The Apostle having spoken before of the effects of the Cross of Christ tells them That in Christ Iesus neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision availeth any thing but a new Creature So that we may see the Apostle who believed his Master's Doctrin pressed to have it answered by witnessing the Old Man put off which was corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts and to be renewed in the Spirit of their minds c. Ephes. 4. 22 23. And in Col. 3. 9 10. There you may see that the Apostle tells them they had put off the Old Man with his Deeds and had put on the New which was renewed in Knowledg after the Image of him who had Created him and was not this new Man Christ or at least the bringings forth of his Power in them for the Apostle saith Rom. 13. 14. But put ye on the Lord Iesus Christ c. and Col. 2. 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Iesus the Lord so walk ye in him And Col. 3. 11. Having spoken of them that had put on the New Man as before saith Where there is neither Iew nor Greek c. But Christ is all and in all As the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 1. 30. He was made of God unto them Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption So here was the true Imputation or gift of God thus given or made theirs and so imputed and so they did witness his Power to Work in them as the Apostle saith Ephes. 3. and 20. And in the same Chapter you may see how he desired with bowed Knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would grant them according to the Riches of his Glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the Inward Man and listewise in his Epistle to Titus 3. 5. Having spoken of the Love of God to Mankind Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he Saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost So here still the Apostle hath regard to the Doctrin of Christ and Maintains Regeneration through the Renewings of the Holy Ghost so they were Washed thereby and Born thereof To this agrees another Testimony of his 1 Cor. 6. 11. Having told them that the Unrighteous shall not Inherit the Kingdom of God and having reckoned up to them the wickedness that the Gentile were given to saith And such were some of you but ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Iustified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And what saith James Barry was not Righteousness here wrought in them was there none Inherent when this work of Sanctification and Washing was wrought by the Spirit or were they Saved and Justifyed while they were in those gross Evils before-mentioned If so let us know what manner of Salvation it was for the Apostle saith None shall Inherit the Kingdom of God and the same Apostle saith Phil. 2. 12 13. Work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling for it is God that worketh in you both to Will and to Do of his good Pleasure Now it is evident that though they Preached Remission of Sins past in the Name of Jesus to those that did Believe and so through Faith their Sins came to be Blotted out yet without this Washing of Regeneration and work of the Spirit to Renew them that they might be Born again as Christ had said they could not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And therefore you may see how the Christians witnessed the New Birth and how the Apostles laboured for it yet this neither was by them then nor is by us now accounted Man's work alone But was the work of Christ in them by his Spirit And that was the reason why the Apostle came under such a Travel as in Gal. 4. 19. where he saith My little Children of whom I Travel in Birth again until Christ be Formed in you Here the Apostle was concern'd lest they should be lost and he had bestowed upon them Labour in Vain as verse 11. seeing they were going out into the Observations which were unprofitable and therefore in Chap. 5. 16. saith this I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh. So you may see it was the Spirit the Saints were to walk in and thereby was the overcoming of the Flesh with its Lusts. As the Apostle in Rom. 8. doth at large Testify and tells us plainly verse 9. That if any Man hath not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And verse 14. saith As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God But Iames Barry with some of his Hearers denyed Revelation and accounted it an Errour in us to own it and therefore it cannot be expected that they should walk in it who deny it or that they should be Adopted by it or Sealed by it And therefore let Iames Barry in his Answer make out how they came to be Christians or Children of God and whether they are Christ's and how they came to be so and whether they own Regeneration necessary to Salvation Yea or nay And whether this Eternal Salvation he saith Sinners are Saved by without any Mixture of Inherent Righteousness do fit Man for the Kingdom of God Yea or nay And whether any Man can reap Benefit by the Active and Passive Righteousness of Christ without except he have a True Faith and whether any Man can have a True Faith without the Word of Faith and whether this Word of Faith be not in the Heart c. Yea or nay And whether true Faith be not an Effect of this Word in the Heart Yea or nay according to Rom. 10. And this is not the speech of the Law but of the Righteousness of Faith as in verse 6th and 7th Thou need not say who shall ascend into Heaven to fetch Christ down or who shall descend into the Deep to bring him again from the Dead c. verse 8th The Word is nigh in the Heart and Mouth This is the Word of Faith which we Preach and is this Word there in the Heart And doth it beget Faith in Christ and concerning his Righteousness and yet no Righteousness within For Iames Barry will have no mixture it must be a Faith without Righteousness or else a Justification and Salvation without Faith So let him send forth his Arguments to prove us grand Hereticks according to his Promise and then it may be seen what we have further to say in the Vindication of our Principles which if he do not let it rest upon him as such a one and let Errour and Heresie lye at his Door The next Errour that he chargeth upon us as he lays it down in his own Terms is That we do own Perfection in Sanctification as to degrees in this Life Answer We having said so much before tending to prove this no Errour in our so owning of
and was a Peace-maker and he preacht in his Life and Conversation as well as his Words And he travelled with me from Maryland through the Wilderness and through many Rivers and Desperate Bogs where they said never English Man nor Horse had Travelled before where we lay out at Nights and sometimes in Indian Houses and many times were very hard put to it for Provisions but the Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power did support us and carry us through all Dangers Blessed be his Name for ever And he was an Elder and a Pillar in the House of God and the Name of the Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance but the Name of the Wicked will Rot. He was a Man Endued much with the Wisdom of God and in it had a Care of the Welfare of the Church of Christ to keep in Peace out of Strife and Contention and laboured with the Apostates and Back-sliders to turn them to Christ and his peaceable Truth So that they might Study to be Quiet and keep in the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of the King of Kings and Lord of Lord's Peace And much more I might write concerning our Dear Brother in the Lord I knowing him very well and his Travels and Service in the Lord's Power and Truth and so doth the Church of Christ among whom he will be missed But he is gone to his Rest and the Lord by his Eternal Arm and Power is able to Raise up others in his place The 13th of the 9th Month 1690. G. F. The Testimony of Friends in Cumberland COncerning that Faitful Servant of the Lord John Burnyeat belonging formerly to Pardsay-Meeting in Cumberland he was born at Crabtreebeck in the Parish of Lows-water in the said County his Parents were of good Repute and his Education was according to his Parentage The Lord visited him in his young and tender Years and inclined his heart after good things whereupon he gave himself to Reading the Scriptures that thereby he might be informed of those things that made for his Soul's Peace and going from one Man to another who were counted Men of Experience yet found no true Satisfaction until it pleased the Lord to send his Ministers to turn his Mind to the Invisible Word of Life which he gladly received into his heart and came to Wait in Humiliation to feel the Operation of it So that he was brought forth Early in the Day of the breaking forth of God's Light and Power in our Age when it pleased God to Visit many People in divers Nations of the World and to make known his Everlasting Truth in the North-Country which Day of Light and Truth and Grace many waited for and were in a readiness to Receive with Ioy and Gladness of Heart amongst whom this our Dear Friend J. B. being called by Grace to the Knowledge of the Lord his Truth and Power and receiving the same in Love Faith and Obedience he came to Witness the Effectual working thereof to his Sanctification and so became a Vessel of Honour fitted for his Master's Use even Christ and learned to Rule his own House well in washing first the Inside and the Outside appearing clean also Then his Light began to shine before Men to the Glory of God that called him And this being first done in him and for him to his particular peace and satisfaction in the Lord 's Eternal Truth then the Lord opened his Mouth in a few words in much tenderness which tended greatly to the comforting of his People he always being careful to wait for the Motion of the Word and to keep close with it whereby he grew in his Gift and was drawn forth to visit Friends in this County where we dearly loved him He was faithful in the discharge of his Duty when called to give Testimony against the Hireling-Priests in the Steeple-Houses to gather People from the Mouths of those Greedy Shepheards that feed themselves and not the Flock and did not profit the People at all And for these things he suffer'd Imprisonment a long time under a severe Goaler in a close nasty place For the Lord sent him forth in his joyful opening Power and Spirit to preach glad Tidings of Salvation by Christ Iesus sometimes to the Spirits in Prison and to them coming out of Prison and entring into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God and to them who walked stedfastly in that Glorious pure Liberty he that hath an Ear to hear let him hear whereby he was a blessed Instrument in the Hand of the Lord both for Convincing and Converting to God and for the Refreshing Comforting and Strengthening of them in the Faith Grace and Truth that they might be built on the Rock Christ the Foundation for all the Chosen of God in him throughout all Generations that Man might answer the End for which he was made even to Glorify God who is worthy of Glory and Praise for ever He was a Man of an Excellent Spirit and of deep Experience in the things of God and Mysteries of his Kingdom which were richly made manifest unto him And it was his Delight to be Meditating therein whereby his Experience was daily increased unto the Conclusion of his Days He was a Man tender of God's Glory and Earnestly sought the spreading and propagating of the Truth The Lord made his Travels successful and he saw the Fruit of his Labour and the Lord blessed him with the Fruits of his holy Spirit whereby he became well qualified for the Work of the Ministry a Nursing Father lending a hand of help to the feeble of the Flock and comforting the Mourners in Sion For his Doctrine did drop as the Dew and his Speech as the small Rain He was a Pattern of Righteousness to the Young Generation over whom he was very Tender and to the Aged he could give Counsel so that God made him a strong Pillar in his Church and cloathed him with Divine Wisdom that he was capable of speaking a Word in Season to all which was as a Nail fastned in a sure place He was one of the Lord's Worthies in his day of a quick Sight and clear Discerning of a strong Arm and skilful Hand whose Bow abode in strength and carried the Arrows to the Mark aimed at like as the Men of Benjamin that could sling Stones to a Hair's breadth so he fixed Judgment upon the head of the Transgressor And his Arrows returned not in vain particularly against that Wicked Spirit of Separation where-ever he met with it He was often concerned in Testimony against those that profess the Truth and Way of God and yet did incline to suit themselves to the vain Fashions and Customs of the World as Inlets to a wrong Spirit and became evil Precedents to others especially Young People that are too much employed in their Minds with foolish Dresses and Fashions that never knew the weighty Work of Truth and Power of God in their Hearts to work a Change
when we partly pressed that they would answer little but held back some of them who like Diotrephes of old who loved to have the Pre-eminence and so withstood the Apostle did keep off in their Minds being of that Spirit I wrote of before in Virginia who pretended to be against Forms And while we sate waiting upon the Lord and staying to see what they would come to and George Pattison labouring to bring them to a Sense of the Service and so to come into the Practice and they not being willing to say any thing my Spirit being very low the Word of the Lord came unto me and the dread of his Power fell upon me so that after some time I opened my Mouth with a Lamentation and said I was sorry or grieved that I had that to say that I must declare unto them and that was That while they stood in that Spirit they were in they could not act in Unity with the Body in honour to the Head c. and therefore after that our Exhortation was unto them to Condemn that Spirit by which they had been led aside and wait for the Universal Spirit of Life or to this effect and so we left them and they were greatly concerned So the next day we had a publick Meeting amongst them and after meeting came away towards Boston Then their Consciences being troubled we had to do with several of the Chief of them who laboured to have Reversed that I had spoken and said It was very hard c. But I told them I could not do it the Power had sealed it and it must stand it was they must come to Repentance and Condemn that Spirit which had deceived or to that effect And so we left it upon them according to the Word of the Lord And since some of them have seen it and Condemned that Spirit and given a Testimony in writing against it blessed be the Lord who shews Mercy and restores out of the Snares of Satan And so being clear of all those Parts we came away strait to Road-Island and there we met with G. F. who was preparing to go Westward towards Long-Island So he went away and Robert Withers Iames Lancaster and George Pattison with him And from Long-Island they went over to East-Iersey and so over Land back again to Maryland and Iohn Stubbs and I were left at Road-Island Iohn Cartwright we left at Piscattaway he went further Eastward and after some time came to Iohn Stubbs and me at Road-Island I. S. and I went up to Providence had a Meeting there and as we returned we had a Meeting at Warwick where none had been before and several were Convinced and did own the Truth And there we had to do with one Gorton and his Company who were by other People there called Gortonians but they called themselves Generalists They were of Opinion All should be saved But they were in reality Ranters for in our Discourse they would maintain and say No Creaturely Actions could be Sin and would have no Whoredom nor Drunkenness nor the like to be Sin but what was spiritual the Outward action was but creaturely And thus in their filthy unclean Spirits they like the old Ranters made merry over the reproof of God's Spirit So from thence we came down again to Road-Island and there we spent some time and had a long Dispute with one Roger Williams that sent us a Challenge from Providence with fourteen Propositions as he called them but they were Charges and he engaged to maintain them against all Comers the first Seaven to be disputed on at Road-Island and the latter Seven at Providence We spent in Dispute with him three days at Road-Island but he could not make any proof of his Charges to the satisfaction of the Auditory for there was a great Congregation every day it would be tedious here to insert the Discourse if I were able but I cannot remember it There is a Book in Manuscript of what was taken in Short-hand of the Discourse at that present besides there is a Book in print entituled New-England-Fire-Brand quenched c. which is an Answer to a Book of the said R. Williams which gives some relation of some part of the Dispute to which I refer the Reader William Edmondson came from Virginia and was also with us at the same Dispute W. E. and I. Stubbs went up to Providence and spent one day with him there about the latter Seven and so cleared themselves to the People and came away when they had done with him So after some time together upon the Island Iohn Stubbs and I went over with several Friends that did accompany us to Narraganset and there we had a Meeting the four and twentieth of the sixth Month at one Richard Smith's and next day took our Journey towards Hartford We came first to New-London and from thence to Norwich and so to Hartford and stayed there one day and several of the Professors came in to us to Dispute with us And the next day we rode to a Town called Westfield near thirty Miles which was within the Massachuset's Colony And there was a Man and his Wife that received us and we appointed a Meeting But when they heard of it some of their Officers came to us and commanded that we should have no Meeting and so affrighted the People that none durst come to us We had a little Discourse with their Officers or Elders that came to us but they would not stay but cried out against our Religion We asked them If they knew our Principles that they so condemned Some of them answered and said Nay they knew them not nor did not desire to know them We asked them How they could judge of them and withal told them They were such as the Scripture did speak of who spoke evil of the things they knew not and they were confounded and went away and so scared the People that none durst come near us So we came away to Hartford again on the sixth day of the Week and on the seventh day several came to us and discoursed with us and we desired that we might speak with the Priest and they had promised that we should but when we desired him to come he or they for him made an Excuse he could not that day come from his Study So the next day being the first day of the Week we did go to their Meeting and the Fore-noon stayed without till they had done And when they had done and came forth we spoke to the People but they got away as if they had been afraid of us and none would stay So we returned to the Inn and stayed there till the After-noon And then we did go into their Meeting-house and stayed till the Priest had done And then I stood up and called unto the People and desired their patience a little to hear I had a word of Exhortation to them and so began to speak But immediately the Sexton came to
may come short of the Price the blessed Inheritance and so be such as Iames speaks of that ask and receive not because they ask amiss For the Heavenly Wisdom is to be sought after and waited for that comes down from above which teacheth and guideth in the Heavenly Way the Heavenly Path of Life and Salvation where every ones steps will be sure and their goings will be established and their understandings will grow For the Iust Man's Path will be as the shining Light that shines more and more unto the perfect Day Here none will be like those that beat the Air or run at an uncertainty the Apostle said they were not such yet there may be such whose Pains and Travels may be great Therefore still I say let your pressing be towards the Mark in the sense of the Lord's power which is the true Guide and the true Cross that mortifies and crucifies the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts and keeps Self down in the Death out of the Reputation for there is none due unto it For whosoever gives and seeks Reputation to it which ought to be made of no Reputation such can never rightly seek God's Honour nor work his Work nor obtain the right Price nor attain the Crown but must fall short at last For it is in him that crucifies Self and makes it of no Reputation that the Election stands and in whom the Heirship is for ever And therefore dear Friends wait all to feel his power in your Hearts and diligently mind the blessed working thereof that you may feel how it purgeth your Consciences from dead Works and cleanseth your Hearts from Sin for Sin defileth the Heart that it is not prepared for the Lord he will not dwell therein Therefore it must be washed and dead Works must be purged away for no Man can serve the living God therein it must be the living Works in the living Power wherein we must be accepted And so let all mind the living Power which is the living Guide which doth guide in the living Way and keeps alive unto God and so you will all be kept a living People and grow up in the living Wisdom that is from above which is inwardly taught by the living Gift that is received from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning And as you grow up in this Wisdom you will be constant there will be an establishing and such will shew out of a good Conversation their Works with Meekness and Wisdom But saith the Apostle if there be bitter Envying and Strife in your Hearts glory not and lie not against the Truth this Wisdom descendeth not from above but is Earthly Sensual and Devilish For where Envying and Strife is there is Confusion and every evil Work But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure and then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of Mercy and good Fruits c. And the Fruit of Righteousness is sown in Peace of them that make Peace so you may see the Fruits brought forth manifest the Wisdom from whence it comes The Heavenly peaceable Wisdom brings forth the peaceable Fruits of Righteousness and is full of Mercy gentle and easie to be intreated and full of good Works but the Earthly brings forth the contrary Therefore saith the Apostle If there be bitter Envying and Strife in your Hearts glory not and lie not against the Truth Say not thou art in the Heavenly Wisdom while this lodgeth in thee for this Wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly and sensual and therefore can never establish but bring Confusion because he is the Author of it that can never work good And therefore dear Friends let your Hearts be always kept in subjection unto that Power that bridles your Wills and crosses them and keeps you lowly humble and gentle where the daily dying which the Apostle was in may be witnessed and so you will see the true pressing forward towards the Mark and the true growing into Dominion over him that would hinder and then as Iames saith Swift to hear slow to speak slow to Wrath for the Wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God Yet this I have often observed Man in a heat of Wrath would be working for God but in that he cannot work the Righteousness of God Therefore well said Iames Swift to hear slow to speak slow to Wrath And you know that he whom we ought to hear saith Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in Heart And so as every one learns of him and minds the leadings of his Power and the teachings of his spirit of Grace in their Hearts they will grow more and more like him and come into his Nature and healing Spirit and so in his Grace and Life be Healers and Saviours And therefore was it said by the Prophet they should be as Saviours upon Mount Zion Now Friends every one mind this saving healing power in your selves and bow in your Hearts unto it and be still in your Minds and calm and you shall see how it will sweeten you level your Spirits and bring down that which is high and losty and hard and you shall see how the Mountains will melt at the prefence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Iacob and you shall see how the Winds and Seas obey your Saviour and into what calmness he will bring your Spirits and then when all is still your Ear being opened which is the first Work of the Word you will be swift to hear and hearing your Souls will live And you will come down out of all the noises floatings and swellings into the calmness and stillness where you will admire your Saviour and say What manner of Man is this that even the Winds and Seas obey him And you will see that though Iordan over-flow her Banks yet at the leadings on of our Ioshuah and at the entrance of the feet of our High Priest it must be driven back that the Ransomed of the Lord may pass over dry-shod Much of this nature in Spirit may be read as there is a hearkning and keeping low but the forward rash and hasty are often tossed upon the Waters and very uncertain in their ways and doings and therefore do produce unto themselves much affliction of Soul and Spirit for to them the promise doth not belong where it is said He will keep them in perfect Peace whose Minds are stayed upon him because they trusted in him Now Friends methinks the Way is plain if every one would be careful to attend upon the power and its openings and give way thereunto and be humble for its the humble he teacheth his Ways and the meek he will guide in Iudgment and the willing and obedient he will feed for the Promise is They shall eat of the good of the Land And therefore I do beseech all be mindful be you all careful keep your Hearts out of the World and the
drowning surfeiting Cares and Pleasures of it that you may neither be choaked nor surfeited with the excess of that nor so led up into the worldly Pleasures and Liberty out of the Truth which that draws into as thereby and therein to forget the Lord and overlook your inward State For if any so do they lose the Glory the Beauty and Sweetness of their Heavenly condition and then they grow weary of the Way of the Lord and ready to say as some of old What profit is there in serving of God or in keeping of his Ordinances And therefore the God of Life stir you up and awaken all unto Watchfulness and Diligence that you may grow rich in the inward Man and be replenished with the Vertues and Graces of God that you may be a fruitful People in those parts of the World to the Honour and Glory of him who hath called and visited you who is Worthy of all Glory and Honour Praise and Dominion for ever And dear Friends my Heart's love reacheth unto you all who love and fear the Lord and in the Love of God I dearly salute you all and send this as a Testimony of that Love that still lives in my Heart unto you and therein I remain London 1680. Your Friend and Brother I. B. Dear Friends THE Love of my Heart and Soul is richly extended forth unto you and surely my Heart is affected with you in the Exercise you are under and do endure in this Day wherein the Lord seems to be pleased to try you as in a Furnace of Affliction and to prove your Faith and Patience that you may come to know the value of it even of that which is more precious than Gold that perisheth And truly my Heart believes that the Lord doth not suffer it to come upon you to destroy you but to try you and when his good Will is fulfilled in that and they have filled up their measure whose Hearts are hardened in their Cruelty he will find a way to deliver and bring forth his tryed and proved People whose Hearts are right before him and whose Souls are wisely set to seek him unto such shall all things be rightly sanctified and the Blessing and the Peace and Glory shall rest upon their inward Man with the richness of that Life which comes from Heaven for which you suffer for it is your innocent suffering for this as you have the Witness thereof in your selves that brings the Crown and Diademe of Glory to be put upon the Head of your inward Man So that the saying of the Apostle comes to be witnessed The Spirit of God and of Glory shall rest upon you Oh my most dearly beloved Friends How is my Soul melted into tenderness and my Heart broken within me in the meltings of the love of God towards you and in the sense of your long and weighty Trials that you have endured and gone through and yet for all must they seem as if they were but beginning Is the strength of the hard-hearted such that they are resolved to make a full end or to try what the Lord can do Will they prove their Arm to the utmost Well the Lord in his own time will manifest that it is but Flesh and not Spirit and therefore that which must decay and wither and be dried up and so prove weak at last when the unseen Arm of the Lord which they see not nor know not shall be revealed and stretched out and made bare which you that look not at things that are seen have a Faith in which Faith is that by which you live and in which you have your Victory and in which your Hope doth fasten as an Anchor both sure and stedfast So that though the Winds do blow and the raging Waves do swell high yet you are preserved and kept from being overthrown and destroyed Dearly Beloved methinks I find a Word of sweet Exhortation in my Heart unto you whom my Soul loves who may be or are tryed in this exercising Day with Bonds or Imprisonments In the first place get into a quiet frame of Spirit and Mind within your selves every one and into a resignedness freely up into the Will of God out of time looking as little at that as you can for if you do it will make your Exercises worse and harder For this I have experienced that when a Man is freeliest resigned into the Will of God and in a right Spirit most given up to suffer for him he is fittest to have his Liberty and most commonly it is the nearest unto him Dear Lambs I know there is sometimes a Travel in Spirit to get into a right place with the inward Man when the outward Man is in Bonds but when the Heart once gets thither all things are made easie and comfortable by him who said his Yoke was easie and his Burthen light And now be all concerned thus to get through in your Spirits and then you will feel that the Word of God is not bound but free and your Souls will be free in it and its holy Power and so be fed by the Milk of it that your Souls will draw spiritually from the blessed Breasts thereof by which you have been born again And being thus in your inward Man renewed unto God and up into his Life where the Habitation of Peace and Quietness is for your Souls that they cannot reach to bring a Disturbance to and there feeling your Ease Joy Peace and Pleasure to be such that you can in your Prison-House sing joyful Praises unto the Lord then my Friends be vvatchful tender and kind one unto another and over one another that Love Peace and Joy may be maintained among you all who suffer rightly and innocently for the Truth of our God that so you may be one anothers Ioy and Crown of Rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ your Life and Strength And dear Friends where there is innocency and simplicity bear one with another and help one another that in your sufferings you may have fellowship one with another and so keep in the fellowship of the sufferings of Jesus Christ where all may be humble and tender that so while others are striving to provoke you to come out of your places and to offend the Lord you may not provoke one another nor be an occasion unto any one to go out of their place in the Truth and so to lose their Peace with the Lord and in his Spirit For I have observed that there is a care to be amongst Friends at such times and in such conditions when they are kept up together that all things may be kept sweet and pleasant and that they may even join together in bearing the Burthen that is laid upon them and those that are more grown and deeper in their experience of what they are called unto may help the weak and so fulfil the Law of Love And dear Friends let not unprofitable Discourse be gone into for that may lead into
you as a Cart is pressed that is full of Sheaves saith he Hence it may be understood that when he hath been at work and hath done good by his glorious Power who worketh wonderfully for them and now in them also that believe in his Power if there be a going from him and a letting in of other things into the Heart where he should Rule and have his Dwelling in Man and so with Man it becomes a Grief and an Oppression unto him and so a Provocation that he will not always bear it nor spare Man though he is long-suffering as may be seen very fully in that Prophesy of Amos and more at large through the Scripture which was written for our Learning that we might be warned and thereby be stirred up unto that diligence care and watchfulness which may tend to our preservation And now considering these things that were of old and observing how that in our Age the Lord hath made known his wonted goodness unto us even that which doth far exceed the outward Priviledges of outward Israel for that which he blesseth us withall is a Possession and Enjoyment of a degree of his own Life who is the Creator by which he Created all things which is more than the Enjoyment of the Creature the Loss of which was the great penalty laid upon Adam if he broke the Command which he having lost is again restored unto us through Christ Iesus the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven which we having received do thereby live unto God and therein serve him And so Dear Friends the thing that is chiefly in my mind unto you in the reach of the Heavenly Bowels is To intreat and beseech you all To be tender in your Hearts and careful over your Spirits that you may not let in nor join with any thing that will bring Grief or Oppression upon your Life or lead you into the Transgression of the Law thereof Mind the Exhortation of the Apostle Grieve not the Spirit by which you are Sealed c. And so as you are careful watchful and wise to take heed unto the Holy Conduct and Blessed Leadings and Direction of this Spirit and the Law thereof your Souls will dwell in Peace and your Feet will tread in a safe Path even the Path of Peace and your Steps will not Slide but you will witness what David said of old to be true The Righteous shall inherit the Land and dwell therein forever for saith he The mouth of the Righteous speaketh Wisdom and his Tongue talks of Iudgment The Law of his God is in his Heart none of his steps shall slide So here you see what it is that keeps from Sliding the Law of God which is in the Heart this preserved David for it was as a Lanthorn to his Feet and a Light unto his Paths Oh! my Dear Friends you may be happy yea we may all be happy if we be as careful as we ought to walk by this Rule Oh! the Sweetness Peace and Glory that he fills the Hearts of all his People with that take heed unto his Law the Spirit is not grieved the Life of the Soul is not Oppressed the Soul Life or Spirit of Man is at ease and so in the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God and so in that state where it can Sing unto the Lord and Praise him And therefore all of you mind your Dwelling and inward Liberty and Spiritual Freedom from all the Corruptions of the World and of the Flesh both inwardly in your selves and all Temptations from without that you may reign in the Dominion of the Seed Christ Iesus for ever and so with him be Co-heirs of that Heavenly Inheritance and Possession which he hath Purchased for you And so in the Unity of that Life which reigns over all do I very dearly Salute you all who Love the Truth and in that do I desire that the God of Life may bear up your Spirits by his Power over and a top of all that would Defile or Oppress that you may be preserved to remain the Sons and Daughters of God without Rebuke in and among this Crooked and Perverse Generation amongst whom do you Shine as Lights to the Glory of him who hath called you out of Darkness into his Marvellous Light who over all is worthy of Glory and Honour and Dominion World without End From Your Friend and Brother in the Truth I. B. Dublin the 23 d of the 11 th Month 1685. Dear R. R. IN the Love and Unity of the Blessed Truth which lives and abides for Ever do I very dearly Salute thee and thy Wife and therein is my Heart's desire for you unto the Lord that by his blessed Hand and Power you may be born up and supported under all Exercises that may attend and in your minds Preserved with an invisible Eye unto the Lord taking notice of his Orderings as it is his Hand that brings to pass what he sees Good and then in his Fear and Love there will be a Reverent Submitting unto his Will without Murmuring or Repining at what the Lord doth Though Nature in the True and Natural Affection which good Men and Women cannot be without may be broken and greatly bowed down yet as long as the mind is preserved from Murmuring at what the Lord doth it will be well there will be a Heart Capable of giving him his due as it was with Iob. Dear R. I must needs say my Heart is concerned for you both upon thy own Account having heard of thy great Weakness there and Affliction thou hast been under and also because of the Loss of thy Dear and Tender Daughter who in your Absence is taken away both from you and us But what shall I say It is so and the Lord hath done it and it is not safe to Dispute the Case with him or say Why hath he done so But tenderly submit unto his Will and bless him that gives and takes away as he sees good However this I think I may say to thee and thy Wife with safety you need not sorrow as such who have no Hope because of the ground God hath given for a sure Hope of her Eternal Well-being which is the Mark we are all Pressing towards and they are happy that do obtain it For I was with her that same day that she Dyed in the Afternoon and had a serious weighty season with her She sent for me and told me as soon as I came to her That now she was satisfied she must Die and her Heart was wholly set after her Assurance of Peace with the Lord and her desires to us to wit her Husband and me was That the Doctor might not trouble her or meddle with her for she was not willing to be molested or hindred from a quiet Departure For her Heart was set after a peaceable Departure out of this World as was evident from her words several times And she was very sensible and did speak to me with
it need now say little more especially seeing we never heard it accounted an Errour before till now by him and do question whether any will be now of his mind The Apostle as is shewed before said to the Saints They were Washed and they were Sanctified And again he speaks of their being Saved by the Washing of Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost and Jude verse 1. writes unto such as were Sanctified by God the Father and Preserved in Iesus Christ. Was this Washing and Sanctification which was by God the Father and by his Spirit and in the Name of Jesus Christ altogether without Perfection that it is by Iames Barry accounted an Errour to hold Perfection of Sanctification in any degree What! are the Works of God and his Spirit in Christ so Imperfect that they admit of no degree of Perfection in them Then how should the Saints Perfect Holiness in the fear of God according to the Exhortation given by the Apostle 2 Cor. 7. 1. We look upon it thus to charge God in the Work of his Spirit in Christ to be little less than Blasphemy David saith in Psal. 18. 30. As for God his way is Perfect And in verse 32. It is God that girdeth me with Strength and maketh my way Perfect And Moses saith I will Publish the Name of the Lord Ascribe ye Greatness unto our God he is a Rock his Work is Perfect for all his ways are Iudgment c. Deut. 32. 3 4. These bear a better and truer Testimony for God his Ways and Works than Iames Barry who will admit of no degree of Perfection in Sanctification which we always held to be the Work of God and his Spirit in Christ wrought for the Saints and in the Saints As the Prophet also Testifieth Isa. 26. 12. Lord thou wilt Ordain Peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our Works in us To Vindicate these our Principles or any thing Writ in Vindication of them by our Friends which he hath Abused viz. George Fox George Whithead William Pen and Edward Burroughs we offered to give him a Meeting and with him to Dispute fairly that it might be Manifest whether his or ours did most agree and concur with the Testimony of holy Scriptures We offered further then to Dispute with him about the Doctrine of Particular Election and Reprobation of Persons or of Christ's not Dying for ALL Men and told him we were desirous to be Informed what Gospel of glad Tidings Ministers of such a Faith and Principle had to Preach to them that Christ Died not for which might tend to their Benefit unto Salvation or whether they never press such to Believe as a Duty Incumbent nor ever offer Salvation unto them in the Name of Christ if they do believe This we said we did look upon to be a material Principle and ought to be cleared up because it concerns so great a part of Mankind And Iames Barry's Messenger that he sent with his Papers said That Iames Barry would lay down his Life in Vindication of this Principle Therefore we expect he should Inform us what Gospel he hath to Preach to them Christ. Died not for and what object of Faith he hath to lay down for them to Believe in for Faith must have an Object Or whether they do not press it as a Duty in general upon all to Believe And then let us know their Method of Distinction who Preach not the Gospel to every one for sure there can be no Gospel of glad Tidings to those Christ Died not for And we know 't is the common Opinion of such that they that Christ Died not for are the greater Number and if this Doctrine of theirs be true how can the Message of the Angel be true Luke 2. 10. And the Angel said unto them fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great Ioy which shall be unto ALL People And in the same Chapter you may see what Simeon said For mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation which thou hast prepared before the Face of ALL People Here he Witnesseth to the general Offer of God unto ALL. And the Apostle Rom. 5. 18. saith That as by the Offence of ONE Judgment came upon ALL Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of ONE the free Gift came upon ALL Men unto Iustification of Life And in Psal. 68. 18. David speaking of Christ saith Thou hast ascended up on high thou hast led Captivity Captive thou hast received Gifts for Men yea for the Rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell amongst them And to this agrees the Parable of the Sower whose Seed fell some on the High-way some on the Thorny some on the Stony and some on the good Ground And also the Parable of the Talents Matt. 25. 15. where it is said He gave to every one according to their several Abilities but ALL did not improve as Paul saith Rom. 10. They have not all Obeyed though they had Heard and in 1 Tim. 2. 6. you see what he saith of the Mediator Who gave himself a Ransom for ALL Men to be Testified in due time 2 Cor. 5. 14. For the Love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one Died for ALL then were ALL Dead and was not their Judgment right in this Heb. 2. 9. But we see Iesus who was made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of Death Crowned with Glory and Honour that he by the Grace of God should tast Death for EVERY Man So you see that by the Grace of God he should tast Death for EVERY Man and yet Iames Barry and such by their ungracious Limitations would have it to be but for a few and so he goes to contradict the Scripture and so is witnessed against by that which he said should be the Standard to try every thing by And therefore is not true according to the Standard And in the 1 st Epistle of John 2. 2. you may see what he saith of Christ and his Death And he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World So not for theirs only but also for the Sins of the whole World And 2 Pet. 3. 9. There the Apostle tells us of the Long-suffering of God to us-ward not willing that ANY should Perish but that ALL should come to Repentance And the Prophet Ezekiel being of the same mind declares fully in the 18 th chap. That the Lord hath no pleasure in the Death of a Sinner but rather that he would Repent and Return Many Scriptures might be laid down to witness against this unrighteous Principle of limiting God in the universality of his Love to Mankind for the rejecting of which and slighting the offers of Free Grace which has appeared to all Men according to Titus 2. 11. Man brings destruction upon himself But Iames Barry's Messenger that he sent which we suppose may be an esteemed Member of
his Church did charge it to be Blasphemy for any to say That Man could do contrary to the Will of God and when it was offered to be proved in an hundred places of Scripture and more where the Will of God was manifest and that Men did contrary to it for if it were not so we should not have Sin committed for in the Scripture all sorts of Sin are forbidden After this was offered he still affirm'd it And further discoursing of what benefit the Reprobate could have by the coming of Christ he said the Devil had a benefit by it but being much desired to shew wherein he could make nothing out Iames Barry makes a Boast of his Hearers most of them being in a state of Grace but if they be not founded upon better Principles than these they are far from being in a state of Grace and Happiness Therefore in Charity we desire they may look to their standing and not to be setled upon such unsound Principles as Iames Barry the Independent Minister as he calls himself labours to settle them in which is opposite to God's Free Grace which brings Salvation Iames Barry also with some of his Hearers did account it an Errour in the Quakers to own Immediate Revelation and said they did disown it Now seeing it is so that the immediate Spirit of Christ and its Immediate Revelation is denied by him we demand of him how he came to be a Minister and whence he hath his Ability and that Knowledge of God he pretendeth to have and from whom he hath received his Gospel that he Preacheth It s evident enough not from Christ for indeed it is not like his nor him who would have gathered the Children of Jerusalem as a Hen gathereth her Chickens and they would not therefore were they rejected because they would not be gathered The Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3. 6. They were made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit and verse 5. saith Their sufficiency was of God and Gal. 1. 11 12. the Gospel which Paul Preached It was not after Man for he neither received it of Man neither was taught it but by the Revelation of Iesus Christ Eph. 3. he declares That he was made a Minister according to the gift of the Grace of God given unto him by the effectual working of his Power and Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 11. If any Man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any Man Minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified c. Now how is this Ability received from God if not by his Spirit and therefore he gave different Gifts of the Spirit for the work of the Ministry and by that they were opened and inlarged and made able But Iames Barry denying this from whom hath he his Call and whence hath he his Gospel and Ability If he saith from God We desire to know how he received it being not by the Spirit he having denied that and if it be not by the Spirit it cannot be from God For what a Man receives of Spiritual Benefit it must be by the Spirit either immediately or mediately by its working through an Instrument Therefore let him make out how he comes by his Call Ability and that Necessity he pretends to be upon him for the Divine Spirit being denied it must be from Man or else from his own corrupt Heart for Self-interest which is most probable that he might get Gain and live upon the People For it is evident his Necessity is not the same that was upon the Apostle 1 Cor. 9. 16. He owns not his way of receiving it nor doth follow his Example in Preaching it And to his Hearers this Advice we give Consider well your State and whether you profit under his Ministry or no For of old they that ran and the Lord did not send them did not profit the People for he denying Revelation by which the Father and the Son is savingly known no other Knowledge is come to without it but by Hear-say which is not that Knowledge Christ speaks of which is Life Eternal And for your satisfaction read the following Scriptures Mat. 11. 27. Christ saith Neither knoweth any Man the Father but the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him So Christ is positive that no Man knows God but by his Revelation Mat. 16. 17. Christ saith it was the Father that Revealed him unto Peter and Gal. 1. 15 16. There you may see the Father Revealed his Son in Paul 1 Cor. 2. 10. The Apostle speaking of the great things God had prepared for them that love him saith God hath Revealed them unto us by his Spirit and in Eph. 1. 17. you may see how the Apostle prayed for the Saints That God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of the Son and 1 Cor. 14. 30. he saith If any thing be Revealed to another that sits by let the first hold his Peace Here you may see that from the Testimony of the Holy Scripture which your Minister said should be the Standard to try every thing by in the true Church Revelation was expected and to be given way to in the Church and by the Apostle was prayed for that God would give the Spirit and Revelation unto the Church for he knew they could not Worship Pray Preach nor Sing aright without it And what Is this accounted an Error now by your Minister or you Where is your Standard Will you not come to the Scriptures nor to the Spirit neither Where is your Bottom and Foundation that you Build upon What 's your Root that bears you You have got a foolish Builder he will not follow the Example of Paul a wise Master-Builder 1 Cor. 14. 15. Paul said He would pray with the Spirit c. and sing with the Spirit c. Eph. 5. 18. There the Apostle exhorts them To be filled with the Spirit and Rom 8. 26. he saith They knew not what to pray for as they ought but the Spirit helped their Infirmities c. And Christ in the 4 th of Iohn saith That God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and Truth and such doth the Father seek to Worship him Now let your Minister clear these things up to you how in your Church or Families either he and you denying Revelation can Worship aright Preach Pray or Sing aright and by what you have Ability and know what to Pray for without the Spirits help What! are you so strong of your selves in your Self-Ability that you do not need that which the Apostles and all true Christians sought the help of and could not do without Nay it was that by which they knew what to Pray for and therefore they waited for its Assistance And Paul said he would Pray with
we Meet together on the First Day of the Week for to Meet is our Duty and also upon other Days and for this Practice we have both Command and Example The Saints were commanded not to forsake the assembling of themselves together Heb. 10. 25. and we account every day is the Lord's and He that regardeth a Day ought to regard it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the Day to the Lord he doth not regard it Rom. 14. 6. But what Scripture have ye for all such Days as you observe which are called such and such Saints Days Thou sayst Thou hast been the longer on this particular because thou findest it galls us most Answ. When thou hast read our Answer which by reason of thine being so long hath caused ours to be so too thou mayst consider of it and of thy impertinency in quoting the Scriptures to prove your Practice which being well observed doth witness against you and then we doubt not but it will prove that which will gall thee and thy Brethren who are so found in such Covetous practices as the Scriptures plentifully testifie against And for a further Testimony against your Practices read these following Scriptures of which for brevity's sake having been so long already we shall forbear to write the Words they that can may read them in the Bible Isa. 59. 9 10 11 12. Ier. 5. 30 31. Ezek. 13. 19. Ezek. 34. ch Mich. 3. 5 11. Ioh. 10. 12. Tit. 1. 10 11. 1 Tim. 3. 1 2 3. 2 Pet. 2. 14 15 16. Iud. 11 12 13. In the next place thou undertakest to inform him of some Defects in that Religion he had chosen and first thou sayst Our Teachers have no lawful Call to Preach the Gospel and quotest the Apostle's saying Rom. 10. 15. How shall they Preach except they be sent That is sayst thou how can they Preach the true Doctrine of Christ unless they be sent by him or by those Apostles of Christ who received immediate Commissions from him c. Answ. We grant what the Apostle saith How can they Preach except they be sent c But that our Teachers are not so sent thou neither undertakest to prove by Argument nor Scripture although thou hast the confidence to affirm that they have no lawful Call or Commission to Preach the Gospel which we turn back upon thee as a false Accusation and demand of thee to prove and make it appear to be true if thou canst For we do believe that none can be true Ministers but such as are sent by Christ and have their Call and Commission from him and also receive the Gospel which they Preach and their Ability from him For the Scripture is plain that the Gospel-Ministers were sent by him and received the Gospel they Preached and Ability to Preach it from him and not from Men as in Gal. 1. 11 12. And in 2 Cor. 3. 6. the Apostle saith They were made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit and in the foregoing verse he saith Our sufficiency is of God And Ephes. 3. 7. he declares That he was made a Minister according to the Gift of the Grace of God given unto him by the effectual working of his Power And Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 11. If any Man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any Man Minister let him do it as of the Ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified c. And so from him we say we have received our Call by his Eternal Spirit and do wait upon him to receive our Ability daily that what we do may be by the Gift of the Grace of God given unto us that God in all things may be Glorified And if this be not according to the Scripture and the way of God do thou in thy next shew what is And prove your way of being bred up at Schools and Learning your Tongues and taking your Degrees there and observing your Ceremonies in your Ordination and coming forth according to your Traditions and then looking for a Benefice the greatest you can get and then setling in a Parish for so much a Year until you can hear of a Place with a greater Benefice and then remove for Greater Gain and Preferment And while you stay in a Parish take such Lordship upon you that none of your Church or Hearers may have Liberty to Speak or Preach but such as are so Ordained as you are Clear these things in thy next to be according to Scripture if thou canst In the mean while we charge this Method and these doings not to be according to the Rule of the Gospel or Example of the Primitive Ministers That this is your Practice we believe thou canst not deny But in the true Church this Order and Liberty was Ordained by the Apostle as in 1 Cor. 14. 30 31 32. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace for you may all Prophesie one by one that all may learn that all may be comforted and the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets But this Liberty which the Apostle Ordained you do not admit of no more than you do of other things which were the practice of the true Church and Christ's Ministers but instead thereof are gone into things which are of Man's Ordaining and setting up And therefore Robert Lacky and all in whom God hath opened an understanding to see you a right have reason enough to forsake you and your Church And as for those Scriptures thou quotest to prove a successive Power to send others They make nothing for your method of Ordination at all for Matth. 28. he said He would be with them c. doth not say They should send others In Acts 1. the Apostles desired one in the place of Iudas to be numbered with them and he was chosen by Lot So here was the Lord's Lot And in Acts 14. 23. it is said They Ordained Elders in every Church Now how these Scriptures do prove a true Succession to your Call and Ordination let all that are wise in heart judge Secondly Thou sayst We have no Sacraments administred in our Religion neither that of Baptism whereby People are admitted into the Christian Church nor that of the Lord's Supper by which they are strengthned and preserved in it Ans. First We demand whence thou hast this Term Sacraments and what is the proper Signification of it We are sure thou hast it not from Scripture And Secondly We put it upon thee to prove whence you have your Authority for that which thou callest Baptism by which thou sayst People are admitted into the Christian Church viz. Sprinkling Infants We deny that you have any Authority from Scripture either by Command or Example for it For we never read in all the Scriptures of either Baptising or Sprinkling Infants There is no such thing in that Scripture by thee quoted Therefore thou
art in a great mistake in charging this to be a defect in the Quaker's Religion not to have such a Practice which is an unwarrantable human Invention And it is a great Defect in your Religion to perswade people that when you have Sprinkled a little Water on the Head or Face of a Child and signed it with the sign of the Cross it is thereby admitted into the Christian Church and call it Baptism when it is but Sprinkling and therefore a Defect throughout But thy Charge upon the Quakers Religion that we deny that of Baptism by which People are admitted into the Christian Church we affirm to be false For we own that Baptism according to what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 12 13. For by one Spirit are we all Baptised into one Body whether we be Iews or Gentiles c. This we own to be Christ's Baptism And we also own Iohn's Ministration of Water to have been God's Ordinance in its day But yours we leave for thee to prove from whence you had it Secondly Thou sayst Nor that of the Lord's Supper by which they are strengthened and preserved in it Ans. Let all that are wise in Heart consider whether that which thou callest a Sacrament which you take hath such a great effect in it as to strengthen and preserve in the Christian Church which is Christ's Church For the Protestants do account it no more than a Sign of an inward Spiritual Grace But we are satisfied concerning what Christ did as in that Scripture thou quotest Luke 22. For he had regard to the fulfilling of the Law and his time drawing near that he was to be Sacrificed and so the true Passover as Paul saith 1 Cor. 5. 7. For even Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us had a desire to eat the Figurative Passover with his Disciples before he suffered as thou mayst see Luke 22. and in eating the Passover he took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them and bid them divide it among themselves and likewise took Bread and brake it and gave it to them And after Supper again he took the Cup and gave them And thou mayst see what he said both of the Bread and the Cup the One was his Body which was given for us the other was the Cup of the New Testament in his Blood which was shed for us Which words import that his Body which is broken for us is the substance of that Unleavened Typical Bread and his Blood which was shed is the substance of that Cup. Not that the Bread and Wine was his Body and Blood for that was but Typical though some do ignorantly imagine that he meant the outward Bread and Wine was his real Body and Blood As the Iews thought he had meant the Temple made with hands when he spake of the Temple of his Body For we read that when the Passover was instituted they were to have a Lamb without blemish and unleavened Bread and the Door-Posts were to be sprinkled with the Blood of the Lamb which Passover was certainly a Type of Christ the immaculate Lamb whose Body is the true Bread that nourishes the Soul to Life eternal and his Blood sprinkles the Conscience from dead works to serve the Living God This is that we have an eye to that which was broken for us and shed for us and we think by thy Writing thou art not of the Papists mind for the Real Presence And if not then consider what that Bread and Drink was that was broken and shed for us which he spake of though he was then eating the Passover with his Disciples and then come on and see what the Apostle saith to the Mystery of it which was that which he preferred in the Church at Corinth 1 Cor. 10. there he tells them of the Fathers viz. the Church in the Wilderness and saith They did all eat of the same spiritual Meat and did all Drink of the same spiritual Drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. So here thou mayst see the Meat was Spiritual and the Drink was Spiritual and the Rock was Spiritual that they drank of and that was Christ. So the Apostle speaking to Wise Men bids them judge what he saith as in ver 15. and in ver 16. saith he The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ And the Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ And ver 17. For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread The Iudgment of this thou seest the Apostle referred to Wise Men and we know Wise Men will Iudge that it is this Spiritual Meat and Drink that strengthens and preserves in the Church of Christ what-ever thou may'st say to the contrary And so thou wrongest the Quakers in saying That we have not the Lora's Supper administred in our Religion for we greatly delight in the Lord's Supper to eat and drink that which strengthens and preserves us in the Church of Christ. And for your Practice that you use in your Church we demand your Example for it and whence it did arise For thou may'st see that Christ in the Figure did eat the Passover with his Disciples according to the Law and gave them the Cup both before and after Supper as a foresaid Thou pretendest Thou hast other notorious defects in our Religion but forbearest to bring them forth only one thou say'st thou canst not omit which is so great a one that it renders the generality of the Quakers almost no Christians at all And thou say'st Most of us are guilty and that is a defect in the very badg and mark of a Christian Disciple which say'st thou is Love and Charity and so quotest Christ's words John 13. 35. By this shall all Men know that you are my Disciples if ye love one another Ans. Thou dost in this as thou hast done in other things before charge us to be Guilty but dost not bring one Proof or Argument to prove the Guilt upon us from matter of fact unless thy saying It is so be either Proof or Argument which no wise Man will understand to be so Thou say'st Perhaps we have charity among our selves we love one the other who are of our Perswasion However that is well so far it answers this Text of Scripture which thou hast quoted we wish we might say in truth so much for all of your Perswasion But thou goest on to shew how we should love Enemies c. and tellest us what Iohn says That God is Love and the more a Man hath of Love the nearer he doth approach to the Nature of God and so tellest us what Paul saith of Charity c. But what doth all this towards the proving us to be defective in this great badg and mark of a Christian Disciple That this is both your and our Duty we
which he doubts not but we will make good upon occasion Thou in answer say'st Thou knowest our Practice well enough Which if true and if so bad as thou endeavourest to make People believe of us why hast thou brought none of them to make good thy Charges against us And as for our Principles thou say'st Thou never heard'st we had any Then thou must needs be ignorant of our Way and Religion And therefore in thy speaking evil of it thou speakest evil of things thou understandest not and so art of that Generation spoken of 2 Pet. 2. 12. And as for our Faith and Principles they have been published to the World both by Words and Writing they have not been hid in a corner so that any that had a mind to concern themselves against us and yet as wise Men would not judge without an understanding lest like thee they should speak evil of the things they did not understand might easily be informed what our Principles are However we are a People that believe in the Lord Iesus Christ and that the Father sent him into the World to lay down his Life a Ransom for all Men that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have Eternal Life That he was Crucified without the Gates of Ierusalem and so became a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World And that after he had suffered and was buried God the Father Raised him again by his Eternal Spirit after which he shewed himself unto many Witnesses and then Ascended into Heaven and is Glorified with the Father with that Glory he had with him before the World was made And we further believe that he is the Light of the World and that he ought to be followed according to his own words Iohn 8. 12. and That he lighteth every Man that cometh into the World according to Iohn 1. 9. and that this Light wherewith he lighteth every Man all ought to believe in that they may be Children of the Light according to Iohn 12. 36. And so we believe in his spiritual Appearance according to his Promise who said He would pray the Father and he should send them another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth according to Iohn 14. 16 17. and this was his own Spirit for he is the Truth and of this the Saints were Witnesses as the Apostle saith Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father And thus was Christ in the Saints the Hope of Glory according to Col. 1. 7. And thus believing and witnessing the Truth of the Scripture we wait upon God for his Spirit that we may worship him therein according to the Institution of his Son Christ Jesus as in Iohn 4. 23 24. and that we may pray with the Spirit and sing with it according to 1 Cor. 14. 15. For the Apostle exhorted the Saints To be filled mith the Spirit Eph. 5. 18. and the Saints were to Pray in the Holy Ghost Jude 20. So our Faith stands in the Power of God which is that the Apostle laboured that the Saints Faith might stand in as thou may'st see 1 Corinth 2. 5. believing that there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and unjust they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation according to Iohn 5. 29. Here we have given thee some account in short of our Faith Principles and Practice and proved them to be according to the Scripture whereby thou may'st see if Prejudice and Self-Interest do not blind thine Eye that Robert Lacky in turning from thy Teaching to Christ the true Light and his Teaching according to God's Promise under the New Covenant who said They shall be all taught of the Lord which according to our Principle we direct People to wait for it 's no unsafe way to Heaven nor as thou falsly accusest us a pursuing such ways as are directly contrary to holy Scripture which thou in some measure promisest thou wilt make appear but hast it yet to do Thou say'st Because thou art fully satisfied we cannot make this out therefore thou wilt shew him how he has incurred not only the Displeasure of God for the present but the Damnation of his Soul hereafter unless he repent and return by this his departure from the Religion he was bred in Ans. Thou may'st see thy Satisfaction is without ground as also thy confident presumption in thy passing such a Sentence upon him concerning his present and Eternal Estate And surely thy Iudgment herein is groundless rash and vain as all may see who have any true Christian understanding and discerning and do but observe what is brought forth under your Teaching in your Religion For we understand no Reason thou assignest for thy Iudgment but His leaving of your Religion which we have before proved he had good reason so to do And therefore neither he nor any other need be afraid of thy Threatning upon this account because from what is before written it is clear that there are great Defects in the Principles and Exercise of the Religion he was bred in if he was bred in yours and so not according to Christ's Institution as may be seen if compared with the Scripture and that there are no such Defects in the Religion he now embraceth but proved in the Principles and Exercise of it to be of Christ's Institution according to the Scripture And herein thy Challenge we have answered and endeavoured to make it appear both to thee and him according to thy demand But if thou hatest to be Informed it shall lie at thy own door and thou shalt answer for it thy self So it is plain he may have changed out of a Principle of Conscience and pure Love to God and his Soul and not out of Interest Humour Passion or Prejudice as thou seemest to accuse him And as for thy Assuring him upon thy Word that it is not for any temporal advantage that thou seekest to reduce him but only in love to his Soul as thou hast to all Mens as thou say'st Ans. We think he hath no reason to believe that thou and the rest of your Clergy have such a Love to the Souls of all Men as to be the only Reason of your coming amongst them to be their Teachers for your Practice which is a surer evidence than your Words speaks the quite contrary in that you do leave any People where you are to go to another place for an Augmentation and higher Preferment So that it 's evident it is not the good of People's Souls nor the Glory of God that chiefly moves you in this concern what-ever may be pretended to And so to the Consciences and Understandings of Wise Men we refer these things to be considered of with our Hearts desire to God for you all that he would open your Understandings and let you see the Errour of you Ways and