from the sight of how 't is at home he might see us perfectly clear and himself onely deeply guilty in part yea wholly of the self same Errour for verily we say of all Our own good works done by us out of him and not by him in us which onely are usually by God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also properly Term'd Our own they are as man himself in the fall who does them is altogether become unprofitable either to iustifie sanctifie save entitle to or fit us for Gods Kingdom yea what God himself doth Isa. 57. we do and will declare of Our own Righteousness that it cannot profit us of our Companies we are gone to and Congregatings with them c. in our own wills and thoughts these cannot deliver us the wind will take all these away and as it hath done some already so will all those that truth therein we say as Eph. 2. by Grace we are saved justified not in as you look to be but from our sins in which we were once dead together with you in which we sometime walked with you who cannot believe that ye can he perfectly purged from them while you live but that ye must live in some and some in you till you die after the course of this world the Prince of the air the spirit that still lives in you children of disobedience and in the rich mercy and great love of God wherewith he hath loved us made accepted in his beloved quicknâ—d raised up and made to sit together not in fleshly lusts and eartly Pallaces with painted Professors of him but in Heavenly places in Christ Iesus and all this through Faith not of our selves for its the gift of God nor yet of self works so as that any of us can boast for we are not our own but his workmanship in all this created in Christ Iesus whose new Creatures we are unto the good works we now do in the Light and Movings of his Spirit in a cross to the will of our flesh till it and the lust thereof be wholly crucified and we to the woâ—ld and the world to us which God hath of old ordained in order to the Eternal Life he hath that way ordained us to that we should walk in them yea Tit. 3. we were formerly for all our forms of Religion which yet were to the full as powerful as the best of your or the most Reformed Formalists empty Profession without the Possession of that Godliness ye prate of foolâ—sh disobedient serving diverse lusts and pleasures as ye still do and yet vainly hope to do well enough living in every malice hateful and hating But since the Goodness and Love of God our Saviour to mankind in Christ the Light appeared to us we are from these sins justified and loved for which judgment without mercy wrath without remedy will come on you that judge your selves justified in them yet not by any works in the Righteousnes that we have wrought but according to his own mercy he haâ—h saved us which saves to the uttermost and not by the halves as ye dream he does who Reckon without your Host who will Reckon otherwise with you when he comes nigh to you to Judgement and ye come to Account by the Light that all the sins past and to come of you Elect and peculiarly priviledged unsanctified Saints are Remitted while they are as hourly they are yea and long too before they are committed and that you while as unjust and guilty as David in his very acts of Adultery and Murder are yet acquitted accounted just and held guiltless by him who is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity and not abhor it and call that good that does evil and who will by no means clear the guilty in his guilt nor accept the filthy in his filth I say according to his mercy he hath saved us by the washing Mark of Regeneration and the Renewing of the Holy Spirit which he hath shed on us abundantly by Iesus Christ our Saviour to this end Mark that we being justified by his Grace viz. shed on us freely by Christ not inhaerent in him onely as the Subject might be made Heirs according to the Hope of Eternal Life This and not thine T.D. is the faithful Word and these are the Truths about our Iustification or Salvation that they of old were enjoined stedfastly to Teach that those that believed in God might be careful to maintain good works of this sort as useful good and profitable unto men counting all their own which yet T.D. sayes are necessary to sanctifie and make meet as dung loss imperfect impertinent unprofitable and useless as filthy Rags Yea Finally as Paul said of his own Worships Works Righteousness and Services while he was a proud puft up Pharisee as most of our Formal Scribes and Modern Ministers are for he calls not that his own as T.D. does but Christs which he was after clothed in and by Faith had received from him and by him was enabled to perform and abound in so say the Qua. of theirs and I of mine If any man think he hath whereof to glory in the flâ—sh of flâ—shâ—y wisdom self-righteousness outward performances Well-worships inward workings of the mind in earnest Imaginations and of mans will in zealous hastings willings runnings strivings after God and Righteousness and Good in which yet the Kingdom comes not nor the Righteousness of it I could say more then I am here minded to do but since I came in the Light to feel the Circumcision of the heart to the Lord by himself not made by the hands of man and to witness the worth of the true Worship of God in Spirit and Truth in the inner part which his own witness within onely leads to what good works of mine I once counted gain I am now made by Christ to count loss for those of Christ yea for the excellency of the true knowledge of Christ to be my Lord whom I once so called but did not all that he said for whom I have lost all that and what more he hath yet called me to suffer the loss of and do esteem all but as dung that I may win hâ—m and be found in him not clothed with the old Righteousness of my own which was once Pauls and called by me and T.D. both but as filthy Rags so I know no Righteousness of Christ is called by any besides T.D. but with that Righteousness which is by Faith in his Light in which onely he is known Revealed and Received from him and in the way of that Faith by which God purifies the heart which overcomes the world in it and works by that Love that fulfils the Law in working no ill to the Neighbour wrought in me by him even that Righteousness which through Faith in the Light is of God not as our devising Diviners both Devise and Divine to the making of the wicked ones seem just and good before God when they are nothing
Commandements and Traditions of men and of the Pope himself in many things still and yet because they did not so much as he appointed them in matters of more moment but were unclean and wicked refusing to walk in the good old way of the Light which was the way before Moses and the letter was turning away their eare from hearing the Law in the heart which is the light were not only vain but abominable in the very best of their Oblations In Preaching therefore in order to Gods acceptance of us and our good works which are not outward worships where the heart and life are yet defiled but where a new Creature created after his own Image of God in Christ Iesus to good works in his nature and by his Power though in it's own person doth perform them is as an utter exclusion of all your own so no fair In-let to any of the Popish Rubbish will worship meer self service and unprofitable devotion for these being only done by man are neither good nor accepted of God But to Teach and maintain and plead for evil works as necessary to be done while we are in this life and Teach down the doctrine of perfecting holinesse and perfect purging our selves from all uncleannesse of flesh and Spirit while we are here in the body which Paul taught up as a doctrine of devils and to deny the possibility of performing this duty of not sinning and make such a grosse state of sin as that was which David stood in when he was guilty of adultery and murder consistent with Gods acceptance of men and their justification before him and that the Saints as some call them in such a pickle while they are in sin up to the ears even in such a case are not in a condemned but in a justified estate and that if the Saints own heart condemn him and his own conscience tell him that God doth not accept him and that his estate is bad in such a bad sinful case and not good it 's defiled and lyes and testifies falsehood to him and leads him into a wrong opinion of himself and that the Saints may be blessed men as David was having no guile in his spirit but sincere upright after Gods own heart though under the guilt of so grosse and great sins when the Scripture saith the contrary viz that David was upright before God saving in that matter of Vriah wherein indeed his very heart was false and rotten and to affirm to the encouragement of men in their imperfections and infirmityes by which name they stile the Saints grossest iniquities as T.D. does contradictorily to himself in other places that the gospel gives life upon imperfect obedience all which and more ejusdem Farraginis is done and utter'd by T.D. and such as own him therein in the 11.19.45.47 pages of his 1. Pamphlet as they were by word of mouth at the disputes This is to strengthen the hands of the wicked that they cannot return from their wickednesse for how is it possible they should do it when 't is preacht and believed as impossible to be done this is to sow soft pillows under their elbowes that they may sleep on securely in sin and take their rest for its all but infirmity and no inpreachment to his justification nor to his standing accepted and in covenant with God that a Saint does and their 's no condemnation to them that are Saints and in Christ no though they be in transgression in which who is say I is out of Christ and not a Saint and though they walk not after the Spirit as all that are Saints and in Christ Jesus do but after the flesh and in a word a very fair In-let to a very worse matter then that whole mare mortuum of the Popes Beggerly observations even no better a matter then the very whole bundle of the Devils own Bag and Beastly Baggage So then I see not hitherto and am perswaded never shall till I come to see as T.D. does in his floting fancy many things with his eyes shut how any Doctrines of the Qua. even such as they and I hold with any more then what we hold flatly against the Popish Priesthood do either conclude my complyance with them or make any way for the incoming and abiding without its own speedier Ruine of their Romish Baggage or how our parochiall Priesthoods preaching and practice too doth any other then uphold the Butt end thereof and preach their own câ—mplyance with those their Brother Ravens in many matters But T. D's Biggest Bolt and weightest Bullet as he counts at least lyes yet behind and that is our doctrine of good works as needful to that use of our justification before God here he iudges that Omne tulit punctum he hath fully hit the white and that this will do if all the rest die and fallen the fault of favouring and fathering the Popish cause upon me as some Iâ—suit if all the other fail Good works for necessary uses viz to manifest faith to be true to sanctify to make meet for the possession c. T.D. and his Associates in words and doctrinally more then practically maintain as much as any but to maintaine good works not only to the use of our sanctification but our justification and to justify not only deâ—laratively in the sight of men but also formally in the sight of God not only to approve a beleiver but absolve a sinner p. 8. not only to fit for but to give right to the inheritance p. 22. not as concurrent and concomitant only but as cooperative and constitutive together with faith and coincident as a cause in the case of our iustification to let good works be accounted not only Via ad Regnum but also carsa Regnandi as your Scools distinguish yea and further yet to dispute it not in these Terms barely of good works but in these Terms of OUR good works and lastly higher yet to rank them so high in order of causes as not only Instrumental with faith but a deserving or meritorious cause of justification This is notorious yea so grosse and Popish that we may well Rank you thinks he among the Papists p. 58. as at least a bringer in of their Baggage yea now quoth T.D. of me p. 14. you shew your self a rank Papist indeed Rep. Ipse dixit T.D. hath said it who of all those Seers with his eyes in Sandwich or else where who giving heed to him from the least to the greatest saying of him This man is the great Power of God have hiâ— hitherto bewitched with his Simonical Sorceries can do any other then believe it to a Tittle This stroke enters with so deep a dint into the thoughts fancies and faith of many that 't is supposed by some we Qua. shall never be able to lick our selves whole of the deadly wound it brings with it both to the doctrines that we maintain as Truth and to our selves also whom we maintain to be no
is not of Faith yet when thou lookest with clearer eyes who canst now see with no better then thou hast thou wilt see that he no where opposes grace and Gospel good works â—aith and the works of Christ in us Faith and the fruits of the Spirit of which Faith is one much less as thou faiâ—est Faith and it self as a work but joyâ—s all these in One as God and Christs single and singular gift of grace to us under the Gospel as that one perfect and personal Righteousness by which as a cause thereof we are made meet or worthy to be justified in his fight by which works that of Faith together with them justifying us as a work as well as an Instrument to receive Christ and his other operations wrought in us by it all bâ—â—sting as blind as thou art not to see it is Eternally excluded forasmuch as both it and the rest are a gift as well as works given to us by him to perfoâ—m For which the glory belongs onely to the giver and not to the receiver at any hand T. D. thou sayest as p. 25. 1. Pamph. the Scriptures attribute our Iustification to the Righteousness of Christ in the same sense that they deny it in to works Rep. That 's true if by the Righteousness of Christ thou intend the Righteousness of his working in us and by works those works of our working without him but utterly false if by his Righteousness thou mean what he works without us and by works what works we work onely in him for the Scripture attributes Our Iustification to this latter as to the former it attributes his Own of both which he beinh the onely Authour not unto us O Lord not unto us at all but to thy Name onely be the praâ—se who dost not as thy supposed Ministers suppose meerly that thou dost but far be it from thee so to do Shall not the Judge of all the earth do Right First count men just that are unjust in this world and not make them so till the World to come but first justifie the ungodly from their ungodliness and make them Godly and then countest them to be such as thou hast made them But awake O ye divine Diviners and see what a dream you are in who deeming the Lord to be no other then like your selves imagine your selves as pure in his as you are in your own eyes though ye are not yet washed from all your filthiness nor yet believe you need be so in this present world whereas he that condemneth the Iust and be that justifieth the wicked in his wickedness and I crow God is not an Abomination to himself both these are an Abomination to the Lord. And hence is one ground of your so miserable a mistake in that ye take as ye confess your selves Iustification in its meer forraign and not in its neer and proper signification viz. a counting and not a making of them just who are not so whereas Iustificaâ—e and Iustificari is Iustum facere and Iustum fieri to make and to be made just properly and pâ—imarily and then consequently and secondarily to think and to be thought so but you fleeing afar off in this and many more points from proper names into forraign acceptations that ye may be as far as may be from such Truths as most torment you will needs in this world at least have the words to justifie and be justified sanctifie and be sanctified to import and found forth no more then injustâ—m improbum justum Sanctum putare putari justificare sanctificare ri in no wise to be Ex injusto improbo justum sanctum facere fieri as if in this life God having somewhat else to do could not well have while to make people Iust and Holy and therefore they being also well contended so to be left did agree to leave them to the liberty of their lusts under some certain toleration to live in them and yet to think them Iust and Holy in the mean while notwithstanding and then hereafter when men are more willing to it and himself a little better and more at leasure to do it to make them Iust and Holy by some Pâ—pisb Purgatory in the life to come But Friends have a care however of what you do in this case which is of no less then Eternal Consequence to your immortal Souls for assuredly let Paul and Iames himself Iam. 2. determine it if you will whose sence T.D. thinks he hath 〈◊〉 on his hand yet you will find it so that ye can be no further justified then ye are sanctified in the sight of either God or men that are after the heart of God yea if a man say he hath Faith and have not works can Faith save him Can it profit him Is it not dead Yea knowest thou not O vain maâ— that as the body without the Spirit is dead and can do nothing so Faith without works is dead also Is it not made perfect by works Was not Abraham and others justified by works See ye not then that by works a man is justified and not by Faith onely Yea quoth T.D. approved by men but not absolved and accepted of God by works Rep. then let Paul speak Rom. 14.17,18 The Kingdom of God is Righteousness Peace and Ioy in the Holy Spirit he that in these things seereth Christ is acceptable to God thereupon surely as well as approved of men Though therefore ye dream pleasantly while ye are awake and bless your selves saying Aha I am warm I have seen the fire becauâ—e in the Letter where ye read by the halves singling out of it what best suits with and serves your sinful desires and leaving out what serves to the crossing of your carnal lust and corrupt affections you have been flashily and more shalowly then solidly read of a Declaration of a Righteousness and good works of another even Christ whereby onely men can possibly come to be saved never heeding at all that this Righteousness of that other is to be wrought in the Saints by him who wrought it first in his own Person before ever they can be justified by it and their Salvation truely wrought out by it which we confess is to be wrought out by it alone and not by any that 's meerly mans own yet when ye come to see what a meer painted Paradice ye have been led into by that false flash of your justifying Faith without works concurrent which is but the fruit of your affectionate fancy which would fain have it so that you might be saved by Christ and yet serve your selves you 'l find that you and your whissling faith have in all this been but as Igâ—is faâ—â—â—â—â— going before and Ignoramus faâ—â—â—â—â— following after And though to Ring back a little to you here to the Tune of F.Os. Talk Mutaris murandis about this matter of Attonement with God by the blood of Christ p. 125,126,127,128 of his English Pamph.
and by your Words without Knowledge I say which of these Two the Quakers or your Schollers bring forth Fruits most meet for God and like those of the Spirit Peace Meeknesse Patience Temperance c. Gal. 5. Let them be the Good Trees and so known and owned to be by their Fiuits and let them be the true Flock of Christ and be by us as I am sure such are by himself accounted as his Sheepfold And which abounds most in those Fruits and Works of the Flesh there spoken of also viz. uncleannesse lasciviousnesse wrath hatred Drunkennesse Revellings and such like and which wallows most in that kind of mire let them be the Hogs and Swine and not Christs Flock and Fold but he held hence forward for a Hog-sty Now for my part if I were to judge by what Fruits have come forth in and from our Two Nurseries of Religion of latter years and as well in and from Oxford it self as Cambridge and how many of them in the time of I. O's Vice-Chancellourship there I. O. knows as well as I even such as are not sit to be named among Christians and what Fruits of Righteousnesse have been found among the Quakers both there and elsewhere who have suffered innocently and as to rendering evil for evil patiently under them and others I could quickly determine the matter but sith its like I.O. will hardly let me be Judge in my own Case lest I cleave too much to my own Cause and Company let such Books as are Extant of the Schollers Misdemeanours against the Quakers in their own Meetings who have been alwayes bound to their Good behaviour towards the other by that of God in their Consciences in the midst of all their abuses to the Quakers and then let all men Judge which Generation of men the Quakers or University Schollers and their Respective Assemblies do most exactly resemble the deportment of Swine in their Hog-styes Besides those sundry Relations that are Extant in Print of the Imprisonments Whippings and other Persecutions of the innocent Servants of the Lords sending among them to warn them of their Wickednesse at Cambridge there are Two at least viz. one stiled A true Testimony of the Zeal of the Oxford Professors and University-men put forth by R.H. And one much more lately under the Hands of 8 Witnesses stiled A true Relation of some of the Sufferings inflicted upon the Quakers as the Fruits of the Evil doers viz. the Proctors and Schollars at Oxford in which who reads may see the matters of Fact to which I Refer such as are minded to be Judges between me and I.O. an Oxford man in this Case who if they be not such as are loath to call their Brothers Theeves and their Sisters Swine will assuredly from those Arch-Abominable and Antick-Actions conclude from thence with me the Actors and Abbettors look much more then like the Sheep of Christ like Foxes and Bears and Wolves and Dogs and Wilde Boares and Swine However whether it shall stand with I.O. or nay it matters not I shall from thence infer my Conclusion That if Innocency Quietnesse Patience under Sufferings Temperance Godlinesse Reproving Wickednesse and becoming fools for Christ exposing themselves for Truths ' sake as Signs and laughing stocks to an Adulterous Generation be the Characters of such men as the Scripture calls Swine then that House and Family of the Quakers is become a Hog-stie But unless turning and tearing and renting and trampling under feet when Pearls and holy things are held out to them and devouring and hurting to death and tying Maids Arm to Arm together and tumbling them into Graves and dirting them and dragging them into Pools and setting them on their Heads with their heels upwards and Pumping well-nigh stifling them Mocking Stoning Scourging putting poor innocent Strangers that came in love to Truth and them into Cages and out of their Coasts and haling the Quakers out of their own quiet Meetings by the hair of their Heads and breaking the Doors to pieces and Windows where Quakers meet and carrying away the Keys and knocking tenters in the key-holes pulling up part of the houses squeezing them in their passing to and fro between the doors turning up the forms and seats where they sit and like wild Horses and Colts riding upon the backs of men and women and smoaking their Roomes with Gun-powder Squibs and stamping rudely like Tavern-hunters in their Holy meetings and crying out give us Beer and Tobacco and Wenches and Whores and bringing in strong Beer and drinking to them and for refusing to pledge throwing it on their Cloaths and Bands and powring it down their Necks and singing Bawdy Songs and Cursing and Sweating and such things as would be counted as favouring more of Bedlams and Swine then Saints if Quakers should ever have done so in their Masse-Houses and obscaene Carriage toward Women puffing and blowing with Tobacco-pipes in their Mouths raising Doctrines and Uses and Points about Coblers and Tinkers and Tobit and his Dog offering to put their hands under Womens Aprons asking if the Spirit was not there and many more such filthy stinking sordid actions as Hooting Yelling Laughing any thing to hinder the Hearing of what was spoken of Truth drawing some into Colledges and there most unseemly and inhumanly abusing them and this not only Tolerated and Connived at by Officers that should have punish'd it but also Countenanced too much in part by some of them I say Unlesse these boarish bruitish Gestures Cum muliis aliis qua nunc praescribere longum est be the behaviour of Christs Sheep then for all the uncessant pains of Interpreting of the Scripture at the Well-head of Religion and for all I. O's saying That if what we see and daily hear would sway us we would be ashamed to deny the fruit of Expoundings of the Scripture to be best where they are most Expounded as they are pro forma in the Universities as fair and far from it as they seem to be to themselves they look more like Hog-styes to the view of men after Gods heart and the Children of these Mothers more like Herds of Swine then the Places and Persons of the people called Quakers do among whom there 's not such a busling and such a businesse about mens Books in order to it nor such Clamorous noises about Opening the Scriptures as is among the Scribes that are Strangers to them but the words of the wise even of Wisdom it self Christ Iesus are heard in quiet by them that are Wise more then the Cry of him that Ruleth among Fools And as for what Fruits of saving Knowledge of God and Righteousnesse and Holinesse of Truth are abounding in most Academies Towns Cities and Places in all the Reformed parts of Christendom more or better then is to be seen among Turks and Heathens unlesse Couzening Cheating Lying Drunkennesse and some such like as abound more among Christians then Turks that never talk out of the Scripture be
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
turn then and his people must be contented with it so making them like the Popish Priests and people of the world which have as at Rome and elsewhere ordinary Ornaments Lessons Anthems Songs and Services that must serve for every ordinary day and extraordinary shewes and sing-songs and ornaments and number of candles and fine candlesticks plush canopyes and copes Altar-clothes white Surplices Pictures Pompes and pipings as on some great Saints holyday or festivall times or general proecessions or as our poor still bepoped people have here one fine suit for Sundayes and holidayes and a cheaper and lesse costly one for working dayes Or when this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or divine guidance and inspiration is pleaded by thee as peculiaâ— to those first times I inquire of thee whether there be any middle way T. 1. C. 3. S. 8. but either that the Saints in after-times if guided by the guidance of the spirit of God at all and that thou darest not deny though thou own his guidance by the letter onely be guided by it as an infallible spirit giving them that infallible guidance which thou callest extraordinary or as a fallible spirit allowing them not so much as the Saints of old but affording them onely some kind of ordinary or fallible guidance and direction for it remaines according to thy principles that it must be one of these or else there is some middle way some midling spirit of God and some middle sort of direction of that spirit that is neither fallible nor infaâ—lible but between both partly faâ—lible partly infallible some participie that iâ— neither one nor the other but taking part of both fallibility and infallibility And howbeit this is such a messe of mixture as may well make awise man and excuse him in it too believe him to be no wiser then he should be and to have Hand plus cerebâ—i quam cimex sanguinis that makes it yet I know not why thou mayst not as well make God to have two spirits and his spirit two guidances viz. one infallible one fallible or one absolutely infallible and another neither fallible nor infallible as thou makest God to have two Words viz. on that infallible living Word which the fallible dead Letter declares of the other that fallible dead Letter which declares of that infallible living Word for each of these thou makest the Word God yea O the depths of the Doctors and Divines of our times thou art not onely so exceeding expert in cutting and cobling dividing and botching and piecing and patching for thy own turne as when thou wilt to turn two into one and one into two but also so well vers'd and exactly taught in the point of Trinitizing as to turne that one Word of God at first into two and at last secundum quid into three for whether we examine what thou sayest of either the Letter or the Word it self this testimony thy book beares to them both 1. as to the Word thou sayest in one place truly it's Living T. 1. C. 4. S. 19. in another place thou sayest horresco referens more then I dare say for the world whatever I say of the Letter that the Word is dead T. 2. C. 5. but falsely figured our with the figure of 4. S. 12.2 as to the Letter thou sayest in one place viz. Ex 3. S. 4. It is living and no where said to be dead yet in the forcited falsely figured chapter S. 12. thou thy self as no where as the Letter is said so to be sayest thy own self that the Letter is dead Thus Gods one Word is cut out by thee into two viz. the Letter and that Word it witnesses of and then each of these are cut out into three for which ever of these two be that tâ—ue Word of God or if thou taking these conjunctively wilt have them one at least thy opinion as exprest in those places put together is tantamount to no lesse then this viz. that God hath 1. a living Word 2. a dead Word 3. a Word that is both dead and living And why sayest thou of the Prophets and Apostles they were borne acted carried out by the Holy Ghost to speake deliver write c. and suppose a man were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inspired by the Spirit indeed As if it were a matter now not to be expected in this age as if it were no lesse then a wonder but so the Saints and Prophets were in every generation to thy generation therefore I wonder not that thou fo wonderest at it that any should now professe so to be though sapiens miratur nihil and the things of God are no where wondered at or evil spoken of but where ignorance of them is to see such a man as can truly say he is moved of the Lord and inspired with his spirit whereas when was it otherwise in any age wherein God had Saints And who is otherwise that is not in name onely but a Saint or a Christian indeed and truth Was ever any otherwise or lesse then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inspired of God that was born acted carried out by the Spirit and was any otherwise or lesse then so that is moved guided led by that Spirit to act speake write c. and ought any now any more then formerly or do any now that are truly Saints act write speak think any thing more then formerly out of the Spirit â—or in the Flesh that is of any savour or hath any acceptance in the sight of God Is that accepted of God that is done written spoken thought ministred out of the Spirit or in the Flesh not in and by the motions of the Spirit but in and by the motions of the Flesh and in the wisdome and will of the Flesh Is not all that Cains sacrifice that is offered in that nature of his or while men are yet but in the Flesh not in the Spirit which Sacrifice is as all wicked mens are while their ear is turned from the Law in the Spirit i.e. the light and Spirit of God within abomination unto God And are not all I. O's prayers preachings writings who dare not pretend to have live in be moved or guided by the infallible Spirit of God in ought that he does acted and done in the Flesh and the oldnesse of the Letter and is any thing that 's done in the fleshly minde thoughts imaginations wisdome worth a Rush when the very wisdome of the flesh is enmity against God and â—all the enmity is to be slain and not any of it accepted or to be reconciled for ever Do not all the Israel of God that are Israel not after the Flesh or the Letter but after the Spirit the Iewes and the Circumcision not outwardly in the Flesh and Letter but inwardly in the Heart and Spirit Do not all these minde the same thing that one and the self-same spirit and as far and in such a measure as every one hath attained it walk by the
matter quoth T.D. I make not the Apostle a Lyar for the indefinite phrase hath a restrained sense as elsewhere in the Scripture Christ tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 when as he died but for a certain number And as for I. Tom and R. Baxt. which two heads that knock so hard against each other about Baptisme make but one hasty head to push against the Qua. and the true Light in that Book of I.T. publish't by R. Bax. â—â—il'd True Old Light Exalted c. many blind passages whereof are here animadverted in which piece of work of theirs there is as there is in I.Os. not only Light but more or less in one place or other all sorts of Light treated and tasted of yet little or no Light at all found but rather a meer mist of darkness these two I say are neither less bold nor less blind then the other two in their confused opposition of this eminent Truth viz. the universality and sufficiency of Light or Grace from Christ in men to save them if they take heed to it from both transgression and condemnation about which I shall â—et down so much of that their book as whereby it may appear how far they are contradictory to the Qua. and then shew how all of them who yet speak out no other then the sense of the whole Brotherhood of the personal particular Electionists that deny the general love of God and his gift of Saving Grace to all men are therein no less contradictory to the Truth And for as much as R. Baxt. is found justifying of what ever is said by I.T. falsly in that foresaid book I do R.B. no wrong in my judging them both for it in my Reply if R.B. had not as he hath vented out his vehemency of blind zeal in his Epistle so ridiculously as to excuse such as accuse him of ignorance and errour in words enough of his own for which I.T. not only mutually justifies him but All-to-be-reverences him also as R.B. does him and most Divines do each other mutually when they joyntly roar out their rude reasons against the Truth though they rather tear and rend then reciprocally reverence one another when they open at each other about their own Opinions To let pass then their unanimous impatient prittle-prattle against the Qua. as Popish and promoting the Papists Interest as savouring of Popery Polagianism Arminianism Socinianism page 36. and such like stuff and strange out-cryes with which the Clergy ever fills poor peoples minds to the rendring of them ill-affected to Friends of Truth as Anti-Scripturisme Enthusiasm Fanaticism c. having dealt with I.O. and T.D. already about that trish-trash of our being Iesuits Papists to which I refer them all who eodem cum idis herentes luto found it out to the same tune against us in that and the rest Arminiana sunt omnia jamdudum profligata they are all Arminius his matters quoth I.O. Arminiaâ— points quoth T.D. thus they stun mens minds not knowing that Arminius though deemâ—d and doom'd an Heretick by that Divine and domineering denunciation of the Divines at Dâ—rt was as no less learned so full as holy and honest as themselves Letting pass also abundance of other lyes and abuses of the Qua. sundry of which call aloud for a Rod of as rough reproof as the rest have had for the backs of both Tombs and Baxter among which I shall here hint at no more then that of R. B. in his Epistle concerning Iame Nayler which as he sayes is regardable and so say I to R. Bs. shame who so basely belyes Iames Nayler therein representing those words at large wherein I.N. renounces those unclean Spirits that are gone out to the dishonour of God by many wild actions from the unity of the Truth and Light into which the Qua. are called gathered and in which they abide as if therein I. N. had written a Recantation of all that ever he wrote against R. Baxter and others for the Truth held out by the Qua. and as if I. N. had for ever renounced the Qua. as unclean spirits and Ranters and such like when as its most evident to any but the blind that as I. N. still iustifies the Truth and Light and all the Qua. that abide in it and to which by the Grace of God he now stands a true and faithful servant so that his Recantation and Renunciation is of no other then of that old Spirit of the Ranters which makes head against the Light of Christ condemning filthiness in every conscience and Life of the Cross which however many may turn away from as they did of old yet many thousands of Qua. continue walking in to this day But I say passing by all I T and R B gross abusiveness of this sort against the Qua of that Vniversal Light and sufficient or saving Grace of God to all which the Qua testifie to they assert thus Bax Ep p 7 Their great pretence when they dishonour the Scripture and the Ministry is to lead men to a Light or Word of God within themâ— and this is their cry in our Assemblies and our streets Hearken to the Light and Word within you and the sufficiency of this they clamorously defend and accuseâ—us grievously for contradicting them c. So p 34 Out of the Principles of those men viz Pelagians Arminians c. these People meaning the Qua have drawn their Tenet of an Vniversal Light in every man that cometh into the world without Bibles Preachers Church-Communion Christian Ordinances to know his duty so as that he may be perfect which is indeed the reviving of old Pelagianism or worse and tends to the making of Christian Religion if not all Religion whatsoever unnecessary Sol 35 36 by way of complaint against the Qua they say This is their conceit that every man that cometh into the world even the Gentiles that have not the Letter yet have from Christ a Spiritual Light c. That every one hath a Light within him or there is such Revelation imparted to every man in the world that if he would use it he might come to saving knowledge This Vniversal Light is so magnified by G. Fox that he tells us it shews all the ungodly wayes that ever a man hath acted in with it a person will come to see Christ the Saviour of his Soul from whence the Light comes to save him from his sin it brings to Christ to confess him gives the knowledge of the God of the world that rules in them that are disobedient this Light gives the knowledge of the Glory of God the true knowledge of the Scriptures its one in all they that come to and love it come into fellowship one with another out of this they are in jarrs and confusions it lets see Sin that hath separated from God and the Mediator and the Kingdome of heaven and lets men see they must be meek and humble keeps from errour guile all distraction
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
reward is the division of their tongues confound and jumble both together into one They tell us one while that truth Christ tells his Disciples Matth. 5. That except our righteousnesse exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees whose lives yet ad extra as to all outward appearance were as exact as they were strict in many Religious observations we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom Whereby they intimate we must live walk and obey Gods Holy Truth and will though by Christs assistance yet personally more spiritually then they Yea they tell us what the Gospel requires from us though it is to be done by Christ in and for us is a more total abstinence from evil and even lusting to it then the Law and so the Gospel to call for more full self-denyall then the Law if ere we live The one saying Thou shalt not commit adultery the other Thou shalt not lust the one Thou shalt not steak the other Thou shalt not covet the one Forswear not thy self the other swear not all the one thou shalt not kill the other Thou shalt not be angry without cause Otherwhiles to go round again They make the Law require more full and exact obedience to God then the Gospel The Law gives not life without perfect obedience quoth T.D. The Gospel gives life upon imperfect obedience 4. Again They tell us one while that is when they preach to their people and see no Quakers among them the same truths the Scriptures tell us concerning God that He is of purer eyes then to behold the least iniquity that God John 9.31 Accepts not owns not hears not sinners says to such as work it and depart not from iniquity Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity I know not whence ye are Matt 7.22 Luke 13.27 And though forgiving iniquity to the penitent when they confesse and forsake sin yet by no means clearing the guilty while they lye in impaenitency under sin Exod 34.7 That if the heart condemn God in greater then it and knows all and what the Light in the conscience speaks in way of that self-judgment that 's placed in us and seconds it to justification or condemnation accusation or execusation there needs no witnesse to convince a man quoth I.O. p 43.45 that it speaks it from God it discovers it's Author from whom it is in whose name it speaks So that if that as it does every sinner holds guilty God whose mind it speaks holds not guiltlesse Yea That he who justifies the wicked condemns the just even they both are abomination to the Lord as Pro 17.15 and much more of that sort i e when the Qua tell the same truths to turn men from all sin which is transgression or iniquity for not the least sin is equity that I know of then in opposition to the Qua they wheel about And Otherwhiles As if God were another manner of God Who because its impossible by the power of his own grace to be fully freed and perfectly purged from all sin here will give indulgency to his sinning Saints to go round again They tell us other tales of him whereby if Pro 17.15 be true they represent him as doing that in the doing of which he must be an abomination to himselfe viz 1. That he condemns the just witnesse T.D. who tells us that here the best works and personal performances of Beleevers and Saints themselves are imperfect sin iniquity dung losse unclean filthy rags though done by Christ in them And yet to go round again That God accepts alias is well-pleased delights and takes pleasure in both these Beleevers and their wicked works Witnesse the Supralapsarian Predestination Preachers who represent God as loving of few only as Iacob hating most men personally with Esau qua sic as men the creatures of his own Creation to shew his wrath power soveraignty over them as the Potter over the Clay of the same lump the Mistery of which matters of Iacob and Esau their meer mans wisdom sees no more into then a Moles eye into a Milstone not onely before they had done either but without reference to either good or evil foreseen to be done in time by either Adam their supposed Representative or themselves and the Sublapsarians also who represent God as by Praeterition at least rejecting most on the Account meerly of Adams single act without a respect to any personall actions of their own The least and best of which two do doctrinally make God a Condemner for ever of Millions of just innocents yea very infants as they blush not to infer for one fault of their Father Adam for whose only eating the sowr Grapes all the childrens teeth must be set on edge contrary to what God sayes now who will have that Proverb used no more but sayes as the soul that sinneth shall dye for his own so every man only for his own iniquity and not the son for the fathers any more then the father for the sons 2. That he condemns not but clears the very guilty justifies the very wicked and ungodly that not from for the Qua know that he justifies many ungodly Ones from their ungodlinesse they repenting not resisting his Spirit by which he would purg them but giving up to become the Godly whom only he hath chosen Ps. 4. but even in the most wicked and ungodly Actions and even whilest under the guilt of most abominable Transgressions so wearying the Lord whom they speak well of sometimes as a God of True-judgment with their evill words of him at other times when they say with the wicked Priests of whom God by Malachi complains ch 2.17 of such as do evil that they are good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them or where is the God of judgement as if he who changes not and said of old Shall I count them pure c. Mic 6.11 did change and become another kind of God at one time then he is at another viz to count men righteous even while such treasures of wickednesse are in the house of their hearts as render them no lesse then wicked scanty and abominable and to count men as I know not that ever he did pure with their wicked ballances with their bag of deceitful weights while they are full of violence and speak lyes and their tongue is deceitful in their mouths Witnesse not only all other his fellow Pillow-sowers under their arms and Soothers up of sinners in their sins and Daubers of Evill-doers with the smooth untempered Morter of their Peace peace when there is no peace saith my God unto the wicked but T.D. himself above all the rest who p. 38. Pam 1. not only sayes but still stands to it and owns it or'e and or'e again as grosse as it is and Iustifies it for truth in his Reply to R. H. who charges it on him Justly as a grosse absurdity which I have above also more at large replyed to that
yet T. D. sayes much of the truth of the Scripture is written on the hearts of the Heathen and that so much of it as is there written is their Rule so by consequence mens Rule can't of it self warrant mens actions to be right that are regulated by it Oh the Rounds of these men yea Tomb. and Baxter blush not in proof of that their lye as boldly as blindly to assert in the same page that Paul in his bloody persecutions and sins followed the light within him and counted it his great sin that he had so done though they confesse as before that all light in all men is from God and Christ and that the light some of which all men have from God and Christ though dim in regard of its small measure gives them to discern sins dutyes and divine Attributes and leads them to much of God and more morallity fidellity chastity temperance righteousness which the Letter sayes are the fruits of the Spirit then most Christians have attained to Yea so blasphemously seeme they to speak in the same page of the light within which the Qua. follow and call to which is no other then that of God in men that convinces them of sin as to intimate that men may as the Quakers say they do follow the light within them and yet their practice be of the Devill The Prince and Ruler only of the darknesse in men and not from Gods Spirit yea say they there if following the dictates of a mans own Conscience i.e. the leadings of the light in it could warrant his actions the most horrid acts of Idolaters Papists Pagans Mahometans Fanaticks i. e. mad men should be free from censure and controul Thus to their own shame confusion and self contradiction who one while speak well of it they speake abominably of the light within as if all the wickednesse that is in the world came to passe by following the light within the conscience the going away from which into mans own vain imaginations and vile inventions into the dark for not taking heed to the â—ouncell of God i. e. his light in the heart is the only cause of all abomination without which light shining and mens loving the darknesse and evill deeds which it condemns more then it there could be neither sin as â—hrist sayes nor condemnation Iohn 3.19 Rom. 8 1. As to go round again to their own confutation themselves intimate in the very next words p. 41 42. which are thus If a man do that which he thinks to be evill that is by the lights dictating it so to be in his own Conscience as they hinted just before though it were good and lawfull in it selfe it would be sin to him yea that man that doth good against his conscience is hut an hypocrite in so doing though the thing in if self be right and good When a man doth evill which his conscience tells him is so he commits a sin of the highest degree as to him that knowes to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Iam. 4.7 That is sin in an high degree hence great horrour of spirit hath attended them that have omitted good which their conscience told them they should do and much more horrour in them that have done evill against their conscience as in the case of Iudas Spira and other instances might be given Without which acting against conscience there 's neither sin nor horrour say we with John and Christ Ioh. 15.24 1 Ioh. 3 20. but peace as themselves hereunder confesse i.e. assurance of Gods acceptance acquittance non-condemnation justification And therefore say they if the Qua intended no more then this by bidding men look to the light within them And no more then that do we intend God knows though the blind Guides who can't see Wood for Trees hating us are minded to make men mistake us as miserably as themselves mistake us that men should take heed that they omitted not the good their own consciences told them they ought to do and that they did not the evill their consciences judged to be so we should accept of their warning Surely it will concern you as to look that your conscience be not erroneus As it ever is when and never is say I but when it erres from the light of God within it for the heart is a dark place of it self but as the true light shines in it 2 Pet. 1. 19. and heeds not that So when your conscience is rightly informed to follow it and when it goes wrong As it never does say I but when it goes from its guide the light yet to suspend the act which it condemns Till by the light it come to approve of what it ignorantly condemned if you desire peace It seemes then by these men as well as the Qua doctrine that peace is no where to be had but in walking according to the light in the Conscience there will say they be no plea to acquit him before God or to quiet his own spirit who proceeds to act according to the light in his own conscience And a sin against the light of nature So they stile that voyce of God in the conscience still is so much the more damnable in that it is against the most irrefragable evidence Mark how they somtimes yield the light in the conscience of all to be a far clearer evidence then that of the letter it self and more dangerous to resist in reference to which they somtimes to go round again call the light within but obscure meer darknesse and blindnesse and not so dangerous nor damnable to resist but rather dangerous yea no lesse then damnable to follow He that doubteth say they with Paul is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith for whatever is not of faith is sin Mark how themselves affirme with Paul and us that faith without which nothing is pleasing to God out of which all that 's done is damning to be a faith in that light of Christ which is in the conscience Wo be to him cry they as we also do who condemns himself in what he allowes and contrariwise say we and Paul and consequently themselves happy is he and he only who is not condemned in himself that is by the light in his own conscience in what he allowes Thus absolutely do these Light-haters somtimes themselves blesse approve and applaud the light which otherwhiles they brawl and bark against when it s own children the Qua appear to justifie it Somtimes to go round again as absurdly do they bolt out bitternesse and blasphemies against that light which forgetting how unawares they confesse the truth to the Qua otherwhiles they so eminently applauded as good and of God c making it somtimes pernitious dangerous yea in the highest degree damnable to neglect it at othertimes to go round again pernitious dangerous and in the highest degree damnable to attend to it As p. 68. Among the Gentile Philosophers there was light but