3. Lest R. F. should think I have neglected him to attend his Brother-contradictor let us hear what he saith to the Scripture I quoted for a bottom of that truth we maintain against all gain-sayers viz. That the Saints are not in all degrees perfected in Holiness till they dye or be dissolved * Page 15. As thou hast lyed of James who witnesseth purity as the Saints did so also hast thou lyed of the Apostle and those spoken of Heb. 12. 23. saying that the spirits that is souls separated as thou says from the bodies of just men made perfect in holiness which is at death or at the instant of dissolution when the spirit is separated from the body Rep. 1. Whether I belyed James Nayler or no will appear before where I have cleared the faithfulness and freedom of my Spirit 2. How James witnesseth purity we have heard and proved it not to be after the Scripture-Saints judgement who never went about after they knew Christs fulness and their own emptiness to bottom their Justification upon their Sanctification and establish a righteousness of their own which is said to be our own if it be materially inhercut What is our righteousness in us 3. How I have lyed of the Apostle and of those spoken of Heb. 12. 23. let it come to the tryal First I shall clear out and strengthen the Exposition of that place Heb. 12. 23. cleared in the last clause by the scope Secondly examine what R. F. hath against it or the truth thence deduced of sins continuance in the Saints till death First The Exposition I gave is cleared and strengthned partly from the Scope partly from the Grammatical sense of the words 1. The Scope of the Apostle is to press the exhortations and consolations preceding Ver. 5. That Christians should not faint under afflictions Ver. 12. That weaklings in grace may be encouraged Ver. 14. That peace and holiness be pursued Ver. 16 17. That by no means Saint-ship be undervalued and why all this because they are not under the Old Testament administration at mount Sinai Ver. 18. which was terrible but Ver. 22. under a New Testament condition which is amiable the more by reason of that holy and sweet communion which is now cleared out as with God Christ and Angels so with the Saints in heaven described by this Character The spirits of just men made Communion of Saints on earth with Saints in heaven perfect with whom we that are but weak in Faith and imperfect in Holiness have 1. A communion of right our grounds of right to heaven are as good and firm as theirs who are now in possession 2. Of Interest Saints departed are in living communion with that God and Christ in heaven with whom we have communion on earth 3. Of Praises Begun praises by the Saints on earth are echoed and resounded by the perfect Spirits in Paradise 4. Of will and desires They are doing the will of God perfectly and we as Saints are aiming endeavoring praying striving after that state 5. Of Hopes They hope for the perfection of their Bodies at the resurrection and we hope for the perfection of Soul at death and of our Bodies at the same resurrection day 6. Of Membership They are a part of the Church-Catholique and so are the Saints on earth fellow-heirs we are of the same inheritance children of the family c. Thus for the Scope 2. The words themselves carry their sense with them at Heb. 12. 23. cleared in the terms the first look By spirits cannot be meant Angels for of them he had spoken before And he addeth We are come to the spirits of men The word in Acts 23. 8. is used for souls separated The Sadduces say there is no resurrection neither Angel nor Spirit that is souls of men separated from the bodies to which yet they retain a relation for they held the soul dyed with the body others in our time as in Calvins say it sleeps with the body But the word Spirit notes out a living intelligent substance in action or sensible passion as the souls of them that were disobedient before the Flood in Noahs time are 1 Pet. 3. 19. called spirits in prison those are souls of wicked men made miserable these in our Scripture controverted are souls of just men while they were here in the body perfectly justified and at parting out of the body made perfect in holiness In that it is said Spirits made perfect it implyeth they were not in that sense perfect in the body as they are now out of it Here in life the Saints have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fulness of the Spirit comparatively in respect of what they had at first or that others have at present at death they have a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a final perfection as to a perfect freedom from the roots and remnants of sin and a fruition of as much inherent holiness as they are capable of Here the Lord findeth fault if our works be not perfect or filled up as the word * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth Rev. 3. 2. with acts and exercises of grace in all kindes but when we dye in the Lord then our works are perfect or finished * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in degrees and at an end The word for perfect in our Text to the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which comes of a verb * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in its root * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth an end or the end therefore sometime put for death John 13. 1. To the end that is to the death he loved them And 2 Cor. 1. 13. I trust you shall acknowledge to the end i. e. to my death or yours or both When Christ was giving up the ghost and was ending the work of satisfaction with his life he cryed out It is finished * John 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 30. so shall we who have the first-fruits of the Spirit be then able to say with that clear conscience which now cannot in that maner and measure be exercised even as we give up our spirits into the hands of God now Lord the work of mortification and holiness is finished and not before The sense of the Scripture stands clear Secondly Let us examine what R. F. hath against it or against the Doctrine of sin's continuance in the godly till death Against the true meaning of the Apostle now cleared he excepteth * Page 16. Thâ—se that thou speaks of in Heb. 12. 22. did not say it should be at an instant of death when their bodies Heb. 12. 23. vindicated and souls parted that they should be perfected Rep. 1. I have had no revelations from them nor speech with Saints departed
since their departure nor need I I have Paul and other Pen-man of the holy Ghost to assure me it was not before The word in the Text is Spirits not bodies nor souls continuing in the bodies of just men made perfect and that is enough to me 2. For conviction of gainsayers and confirmation of the weak I might call to minde the sayings of several Saints before Christs coming and since who have had no other faith nor perswasion but that while they were here sin remained with them and within them and till death parted their souls from their bodies Christ parted not sin perfectly from their souls What will R. F. say to that cloud of Witnesses Heb. 11. who while they lived lived by Faith and when they dyed ver 13 they dyed in Faith not onely in respect of a heavenly countrey but that what they felt not the moment before they should be in sensible possession of the moment of and the moment after dissolution Then as Samson slew more at his death then in his life so Christ would and did give them a perfect revenge upon their old enemy sin and all the roots and remnants of corruption What will R. F. say to old Saint Jacob who on his Saints experimentally imperfect death-bed makes this confession Gen. 49. 18. I have waited for thy salvation O Lord. Salvation as to perfect sanctification being yet to be finished at death And what to precious Saint David 2 Sam. 23. 5. who quieted his heart with this on his death-bed that God had made with him an everlasting Covenant c. although things were not perfect in his house nor heart for then he had been perfect I speak still of perfection in all degrees in the discharge of his relative family duties but that he was not And were any in the New Testament as perfect in sanctification before as at and after death doth Paul for himself and the Saints speak of any more then the first fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8. 23. doth he not make mention of his and their infirmities ver 26. which are not onely afflictions but sins if not Rom. 8. 26. opened to know what to pray for in every prayer as we ought be a sin but so many ignorances and defects in prayer and duty which ought not to be in us are sins There ought not to be any sinful infirmity in us yet there are and will be do we our best Let R. F. hear what our English Saints have acknowledged at the instant of death or immediately before I am drawing on a pace to my dissolution said M. Bolton famous for piety hold out faith and patience your work will quickly be at an end His work of holy faith and patience was not at an end before his end his death Our English precious Jewel who by his Popish adversaries confession in his life was an Angel though in his faith as they deemed an Heretique immediately before his death he brake forth into these words Christ is my righteousness Father let thy will be done thy will I say not mine which is imperfect and depraved Our dear Countreyman M. Deering hath this farewel Poor wretch and miserable man that I am the least of all Saints and the greatest of sinners c. And again If I were the most excellent of all creatures in the world if I were equal in righteousness to Abraham Isaac and Jacob yet had I reason to confess my self to be a sinner Holy M. Bradford How oft doth he subscribe in letters to his friends either an Hypocrite or a very painted Hypocrite or The sinful John Bradford for the same man or person as he writeth in one Letter which describes and compares the old man and the new man a little better then Ja. Nayler in his Love to the lost may be called always just always sinful Even men perfectly justified are not made perfectly holy according to his faith and experience which as to this case is the same in all Saints while living here and hereupon when he hourly lookt for the Porter to open to him the gates to enter into desired rest from the very molestations of indwelling sin and was every moment expecting the executioner to dispatch him in a letter to his dear Fathers Dr. Cranmer Dr. Ridley and Dr. Latimer he is bewailing his unthankfulness and hypocrisie clear he was and sure of justification and heaven yet sensible of the remnants of corruption As also M. Philpot who leaped for joy when his martyrdom was at hand yet cryed for mercy against his present unthankfulness and unworthiness And if we look abroad instances are pregnant and plentiful I shall mention onely two or three one in Germany Melanchthon who not onely complained that old Adam was too hard for yong Melanchthon but continued in a sense of his sinful corruptions to his dying day confessing himself at last to be a miserable sinner So did blessed Calvin in France as appears in his last Will and Testament I close up with that noble French man Philip de Morney Lord of Plessis though he died with full assurance of a house not made with hands c. yet he put up this request a little before his death Lord make me to know my sins to weep for them to detest them and to have them in execration These with thousands like them have so believed in life and spoken to this effect at death that when their bodies and souls were parted and at that instant they should be perfected in holiness they felt it not believed not it would be before that time R. F. * Page 16. hath another exception Heb. 12. 22 23. In the present tense they there spoke and not in the future Rep. He that knows any thing of Grammar may well question whether R. F. understands himself or what is the difference between the present tense and future in the present Tense they there spoke who spoke There is but one Paul or some other Pen-man that wrote the Epistle by the dictate of the Spirit and he speaks of believers already come to mount Zion c. and to the Spirits of just men made perfect before he wrote the Epistle The word for made perfect in the Greek * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Participle of the Preter Tense or time past not of the present nor did I say it was of the future onely what was a Truth then is now a Truth that Saints living in their bodies in imperfection of holiness have relation to and communion as hath been shewed with Saints living out of their bodies i. e. the spirits of just men made perfect A third exception R. F. hath against the simile I used sin is as the wild fig-tree thou sayes rooted in the joynts of a stone wall and when the wall is taken down the stones cast asunder body and soul separated then is sin thou sayes pluckt up by the roots as the roots of the fig-tree not before
answer to Rom. 8. 10. though he quotes not the place but some of the words adding his own gloss The words of the Apostle are these And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness By the body here Rom. 8. 10. cleared in its genuine sense is meant the natural body consisting of flesh blood and bones as appeareth 1. By the scope of the Apostle to comfort them against the Law of death ver 2. 2. From the comfort which he raiseth grant the Body is dead frail corruptible mortal subject to death yet first it is not totally dead for the sting of death which is the guilt of sin is pluckt out ver 2. and the Spirit by the law of opposition here to be taken for the soul of a believer is life or a living soul immortal and shall live gloriously to immortality and may and doth live comfortably here because of righteousness i. e. while it takes up this consideration that Christs own personal righteousness is imputed as the cause of a glorious life and Christs infused holiness is the evidence of Justification-life and Glory-life Secondly the body shall not be always under the power of death v. 11. for he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies which epithete mortal is added to shew he spake of the natural body ver 10. and to strengthen and comfort in that the same spirit dwelling in Christ and true Christians look as he raised up Christs body so he shall raise up theirs This being the genuine sense of the Apostle we may grant a pious truth in something R. F. saith but not as properly grounded on this place The truth is the natural body is mortified in part to the acts of unrighteousness as the habits of sin are mortified in the soul Rom. 8. 10. vindicated from improper and abusive interpretation but the Apostle saith not the body is dead because of sin being destroyed as R. F. hath glossed but because of fin that is the natural body is a mortal dying body hath many partial deaths upon it and will dye at last soul and body will be separated for a time because of sin which remaineth in the soul dwelleth and acteth in and by the body and will not be absolutely and in all degrees rooted out till the body dies a natural death Sin is such a troublesome in-mate or like some old inhabitant pleading prescription that it will not out God suffering it so to be till the House be pulled down over its head therefore the Apostles reason because of sin discovers them to erre who deny sin to dwell in act where Christ reigneth Sin dwelleth in the soul the inward rooms chiefly but it so lodgeth within as it acteth and worketh in the outward room and shop of the body till body and soul be dissolved when this troublesome inmate is cast out totally finally and for ever from the Saints Let not R. F. go on to say here thou art contradicting the Scriptures and opposing the work of Christ which is to take away sin for there is not one Scripture which speaks of a perfect Saint absolutely free from the in-dwelling presence and in-working power of sin in the least degree while he lives here upon the earth and the work of Christ in taking away sin is in a way of Sanctification to carry it on by little and little as was his casting out of the Canaanites Exod. 23. 30. Let not him that puts on his armor boast as he that puts it off What is it for R. F. * Page 15. to reason And such as abide in him sins not then sin acts not he that acts sin commits sin and there Christ reigns not but Antichrist under whose dominion thou art that pleads for him and his work Rep. 1. Sin may and doth act in the Saints not they but sin is acting when as Saints and so far as regenerate they do act against sin This is not committing of sin in Johns sense as hath been cleared before Sect. 14. but as Paul speaking of himself in the name of all the regenerate as hath been proved Sect. 20. Rom. 7. 16 17. If I do that which I would not c. it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me 2. Although Christ reigns not where sin is committed in Johns sense yet he reigneth where that in-dwelling principle of sin is mortified in truth and in some degree and where the actings of sin are resistings of sin are hated resisted and unfulfilled Gal. 5. 16. They that walk in the Spirit do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh yet the flesh is lusting and acting what it can against a Christian to make him stumble while he is in a good walk 3. Antichrist reigns in none more then in filthy dreamers who while they preach perfection are found in their pollutions It is Antichrists design to represent a sinners Justification imperfect and his Sanctification perfect that he may glory in himself and not in Christ Antichrist pretendeth as much to Holiness as these men called Quakers but out of order and to a wrong end as they also 4. To plead for perfect inherent Holiness as the Believers Justification as J. Nayler * See Love to the lost p. 21. and 51. and R. F. do is to serve under Antichrists colors and to wear his livery and to make void the obedience and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ 5. He is not under the dominion of Antichrist who pleads against his imaginary perfections is made perfect in his Justification by coming unto Christs sacrifice Heb. 10. 1 14. and in a way of Sanctification presseth after more of the power of Christs death and resurrection to be conformed thereunto But R. F. goes on * Page 15. to mis-apply Scripture and contradict the true scope and sense He that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not Rep. 1. It is true the words are so and I believe it is so as the Spirit speaketh in that place 1 John 5. 18. what then 1 John 5 18. vindicated Doth not sin dwell and stir therefore in the regenerate Look back to ver 16. and you may conclude That not onely sin is in every Christian Brother but you may sometimes have it visibly acted before your eyes for saith the Apostle If any man see his brother sin c. 2. Although he sinneth yet we know that whosoever is born of God as every true Brother is sinneth not i. e. unto death as every sin is not unto death so no sin of the truly godly is unto death but he keepeth himself as he is kept and he acteth as he is acted by the principle of the new creature by the Spirits and Christs fresh influence against such a sin and that wicked one Satan toucheth him not with his sting nor instills such deadly poison
into him as brings him into the sin that shall not be pardoned must not be prayed for which is the sin unto death What hath R. F. more to say nothing but from misapplyed Scripture And he that acteth and doth righteousness is of God but he that acteth and doth unrighteousness is not of God as saith the Scripture Rep. But where he nameth none The Scriptures which he might guess at are 1 John 2. 29. and 1 John 3. 10. In the 1 John 2. 29. cleared former Every one which doth righteousness is born of him the Greek word for doing * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is emphatical as if he should say he that makes a trade of righteousness not every one that stumbleth upon an act or two of righteousness but every one that is a constant practitioner of it is born of God In the latter whosoever doth not righteousness is not of 1 John 3. 10. vindicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. God i. e. whosoever doth not make a trade of righteousness or godliness is not of God The Scripture saith not He that acteth unrighteousness is not of God neither there nor any where else Sin 's acting in the Saints doth not argue that they make a common practise of it Let them who make a trade of perverting Scripture and of crossing the minde of the Spirit constantly in almost every place they alledge examine whether they can be of God or no. They that judge the Saints for having sin-dwelling and acting in them not to be of God that is not to be Saints or born of God shall be judged themselves by the Lord for trading with Satan in his common shop and office of accusing the Brethren Section 29. WHat I noted touching J. Naylers denial of perfection of holiness to be reserved till after death R. F. calls Whether perfection of holiness be not reserved till death the Reader to see if there be such words so expressed by James in that page if not c. then let them take notice of my deceitful spirit Rep. 1. I would know whether I may not have liberty to put down the effect of his or any mans words though not just the same and so expressed Although very seldom I have done it yet R. F. could take this liberty himself and much more in his Epistle where he tells his Reader that I say Without the Scripture the word of the Lord could not be spoken or to that effect My words were neither so nor to such purpose as he would have them construed as if the Lord were not above his Scripture All that I said was this Christ teacheth us not to know any thing to salvation but what is in the Scripture Law and Testimony and my plain intent therein I have cleared before in this part of my Reply Sect. 10. 2. J. Naylers express words * Discovery of the man of sin pag. 28. are these I challenge you to bring one Scripture which doth say That Perfection and Holiness are reserved till after death What he propoundeth by way of a challenge I put down as his negative position denying in effect a Reserve of perfect holiness to be given into the soul at the instant of death and to be onely enjoyed in soul and body long after at the resurrection Justification perfect here Sanctification imperfect Perfection of Justification by a most perfect imputed righteousness we have as soon as we believe but perfection in all degrees of Sanctification we have not in life none ever had it till death and then they possess it in their souls ever after He that holds the Saints perfect fulfilling of the Law in all degrees of obedience and conformity to it in this life before death hath drunk of Antichrists cup and contradicts the whole tenor of Scripture and the experience of all the Saints mentioned therein so far as their state of holiness in this life is spoken of J. Nayler * Discovery as above gives the lye to them that say The righteousness of the Law is not fulfilled in this life in any of the Saints and thinks that Rom. 8. Rom. 8 3 4. vindicated by the scope and true sense 3 4. will patronize the Saints perfect fulfilling of the Law in this life which onely speaks of Christs fulfilling of the Law for us and in that nature of man which himself assumed If he saith Christ came for that end to fulfil the Law in the Saints and not in his humanity onely for them still the Apostles words and sense must be regarded and not J. Naylers The Apostles scope is not to prove the Saints Justification by Christs enabling them to fulfil the Law which is J. Naylers scope in pleading for perfect Holiness in this life but to comfort against the want of perfect Holiness which is ever wanting while sin dwells in us What is the comfort this that the inherent sin of our natures is not imputed we who believe are absolved and set free from the guilt and punishment of it by the law of the Spirit of Life that is in Christ Jesus Ver. 2. that is by the perfect holiness of Christs humanity reckoned to us A necessity of which appears ver 3. The Law could not justifie any that have sin in-dwelling That which the Law could not do not that which the Saints could not do as J. Nayler reads it in that it was weak through the flesh residing not in the Law but in the best of Saints here God sent his Son that is to justifie us from the guilt of our sinning-natures and how for sin by reason it sticks in us while we live he condemned sin in the flesh of Christ he kept sin from having inherency in Christs humanity And why ver 4. That the righteousness the word signifies the utmost which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could be exacted of the Law absolute holiness of nature as of life and death might be fulfilled in us he doth not say by us or of us that believe in him who all the time he was upon earth had a perfect nature for us and who walk not after the flesh which is in us but after the Spirit which is in us All along the intelligent godly Reader may see that this Scripture makes more against J. Nayler and his associates then for them For if flesh be in all that the Law would have to do with if Christ did not undertake for them and this flesh disableth both us from keeping the Law perfectly and the Law from justifying us our main comfort lays not in the measures of our Sanctification but in our perfect Justification by Christs fulfilling the Law without us and for us which fulfilling of all the Laws exactions for us is said to be in us because the application of it Rom 8. 4. cleared to us is by Faith which is in us and forasmuch as Christ had it for us in that nature of his which he assumed
allusion thereunto say Who shall compare the essence of the Creator to the essence of the creature and who shall liken the divine persons with the humane or the humane unto the divine I shall onely to clear out what hath been said of the holy Ghosts personality adde this argument If those actions are properly attributed to the holy Ghost which are proper to a person then he is a person But those actions are properly attributed to the holy Ghost which are proper to a person therefore he is a person I shall mention but some of many actions properly attributed to the holy Ghost as 1 Cor. 12. 11. all these worketh that one and self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will Here the Spirit is described not as a motion or operation but as a person properly acting willing working Act. 20. 28. he is said to constitute elders or make overseers over the Church the flock of God Luke 12. 12. to teach John 16. 8. to convince Acts 13. 2. to call and ver 4. to send forth Barnabas and Saul Act. 2. 4. to give utterance and that very action which R. F. granteth to the Spirit of dwelling in the Saints is so far from disproving him to be a person for which end he produceth it as it clearly proves him to be one For how doth he dwell in the Saints not personally yet properly more then by way of operation as a owner or inhabitant in his house as a God and as a Lord in his Temple this person dwels in the Saints though not personally yet mystically and in a true spiritual way of inhabitation 1 Cor. 3. 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you And do we-know that and shall we not know and acknowledge him a person and a person of note and eminency He is not a Person saith R. F. but he dwelleth in persons If that be a reason why the holy Ghost is no person the Father with this corrupt reason must be no person nor the Son any who yet have the very title given them Heb. 1. 3. Christ the express image of the Fathers person for the Father dwelleth in the Saints and the Son also John 14. 21. what have we next to make out R. E. his sense he dwelleth in persons or bodies of Saints It seems he accounts none to be persons but those that have bodies Why beasts have bodies yet are no persons and Angels are persons spiritual immaterial creatures * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subsisting by themselves though not of themselves as not any creature doth thus subsist although they have no bodies of flesh and bones Luke 24. 39. as men have nor is the body of a Saint the person of a Saint as he is a man but a part of it his person or suppositum consisting of body and soul and of such a composition is every humane person but a divine person in the God-head and in particular the holy Ghost of whom I have briefly spoken for R. F. his conviction or for others consolation as information is no compositum or third thing made up of other things different from the Essence yet is he distinguished by his maner of subsisting as hath been shewed To little purpose doth R. F. * Page 8. conclude this subject with that Scripture 2 John ver 9. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son but against himself for as 1 John 2. 23. whosoever denyeth the Son the same hath not the Father so he that denyeth the holy Ghost in that maner as R. F. hath done abideth not in the doctrine of Christ and hath neither the Father nor the Son Let him well consider that the holy Ghost dwelleth in the souls of Saints as well as in their bodies let him beware of conceiving him with Samosatenus onely to be that * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 un-personal energy or operation which is in believers And let him be far from putting the Believer in the room of the Spirit or from making no more of the Spirit of God then the believing soul in the bodies of the Saints for this were to turn the glory of the Creator unto the Creature 3. Head of Scripture-contradiction Concerning the light within them and all men Section 8. IN this Section I had noted what they say about a light that Christ hath purchased for every man * Warning to Underbarrow by Ed. Burrough pag. 4. which leads to the Father These last words which lead to the Father as may appear by the Asterisk or note of reference like a Star * Pag. 8. between man and which I onely observed as Edward Burroughs words R. F. * in answer hath three things 1. Christ is the way to the Father John 14. 6. as Ed. Bur. saith Rep. This Ed. Bur. and he may affirm with us agreeable to the Scripture and yet contradict the Scriptures in saying that Christ is in every man or that the light in every man Light of a Deity in every man no redemption-light leads to the Father Christ God or as God is in every man and a spark of his God-head light is in every man but there is not in every man that Redemption-light which leads to the Father as a Father reconciling sinners to himself in Christ as Mediator nor is Christ given to every man as a Mediator to lead to the Father nor doth Christ give to every man that light which leads him to the Father 2. Saith R. F. There is not such a word as purchased in that page of E. B. Rep. 1. Nor did I say there was the word purchased in that or any other page of his book yet I have had that expression from others of their judgement in this particular concerning every mans light 2. If every mans light leads unto the Father effectivè so as to bring him into reconciliation and communion with the Father it is effectual light which warms and works the heart to the love of it But so doth not the light in every man and therefore deserves not the name of purchased light 3. I received this passage * In a Letter lately from a godly Preacher in Scotland and observer of their new vented Doctrines That he hath often wondred at one Expression of theirs and what they should mean by it viz. That the Elect cannot nor never did sin But of late one of them resolved the doubt viz. That the Elect is the Light within that Christ purchased for every one Sometimes it appears they make the Light within every man to be Christ which is the Savior and Redeemer of him that loveth it as Ed. Burrough * Warning c. pag. 14. expresseth himself Sometime the Elect as this man in Scotland sometime one thing sometime another that at last it will be found but an Idol of their own brain and fancy 3. R. F. for
Concerning Sin Section 19. TO this Section also R. F. is wholly silent where I had noted from discourse with some of them in Scotland That sin is not a visible enemy to a Saint Sin visible in and to the Saint contrary to Rom. 7. 23. And I may adde Psalm 51. 3. And my sin is ever before me Isa 6. 5. Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips They that see not their pollutions have no part nor lot in the work of Sanctification and they that see not sin as an enemy and their in-dwelling enemy are friends and in fellowship with it As any are more or less sanctified they have the less or the more to see but the more a soul is sanctified the more he sees his motes to be beams and the more visible and sensible is the body of sin and of death to him Section 20. WHereas I had charged them for saying All the children of light are called to judge them that say the children of God are found groaning under the burthen of sin which I called an arrogant assertion contrary to Rom. 7. 24. R. F. * Page 12. minceth the matter by a new distinction For groaning under sin whilest it is working out that may be but to say that the children of God groan under it all their life time it Sin groaned under while here by the Saints contradicts the Scripture Thus R. F. To which I Reply 1. The new distinction and new because not founded in Scripture lies here that he makes a difference between the time whilest the Saints sin is working out and their life-time For let us consider how long they are working out their sin or the Spirit for them and in them is that but a part of their life-time It 's a truth we teach that groaning under a legal bondage of guilt and curse and fears of damnation is but for a time Luke 1. 74 75. Rom. 8. 15. But when they are formed Saints and endued with the Spirit of Adoption then they groan and sigh and cry out under another bondage not of guilt imputed but of guilt deserved and of corruption felt as tyrannizing In what respect over the whole soul and body of a Saint in part i. e. in every faculty of the soul and member of the body there is some presence of sin with them all their days 2. What Scripture is it that our assertion of continued groaning under the body of sin and death in the Saints doth contradict R. F. quotes Rom. 8. c. 1 john 3. Rev. 14. but never a Verse in all these Chapters he hath to produce for evidence What shuffling is this and cunning craftiness whereby he lyeth in wait to deceive the simple with appearances of that which is not to be found If so be would put off Errors by whole-sale he may do it this way After this he throws dirt in the face of that Scripture Rom. 7. which I had said from ver 14. to the end was spoken Rom 7. 14. to the end vindicated in the name of the regenerate Here though Paul did cry out of the body of death he did not always groan and sigh as dissemblers and Scots do Rep. 1. If he did it not as dissemblers he groaned as a real Saint then the truth is granted at least seemingly 2. Must all be dissemblers that always groan and are sighing all their life time under the body of sin and death then Paul was one 3. Hath the Lord no real Saints among the Scots Grant there is a formality of groaning among the common people not for the body of sin but the sin of their bodies or meerly in imitation and out of custom which latter I could not but tax a little when I was there dare any condemn the generation of the righteous or impute that formality to the whole fraternity or society of Professors at large among whom God hath hidden ones and some who do mourn for the abominations of the Land and pollutions of the Kirk and would willingly come forth to more visible shame for all that is amiss in their Worship and Government Ecclesiastical were they not over-powered partly by in-bred self partly by their super-intending and super-extensive Presbytery R. F. answereth and asperseth yet further Paul did not groan in the name of all regenerate as thou says but spoke his own condition there Rep. 1. Grant he speaks his own condition from ver 14. to the end it is either as he is regenerate or as wholly destitute of grace but he doth not speak it of himself as devoid of grace for when he opened his legal state as yet unregenerate from var. 8 and 9 to 14. he speaks in the Preter tense or of the time past but from ver 14 c. he expresseth himself all along in the Present tense and time and therefore he speaks of the present state wherein he was at the time of the writing of that Epistle Now was he a Saul or a Paul then Was he Paul the Saint or Saul the Persecuter and Blasphemer Was he not then Paul the Servant of Jesus Christ Chap. 1. 1. And have we not the characters he gives of himself as regenerate Ver. 15. What I hate that do I. Ver. 16. I consent to the Law that it is good Ver. 17. It is not I but sin that dwelleth in me where he divides his qualities into two sorts or kindes as Ver. 20. Ver. 18. To will is present with me Ver. 22. He speaks of his inner man and of his delight in the Law after that renewed principle Then he cries out Ver. 23 24. of what he sees and hates Now no man that is unregenerate can truly hate sin as sin which he did nor hath he two contrary principles in him all over of grace and sin nor hath he a will present with him to do a spiritual good action nor hath he an inner man the new man to delight in the spiritual law of God nor doth he feel the universal warring law or power of sin in his members as Paul doth Paul therefore speaks of himself as now he is at present regenerate yea he gives the account of himself as such and therefore he lays forth the estate which is peculiar to the regenerate and common to one and other as they are such more or less But saith R. F. Paul did not always groan under that body of sin and Law in his members but witnessed a Redemption from it for which he thanked God that made him more then a Conqueror Rep. 1. The Apostle writes of the present constant frame of his Spirit to see feel sin hate it and groan under it 2. The Redemption that he witnesseth and giveth thanks Rom. 7. 25. vindicated for ver 25. was first that the guilt of this in-dwelling sin was not imputed there being no condemnation to him nor to any in Christ Jesus which priviledge cap. 8. 1.
all this time but strengthned his own and fellows Contradictions to the Scripture Section 21. HEre I took up two passages the one of James Parnel in his tryal of Faith * Page 4. While sin is there no purity can dwell The other of James Nayler * Few words c. page 25. God and sin cannot dwell together in one Both contrary as I noâ—ed to 1 Cor. 3. 16. The Saints at Corinth had sin and the holy Ghost dwelling in them at the same time so had Paul Rom. 7. 17. compared with 1 Cor. 7. 25. lets this Section pass without answer and I shall dismiss it with but a little more animadversion whether their Doctrine or mine will stand Sin and purity dwell in one soul not as one let him that readeth understand I am sure of Contradictions one part must be false both cannot be true And if it hath been already cleared as a truth of Scripture and experience That Saints and Regenerate upon earth in whom God dwelleth have sin in-dwelling that must be false First which J. P. teacheth While or where sin is there no purity can dwell by which dictate he would destroy the faith of all those who believe no perfect freedom from the body of sin in this life Secondly which J. N. teacheth That God and sin cannot dwell together in one I suppose he meaneth in one soul by what he hath before Did ever Jesus Christ redeem such a people or dwell in such a people If he would say God and sin cannot dwell together as one or at agreement but as enemies warring and fighting one against another in the same field or house that is a truth evident enough For as Jacob and Esau were in one womb struggling so are grace and corruption in one heart As Hannah and Peninnah were contending in one family so are holiness and sin in one soul Even as two contrary qualities light and darkness are in the same air at the same time and heat and cold in the same water though one in a remiss the other in a higher degree God dwells as a Lord sin as a slave purity as a prince sin as a tyrant in the same Saint and Christian If any that is called a Saint thinks otherwise he is either not as he is called knows not himself as every Saint doth in part and in this case or if he be one really sanctified he is under a strong delusion and in a most drowsie dream for the present the Lord will awaken him in his good time 6. Head of Contradiction to Scripture Concerning Justification R. F. addeth And the end of the reighteous and wicked or unrighteous This I treated not of but he was disposed to darken counsel by words without knowledge Section 22. THe first contradiction I noted here was that which publiquely I had given me in Scotland That God justifieth not a believing sinner contrary to Rom. 4. 5. He justifieth the ungodly that believeth on him R. F. * Page 13. returns me for answer That such as are born of God do truly believe and faith in God purifieth their hearts and giveth them victory over the world and so frees them from sin 1 John 5. Rep. Here is enough before I examine the rest to discover the man and what a friend he is to the man of sin to lay the bottom of a believers Justification not upon Christs Obedience but upon his new birth c. This is plainly to build a mans Justification upon his Sanctification unless his meaning the better then I have reason to judge it is I The new birth is not our justification shall look to the words more then to the writer First 'T is one truth that such as are born of God do truly believe 2. 'T is another that faith in God purifieth the heart A third that faith gives victory over the world But put these together to make a compound for Justification and that so and so and so we are freed from sin that is from the guilt and punishment of it to speak ad idem and accepted as perfectly righteous in the eye of Gods justice This is so Popish a tenet as nothing is more unfound for it makes sanctification wrought within men the material if not the meritorious cause of their justification And that no better construction can be made of R. F. his words taken in any true Grammatical sense may appear by what followeth Such Believers are justified form sin and ungodliness and not in sin and ungodliness Rep. That Believers are justified from sin and ungodliness and not in it I have always and every where taught and was then teaching it at Edinburgh when I was publiquely affronted but the mystery of iniquity lies in the qualification such the Believer considered not as a sinner yet in himself short of Legal obedience but as a Saint conformable in his heart and life to the Law who must in his sense be the subject of justification For by Christ saith he again such as are so born and believe are justified c. And so Christ is their justification who are sanctified and from sin by him redeemed Rep. But how as they are so born thinks he by way of evidence say I. It is not known to whom Christ is righteousness But an evidence of it for justification but as they are found sanctified yet for the thing it self He that is justified is justified by God not under the aspect or notion of a Saint and as such but of a sinner and as a sinner believing in Jesus That Saints are justified is a truth but that they are justified by their sanctification is a falshood and that none are justified but as Saints perfected in holines is a notorious contradiction to the whole Scripture and the tenor of the Gospel For God justifieth sinful persons 1 That God justifieth him who in legal strictness not onely before he is sanctified but after the work of holiness is begun would otherwise stand a sinner at Gods Bar and who hath sin yet dwelling in him is clear by all the instances in Scripture of justified persons think of Abraham David Paul Peter the Corinthians Galatians or whom you will there mentioned you will finde they had sin dwelling in them not holiness enough to answer the absolute perfection of the Law all their days while yet their sins and imperfections were not imputed The imputed righteousness of Christ was the cause why their sins were not imputed why their persons were accepted as perfectly righteous in Christ who were but imperfectly at the best righteous in themselves The best Saint that yet liveth upon the earth is yet a sinner in himself or his worser part and hath not wherewithal to cover his nakedness of any deserved guilt no not by his best in-dwelling and inreigning holiness but as Christ gives him of his white raiment Rev. 3. 18. All they are Laodiceans in this case who have no need or feel not
Rep. This illustration of a light-some ancient writer * Epiphanius seems to dazle R. F. till he staggers again and swaggers twice or thrice against me for mentioning it Once he chewed upon it before * Page 13. out of its place and tels me thou hast no proof for thy saying but thy policy and that is contrary to Scripture Psal 37. 37 38. Mark the perfect man c. for the end of that man is peace But the wicked shall be cut off and the transgressors shall be destroyed together at their end as he reads them but according to the right reading viz. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together the end of the wicked shall be out off nothing will be found in these two verses contrary to or differing from what I held out by that simile for we have marked the end or death of many perfect or sincere Saints mentioned before and it was found to be peace their warsare then being at a ful period when they dyed as while they lived they had perfect peace with God by their perfect justification in Christ so at their death they had a full harvest and reward of peace such shall be the end of every upright soul Isaiah 57. 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one while he lived walking in his uprightness This perfection of integrity and sincerity they have who have respect to all Gods commandements though no absolute conformity Sin continues in Saints Saints continue not in sin to them nor do they continue in sin though sin continueth in them till death As for the wicked it is not so with them in life they continue in the state love and practice and under the power of sin and when they dye their end and reward is to dye the second death with the first both the wages of sin Twice afterward * Page 16. doth R. F. let fly against me for the above mentioned simile Thou subtile Serpent and Scotch Politician how hast thou wrested the Scripture and By this thou hast manifested thy Scottish policy and Antichristian deceitful spirit and to be one that would uphold the kingdom of the Devil in people and so art an enemy to Christ and his work Rep. To all which I say no more but the Lord rebuke this reviling Spirit in R. F. my work is not to attend his ink-horn terms but what he pretendeth to from Scripture against the continuance of sin in the Saints during their abode in these vile bodies * Page 16. The Apostle saith that the word of the Lord is quick and powerful so is not the letter of the Scripture to divide asunder soul and spirit joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. Here Soul and Spirit is divided by the living word and the ground of sin shaken at the roots and rooted out of such before their souls and bodies part asunder Rep. If I should deal with him at the weapon which he useth against me it were enough to ask But doth the Apostle indeed say expresly the living word is quick and powerful or findest thou these words the ground of sin shaken and rooted out of such before their souls and bodies part asunder in that Scripture and tell him he belieth the Apostle c. but I have not so learned Christ Better language there is a surer way of arguing then barely to word it the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual and mighty through God to cast down strong holds Mis-interpretation and mis-application of Scripture is a strong hold for error and delusion I shall first discover the true and genuine sense of that Scripture agreeable to the scope and then R. F. his mis-application and false inference from thence 1. The right and genuine interpretation is to be drawn Heb. 4. 12. cleared in its genuine sense from the context as high as Chap. 1. on-wards By the word of God Heb. 4. 12. is meant his word spoken and his word written and spoken according to what is written Chap. 1. ver 1 2. God in these last days hath spoken to us by his Son while he was upon earth What word was spoken Chap. 2. 2 3. That which concerned great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him And Chap. 3. 7. the word written is quoted out of Psalm 95. wherefore as the holy Ghost saith To day if ye will hear his voice Withal Chap. 4. 2. it is clear that the word preached according to what Christ preached and to what the holy Ghost hath written of Christ is the same with that he mentioneth ver 12. For saith the Apostle unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them in the wilderness and in Davids time but the word preached did not profit them c. This is no other then the declarative word of God which declaration made by Christ and by his Spirit in the Scripture and by preachers from and according to the Scripture is First quick or lively no dead letter though the Pen-men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or many preachers thereof be dead long since and though many that heard the Gospel heretofore be now dead yet it hath as much life in it self as ever Secondly 't is powerful of constant efficacy and operation even to the ransacking of consciences searching of hearts and to the critical discovery of thoughts and intents of the heart it is proved to be so ver 13. because God By the context whose word it is is omniscient hath all things before him with the face upward and therefore by the Scriptures and by his Ministers as by his Son by whom in these last days he spake first he can and doth discover and lay open the hearts of all men c. Of all men I say where the Gospel comes i. e. of those that believe not as of those that believe for that is the scope of the 12. ver as by its immediate connexion and scope with ver 11. appeareth Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief For the word of God is lively in its effects c. It is and will be a swift witness against unbelievers and quick to their condemnation a favor of death unto death in them that perish as it is and will be a swift witness for believers and quick to their consolation a favor of life unto life in them that are saved To understand by the word of God here Christs person is not sutable to the context from the beginning of the Epistle Heb 4 12 and 13. compared and vindicated from 1. indirect glosses nor to the scope and this sense being brought to set aside the Scripture and the preaching upon it and from it is therefore to be suspected and waved Others
who seem not to deny the authority of the holy Scriptures yet would have it meant of Christ for this reason because the word of God ver 12. is in the 13. ver described as a person in his sight and the eyes of him with whom we have to do Now this is but their mistake for albeit Christ in person is the living word yet it is the Apostles scope to gain honor to him by gaining honor to the declarative word which being Christs word spoken by him written by the inspiration of his Spirit and preached accordingly is therefore quick and lively powerful and piercing because it is his word and the words of the 13. ver are not a description of Christs person as he is the living word nor of the declarative word spoken written preached but of God the Father Son and holy Ghost who being the living God his declarative word is like himself and from the knowledge of his nature we may know what his word is If God hath an all-seeing eye his word hath an all-searching power He puts not one but two edges upon this sword of his Spirit Ephes 6. 17. and makes it sharp and piercing for conversion or conviction at least and for such ends as he hath intended by his word and the ministery of it to effect and work out therefore the words of ver 13. his and him with whom must be referred to God ver 12. distinguished into Father Son and Spirit i. e. to all three or any of the three Let sinners in whom sin reigns and Saints in whom sin remains look to it for God by his Scripture-word is able to finde them out even them that pretend to present perfection and have it not for whom these words speak nothing at all Should we take God ver 12. not onely at large and personally for any of the three but strictly for Christs person yet we must take the word to be as I have said the word declarative and read it thus The word of Christ is quick or lively c. We cannot read it out of the Greek the word-Christ nor the living word is lively nor the living word is powerful but as 't is read in our new Translation The word of God is quick and powerful or as in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Geneva Translation The word of God is lively and mighty in operation that is as their Note is The Doctrine of God is so and so hath lively and mighty effects why because it is Gods Doctrine Gods Word Gods Scripture if it be but his Letter or outward ministery it is Christs two-edged sword which serveth unto his design of searching hearts of comforting the believer of cutting off and excluding the unbeliever from rest But this place of Scripture will not serve R. F. his design hitherto 2. Let us observe his application and inference Here the ground of sin is by the living word shaken at the roots and rooted out of such before their bodies and souls part asunder Rep. 1. Granting it is divine power that makes efficacious Mis-application the divine truths of the Scripture and that the Spirit doth by conviction shake a sinner at the very heart-root and by conversion shake yea kill sin at the roots for sound conversion is more then lopping of branches or moral restraints the best fruits of Quakerism yet is not all sin at first conversion nor all the life time extirpated or pluckt up absolutely totally and as perfectly as at death and if R. F. proves not this from the place as he doth not but onely say it he had better never have quoted it Nay he dare not affirm it in plain words but obscure The ground of sin c. What makes he the ground of sin If he meaneth the subject where sin dwelleth and is rooted what is that subject but the faculties of the Soul Minde Will and Affections Conscience c Now these are shaken I confess but not rooted out for neither Law nor Gospel the word of Terror or Grace and Peace nor the Power and Grace of the Word doth abolish or destroy the faculties and being of the soul If he meaneth by Ground of sin the cause of sin it must either be guilt of sin or the original stain and filth if the guilt 't is granted that sin is abolished and there is no ground or cause why a Believer justified and discharged from guilt and curse by the imputation of Christs obedience should be condemned Rom. 8 1 33 34. and the abolishing of guilt is the cause and reason why the inherent roots of sin are shaken and mortified in their regency or reigning power for the present and why they shall be rooted out as to residency and inherency at the last yea why no justified believer should allow the least sin that yet remaineth in him If by ground of sin he meaneth the original stain and filth it is the same with the roots of sin and then he proves nothing but idem per idem the same thing by the same namely that the roots of sin are shaken at the roots and rooted out when they are rooted out but the question is when are they perfectly and in all degrees rooted out I have said and proved it from Scripture it is not till the parting of Soul and Body The truth then and the illustration by the simile of the fig-tree stands firm and good for ought that R. F. hath objected to the contrary yet we must hear him * Page 16. out It is Christs work to take away sin here and to sanctifie by his Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 John 3. 5. Rep. We know that he was manifest to take away sin in 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 John 3 5. compared cleared and vindicated and from us as in him is no sin according to that in John and that of Paul to the Corinthians expressing two ways whereby he taketh away sin by the way of justification from defiling guilt and damning curse this is perfectly done here as to Gods act of reckoning and account though as to manifestation in us to us and concerning us it comes by degrees and not till the day of Judgement will all the world know who are now Gods justified ones By the way of Sanctification he takes away the dominion of sin in the very root and the strength of the roots of filth is mortified here in some Saints more in some less as he pleaseth who puts forth the power but in none are the roots of every sin nor of any sin wholly perfectly pluckt up till bodily death I am for purity and holiness here in heart and life but I am for purity of the Scriptures also according to their pure sense What saith the Scripture which R. F. next calleth forth As he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all maner of conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15. 2 Pet. 1. 15. vindicated Rep. This is a command of and
Scripture-contradiction in this very particular To those two Arguments I produced from Acts 2. and 1 Cor. 7. mentioned in the beginning of this Section he saith little or nothing nothing at all to the latter and little to the former and that as falsly as weakly according to his wonted language But thou perverts the Scripture Acts 2. 38 39. saying Be baptized every one of you you and your children Here thou art a lyar it doth not command Children to be baptized with water neither did they ever so baptize them that thou canst prove by one plain Scripture Rep. 1. He attends not my reason which I must repeat for help to his memory or others understanding The Command there reacheth as far as the Promise the Promise extends it self to Children not to all but to their children To you and to your children is the Promise made and therefore the Command Be baptized every one of you is made to the Parent and concerning the Childe and Children also of such Parents as gladly receive the word of Promise for them and theirs as it is said they did ver 41. And although it is not there plainly exprest the Children and Infants were baptized yet the Promise is plain enough and the Precept is explained and enforced by the Promise which had been of far less force to the Jew and Proselyte also if their Children formerly circumcised upon their Parents taking hold of the Covenant Isa 56. 6. had been excluded and left un-baptized and why may not the yongest be included with the eldest among those three thousand souls according to Scripture-phrase elsewhere Gen. 46. 26 27. 2. Why should R. F. if he were not unreasonable tye me or himself to one plain Scripture That which one place giveth not forth so plainly another compared with it may explain that and its self also Let him consult Ephes 5. 26. opened Ephes 5. 26. There is plain mention of water and washing of water by whom by Christ He that sanctifies and cleanseth the soul Whom doth he sanctifie and cleanse or whose souls His Church his mystical body ver 23. How By water and the word both which are the outward means by which he applies his Blood and Spirit to all that he cleanseth The water distinguisht here from the grace of sanctifying and cleansing can be no other then Baptismal-water The word * Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place distinguisht from Christ himself can be no other then the Scripture-command for the use of water and the Scripture-promise for the blessing of water to the ends he hath appointed it in Baptism The Scripture-promise we have found belongeth to Children and the Scripture-command for the use of water to all that have the Promise and to all that are of Christs mystical body Now some Children will be found to belong to his body the Church I hope R. F. will think if he doth not others will believe the Scripture is plain enough for that Luke 18. 15 16 17. In one Verse we read of Infants in another of little Children whom Christ owned as belonging to the Kingdom of God The Kingdom of God and the true Church that is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus 1 Thes 1. 1. differ not an hairs-breadth of some of that age or non-age we may call it of yong ones and little ones is Christs body made up in part yea he is so far from setting all Infants by and shutting them out that he professeth with vehemency ver 17. Verily whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Childe shall in no wise enter therein Let R. F. be humblypassively capable of what a little Childe is capable and he may enter with Christs little ones into the knowledge of this mystery and benefit of Infant-baptism Thirdly I shall prove the sprinkling of Infants or application A sprinkling Baptism warrantable by Scrâ—pture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of water to them or others that way by plain and sound consequence from Scripture 1. Although the word Bapto signifieth to dip the word Baptizo signifieth to wash diverse ways The Jews had diverse Baptisms as the words are Heb. 9. 10. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated diverse washings Some by sprinkling or putting water upon persons or things to which Ezek. 36. 25. and Heb. 10. 22. alludeth Some civil or superstitious as Mark 7. 4. washing of vessels tables or beds which way was by casting water upon them as by dipping some things into the water so that the command for baptizing is a command for sprinkling as for dipping as the word is used 1 Cor. 10. 2. They were all baptized in the cloud and in the sea some might be more drencht or wet then others but they whether yong or old whether more or less washed or moistned with water were all baptized It is not the quantity but the quality and use of water that was then and is now significative in Baptism The general end and use of water is washing the effect whereof is cleansing and such is the use and force of the word as before hence I reason That action which fully representeth the main end and use of Baptismal-water is lawful and sufficient But sprinkling pouring or putting water upon the body doth represent this main end and use c. For the main general end and use of Water-baptism is to signifie spiritual washing and cleansing of the soul from sin Acts 22. 16. Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins and this is done significatively by a sprinkling-Baptism of yong or old as well as by a dipping 2. When John baptized Christ and Philip the Eunuch their going down to the water was one action and the baptizing another I stand not convinced by any plain or forcible Scripture-phrase or by any circumstance in Scripture-history that there was any other action or rite of baptizing when it came to that then sprinkling or casting water upon the person baptized 3. Sprinkling or putting water upon the baptized is the more ready and easie action and Christ hath not burthened his Church in the New Testament with painful Ceremonies Dipping and plunging is either of the whole body or of a part onely if but of a part it is hazardous and troublesom not onely to Infants but to persons of years Once upon a time I asked a neighbor of mine who was for Dipping how Paul dipped the Jaylor his answer was He took him plum up from the ground and put him into the water By the way I told him there had need be good store of strength in all Administrators of Baptism in this maner and little Paul might not be strong enough for the service if Silas was I asked again whether there was a pond or river in the yard betwixt the prison and the Jaylors proper lodgings and was answered there might be a brook running through the yard These are strange conjectures which men will assume and fancy to themselves
natural and bodily food He was the weaker who confined himself to some particulars as onely lawful viz. Herbs c. This Scripture of the Apostles preferring righteousness c. before meats and drinks is impertinently and sinfully alledged to contradict the observation of the Lords Supper wherein he will be remembred by the use of natural bread and wine till his second coming 1 Cor. 11. 26. As oft as ye eat of this bread 1 Cor. 11. 26 cleared and drink of this cup for natural substance the same with other bread and wine but for signification and assurance different ye do shew by such a use and participation the Lords death till he come That clause till he come and others of his coming are usual in the New Testament to denote his second and glorious coming visibly in our nature If I will that he tarry till I come c. John 21. 22. So shall also the coming of the Son of man be Mat. 24. 37 39. Even so come Lord Jesus the voice of the Bride and of John echoing to Christs Surely I come quickly Rev. 22. 20. 2. Although wheat-bread and red wine be not souls food alone and by themselves yet stampt with the Lords Institution his word of promise This is my body This is my blood with his word of command Do this c. and this done in faith accordingly in and by them Christ doth feed our souls If the sacred signs of the Old Testament had this significancy and excellency that in respect of what was represented by them they are called spiritual meat and spiritual drink 1 Cor. 10. 3 4. Manna was appointed to feed the faith of the Fathers and Water out of the rock to refresh their soul-faith surely the blessed signs of the New Testament come not short of such spiritual significancy and excellency which they have not from themselves but from Christ the institutor and ordainer of them who will and doth make them souls food instrumentally because he thereby and therewith gives forth himself to be their assured food and nourishment But saith R. F. * Page 20. for a close He is my meat and drink and food for my soul to feed on and for such as are in him John 6. who is the bread of life Rep. But how he doth not tell us onely he saith it is so and I wish it be so and that he doth not feed upon ashes nor that a deceived heart doth lead him aside nor that a lye be found in his right hand I 'm sure it is in his tongue or pen who shall say or write Christ feeds not souls by wheat-bread and red wine 1. It is a true exposition of John 6. which we hold up against the Papists that all along that Chapter Christ speaks not of the Sacrament called the Lords Supper consisting of sign and thing signified outward and inward matter but onely of his natural flesh and blood given and shed for all that eat and drink him spiritually or by faith which daily they may and ought to do Believe and thou hast eaten as was Augustines counsel and encouragement of old to the Christians in his time 2. It is a proud and disdainful practice altogether to reject the use of wheat-bread and red wine or any fruit of the vine frequently as a help to memory faith love and all the graces of the inner man especially by fresh remembrance of Christs death in the application of the signs to be strengthned in believing our interest and propriety in him that we may feed the more strongly upon him and live chearfully by faith every day and hour By this time me thinks I hear James Nayler crying out of divisions about the form * Love to the lost pag. 43. of the Lords Supper which the worlds Teachers and Professors are all out of and have lost and the power also and then spreading his new cloth that I hinted at before as some wet napkin over a Corpse so he over his new Communion Table and then sets on his new-transformed Supper and what 's that Hear if you can and read without their trembling but in true fear take notice of his horrible delusion For the sake saith he * Pagâ— 45. of such who are lost in this thing and troubled in minde concerning it what I have James Naylers transmutation of the Lords Supper received of the Lord that I shall declare unto you which all shall witness to who come to partake thereof as the truth is in Jesus Christ If you intend to sup with the Lord or shew the Lords death till he come let your eating and drinking so oft as you do it be in remembrance of him and in his fear that at death you may witness to the lust and excess c. If this man were not lost himself could he write thus wildely falsly impudently or minister such a miserable comfort to a troubled minde Why where will the poor lost simple soul say is the fallacy wildeness impudence The fallacy in this that by eating and drinking as oft as you do it he meaneth your ordinary meals of Breakfast Dinner or Supper for so he expresseth it Page 43. This was to be done at all seasons when they eat and drank The wildeness in this For the sake of such as are lost and that at death you may witness to the lust and excess The impudence in this that he saith He received it of the Lord and to avoid excess and of becoming reprobates in the faith it was * Page 44. that the Lord Jesus commanded his Disciples in eating and drinking to shew forth his death till he came And this was that the Apostles received of the Lord and so practised till he was come to them and then * Page 46. they continued it for their sakes who were weak in the faith to whom he was not yet appeared What His colourable Reasons dis-colouâ—ed colour will the lost simple soul say hath he for all this He hath something surely to set forth his new dish First He thinketh * Page 43. this Lords Supper was done and instituted by Christ as they sate at meat and did eat Mat. 26. 26. Mark 14. 22. But must it therefore be confounded with every ones common ordinary meal That Supper which he instituted a new was if Luke 22. 20. be consulted after the Paschal Supper and Paul saith 1 Cor. 11. 25. after he the Lord had supped yea after he had risen at the end of the Paschal Supper John 13. 2. he took a towel washt his Disciples feet sate down again ver 12. and had given the dipped sop to the Traitor who upon the receiving of it went immediately out ver 30. and came in no more But now Christ and his chosen ones are alone they not having removed the Table the Lord enters his Sermon John 13. latter end with Chap. 14. 15 16. and having taken bread and then the cup he either prayed
and moderation as it ought to be that will mortifie a lust but onely give a check of restraint Bodily exercise of fasting profiteth little that way Acting of faith upon Christs death every day will do much as well out of meals as at them yea he that doth not remember Christ at his plowing and sowing when he lieth down when he riseth up goeth out or cometh in or at other times as at break-fast dinner or supper will go near to forget him then But that we may never forget him and his death and his power and love to take away our sin he hath left us his solemn sacred Supper as an instituted means of a Remembrance of him to be used as oft as with conveniency we can meet at his Table Let not J. Nayler or any man upbraid us with eating and drinking in a Self-solemnity once a moneth or three times a year The superstitious observation of times by man set up is laid down I think by all the Godly in the three Nations as to that business None have impositions upon them for once a moneth Were hearts and purses large enough in all the Churches they might meet every first day of the week our Christian Sabbath-day a day that the Lord hath made for solemn conventions and exultations Psal 118. 24 at the Lords Table Let him look to the idols in his own heart and beware of imposing upon others his New-model or putting off his Gibeonitish old clouted shooes and mouldy bread I mean his pieces of old Familism For what shall we make of that passage * Love to the Lost pag 45. It must needs be so viz. to spend upon their lusts with such as do not discern his body in their eatings who is the Body of all creatures but a chip of the old block H. N. the old father of the pretended Family of Love his Doctrine to incorporate Gods Essence into the creatures and the creatures into his For said he In the beginning one God and one man had in all one order being and nature And God was all that the man was and the man was all that God was Accordingly saith J. N. He is the Body of all creatures and filleth all things in heaven and in earth but by them that are in the lust Christ is not discerned present who is the fulness and vertue of every creature Here is it may be an Ubiquitarian mystery Christs glorified Body deified and to be discerned every where in every creature But will the lost soul be carried away with this winde of doctrine so diverse and estranging from and contrary to the blessed Apostles intention 1 Cor. 11. 29. where by not 1 Cor. 11. 29. vindâ—cated cleared discerning the Lords Body he holdeth forth their sin who confound their own meals with the Lords Supper whereas 't is the duty of all the Churches and every Communicant to distinguish both notionally and practically between that Bread and Wine instituted and set apart for special sacred spiritual use and common ordinary food used for civil repast and corporal nourishment The Bread at the Lords Table is to be discerned as a pledge sign and memorial of the Lord Christ his natural body once broken and crucified The Wine is to be discerned as the sign pledge and memorial of his natural blood shed in the garden and upon the cross And the relation which Christ hath unto his appointed signs together with mystical union and special spiritual presence promised and given to the true partaker of the signs is to be discerned also all which James Nayler is ignorant of or wilfully shuts his eyes with his fellow-creature R. F. who threw off the ordinance because he wanted the assurance that he expected But how to reconcile these two mens writings about the Lords Supper I was at a loss while the one saith Wheat bread and red wine is not souls food as before and the other dictateth The Lords Supper was to be at all seasons when they eat and drank one would have the Supper to be altogether within the other would have it to be at all times when men eat with moderation and without excess it is well if they understand themselves until I compared their other words viz. of R. F. The Lord is come in to sup with me with James Naylers God's Son the fulness and virtue of every creature which all know who come to his Supper where the Father and the Son are come in and sup with the creature And hereby as by other of their expressions it appeareth they do both of them cast off the external visible ordinance of the use of particular bread and wine at some times for the ends appointed and resolve it into an imaginary transformed communion of God in and with every creature which so it speaks like H. N. the old branded Familist they care not how unlike the Holy Scripture they write as one said long since of his first followers Section 40. THat they may with the fairer shew make void the Lords institution at his Table they have devised false Interpretations of that place in 1 Cor. 11. 26. one of which 2 Cor. 11. 26. vandicated I discovered in this Section to which R. F. answereth nothing although I had it out of one of his Pamphlets viz. of shewing the Lords death till he came to his disciples after his resurrection which to mention onely carrieth confutation in the forehead J. Nayler notwithstanding its grosness favors this sense and addes another First he gratifies R. F. in his sense by reading or writing it in the Praeter tense * Love to the lost page 43. They were to do it in remembrance of him shewing his death till he came Now Pauls words are plainly respecting the time to come till he come i. e. till the very instant hour of his coming for the * Adverb of time notes duration having 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another Adverb and Particle added to it which imply a drawing out of the time that should the Lord stay never so long ere he comes the Supper is to be continued till that coming of his which I hinted in the former Section was his coming the second time as it is called Heb. 9. 18. in that humane nature which at his first coming he assumed into the unity of his person The word for he come used by Paul is the same and in the same subjunctive Mood as in Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. 26. when he shall come in his own glory and in his Fathers c. so it might be read in Paul as our Latine * Beza Translation hath it usquequo venerit and Tremelius out of the Syriack usque ad adventum ejus even till his very appearance in the clouds For that meaning must stand whatsoever J. Nayler * Love to the Lost pag. 46. secondly addes to the former Fiction viz. That Christ charging his disciples to wait for his coming at