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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	believe_v	faith_n	grace_n	8,077	5	5.8830	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54193	Plain-dealing with a traducing Anabaptist, or, Three letters writ upon occasion of some slanderous reflections given and promoted against William Penn by one John Morse published for common benefit that all impartial people may be better acquainted with the invective spirit of some so called, and their ungodly sly way of defaming such as dissents from them, especially in their restless indeavours against the poor Quakers / by W.P.	Penn, William, 1644-1718.; Morse, John, 17th cent.	1672 (1672)	Wing P1339; ESTC R25028	10,409	19

And to this 9th Chapter to the Romans the Intendment whereof borders not in the least upon that Ungodly Fancy of Personal Election I shall sum up the whole of both sides thus W. Penn's Faith 1. I believe God hath given unto all men sufficient of his Light Spirit or Grace which Obeyed will lead to Blessedness because God would otherwise exhort men to what he should not have given them Power to do which is unworthy of his Righteousness 2. I believe That God hardens no man to Sin till man has first hardened himself against God by Sin or that Sin goes before Hardening J. Morse his Faith 1. I believe That God requires all men to hear and obey or that all have the Gospel tendered yet deny that all have Grace sufficient to embrace it or to live up to it so as to be saved for God may bid Man believe and be saved not give him Power to do so 2. I believe That God raises up men and hardens them on purpose to Glorifie himself in their Destruction not considering Sin as the main and provocative Cause to that Hardening and Destruction Upon the whole I leave it with God and his Witness in every Conscience whether it be William Penn or John Morse that hath writ Error Contradiction and Blasphemy against God Scripture and Sound Reason So truly desiring thy better Information in these weighty Matters that knowing the Truth thou mayst obey it and be saved for God would not that any man should be damned but that all should come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be saved I remain Thy Well-Wisher and all mens W.P. An Account of some Discourse betwixt one Sarah Lane Quaker and John Morse Anabaptist for the clearing the Truth his Relation abuses with Forgery S.L. IOhn Morse we are to have a Meeting to day and I had a desire thou shouldst know of it J.M. I have heard your Friends formerly they deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God S.L. We own them to be the words of God given forth by the Spirit of God and a Declaration of the Mind and Will of God but the Word it self is God Read the first of John and there thou wilt find That the Word was in the Beginning and all things were made by it which cannot be said of the Scriptures J.M. But you disown Baptism S.L. What Force is there in it J.M. There is little in it only an outward Ordinance that we must do till Christ come S.L. Dost thou look for Christ to come again J.M. As for that we must leave it and not presume too far S.L. I do witness him Spiritually come and such as are come to the Substance wants them not But if there be little in the Ordinances as thou sayst what great need is there of doing them Christ came not to continue but to put an End to Types and Figures And for Water-Baptism many of us have had it and been among you that use it and we that did so are come further to see beyond that to the Inward Baptism which is the Substance that ends the outward J.M. The Scripture tells us it is an Ordinance S.L. Dost thou own two Baptisms to continue contrary to Scripture John said He should Decrease that Baptiz'd with Water and that Christ should Increase who was to Baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire J.M. But you own the Light to be in every man and Woman S.L. I own and confess that Christ has enlightened every Man and Woman J.M. What Christ the Fulness to be in every Man and Woman S.L. No not Christ's Fulness but a measure of his Light is given to Every one J.M. Every one what has every man a measure S.L. Yes J.M. What then is the Reason that Drunkards and Lewd People live in their Wickedness if they have that Light S.L. The Reason is because they do not obey it there is something in them that shows them their Sin when they have done amiss and reproves them for they will say Lord forgive them or the like that must needs be good that shows them when they have done what they ought not to do J.M. I confess there is something that does show men Sin but it is not sufficient S.L. It is sufficient if it be obeyed but God said His Spirit should not always strive with man yet every man has a Day or a Time to be tryed if they rebel and won't obey God then gives them over From this he fell to Curious and Unnecessary Questions As the Devil did about the Body of Moses so did he about the Body of Christ But this he insisted on mostly the second time J.M. What was that which appeared to the Disciples when the Windows and Doors were shut was it Flesh or Spirit S.L. Spirit J.M. Christ himself said he had Flesh and Bones when they doubted thinking he might be a Spirit But tell me what became of the Body of Christ S.L. I shall not meddle further with such Matters nor run into things which I have no certain Knowledg of neither would I have given thee that Advantage by my simple Answer if I had been aware of thee And if I have replyed unadvisedly that is nothing to our Friends J.M. But Light was that which lead you into this Mistake S.L. The Light never leads into any thing that is wrong Reader THis is the very Truth of the matter which I the rather add that what Advantage he may think to have gain'd and his Boast of it may receive some Allay by a plain and true Relation of the whole so far as could be remembred Of what force then her mistake is against the Light is to be Learn'd from her own Ingenuous Confession and if John Morse were Candid he would have laid the blame where it was proper and not have charg'd it upon the Light within And indeed if we Consider first that Christ's coming in the Doors being shut is not mentioned in that Scripture Luke 24.38 39. as cited by him but in Joh. 20.19 26. 2ly That he was not there without his Spirit 3ly Were it not unjust to say the Light in the Disciples grosly erred when they supposed they had seen a Spirit Luke 24.37 4ly That it was a Foolish and Unnecessary Question on his part 5ly That he took base Advantage of it 6ly That the Maid so particularly Clear'd the Light from leading her into any the least Mistake 7ly That I could ask him ten Questions for his one he put to her of the like abstruse and obscure Matters that I have cause to believe he is wholy ignorant of the Knowledge of them not necessary to Salvation I say considering these Particulars and that all arose from her loving Invitation of him to a Meeting I cannot see but he is far more Condemnable then the Maid and I believe the Light in every unprejudiced Conscience will say the same This was my Postscript to my Letter to him which ends these present Letters IT comes into my Mind to express thus much farther concerning the Lass that the Simplicity of her Answer is to be excused far sooner then thy Vn-Christian and Vn-Charitable Spirit that lay in wait to betray and if such watchings for Evil be uncondemned of thy Religion I pronounce it Anti-Christian and Devilish and that in the Name of the Lord And as for our Light thou shalt never be justified whilst that condemns thee and if it be insufficient as to thee it is because thou never yet didst give up thy self to the Holy Conduct thereof but unworthily disparages that which I can make appear thou livest not up to Repent therefore and be Baptized of Fire which consumes the Thorns and Briars with which you Water-Baptists scratch and rend at us and know a purging from dead Works in the Name of the Lord or thou and they of thy Spirit will be utterly lost in the day of the Lord. THE END Reader he is not ingenuous in his Account Spirit of Truth Vindicated pag. 21 22. His Charge * Whom thou hast deceitfully and obscurely indeavoured to Ensnare That is such as shut Believers from the Guidance of God's Spirit It is not theirs by the Adaption of believing Spir. of Truth Vindicat p. 71. Ezek. 18. Joh. 3. vers 16. Rom. 9. Chap. 5.2.3 Chap. 9.34

Plain-Dealing With a Traducing ANABAPTIST Or Three LETTERS VVrit upon occasion of some Slanderous Reflections given and promoted against William Penn by one John Morse Published for Common Benefit that all Impartial People may be better acquainted with the Invective Spirit of some so called and their ungodly fly way of Defaming such as dissent from them especially in their Restless Indeavours against the Poor QUAKERS By a Lover of Charity and Sincerity in all W.P. Printed in the Year 1672. Reader WIth what regret of spirit I behold the Controversies of our Time and how Unpleasant it is to me to be concern'd therein God he is Witness And I think it cannot reasonably be hard for any to believe me when meer Reputation would forbid a man to subject his Religion or Good Name to the Folly and Malice of every inconsiderable Wrangler But so intollerable are many Separatists and of them some Anabaptists in their Lyes Slanders Traducings and what not which may proceed from Wrath and Envy that lest some of the Dirt they throw should stick we are necessitated to that Defence we neither think the Truth otherwise wants nor our Adversaries could deserve at our hands and least of all the man concern'd in these Letters But we have the less reason I confess to expect good Quarter from him who denies it to his Church-Sister or doubt that he should slyly suggest Evil against us who basely goes to Law with her and that before those who by his own Principles he accounts Unblievers Only we cannot but think it a strange Use that these men make of Tolleration to persecute by Revilings those that have most suffered for want of it as if they would walk Antipodes to the Government For whilst that persecuted they seem'd to pitty us but now that tollerates they appear to envy us What do they think it a Blemish to Tolleration That any should be quiet but themselves and therefore will continue that as justifiable in them which they accounted condemnable in the Powers But this notably shows their spirit who thus adventure to persecute without Power Let who will believe they would not do it if they had power for my own part I declare my self none of that number and think it the best way both to wish and lawfully endeavour they may neuer have any to try Reader I have nothing farther to say in this Epistle but that the Person herein concern'd unworthily reflecting upon me for something in a Discourse I lately publisht against the close but faint Endeavours of a vizarded Socinian as that I was an Erroneous and Blasphemous Person terms the most hateful to a Christian Man I writ him as in Conscience oblieg'd a kind of Challenge to make it good which he vainly endeavour'd by his Answer as my Reply will further manifest Perhaps their Publication may be seasonable if not to some of their own way for which I greatly hope at least to others and I am confident to all who cordially love Truth Righteousness and Peace above charging God with Hardness and impeaching that People as Erroneous which most vigorously believe and assert the Universality of his Rectitude and Mercy W.P. John Morse UNderstanding that thou hast made use of my Name to so evil a purpose as to charge upon it Error if not Blasphemy upon occasion of a Book lately writ by me in Defence of the Light and Divinity of Christ and not being unwilling to have such Reflections past unexamin'd These are to let thee know that I expect thy Proof if any thou hast that if it be true I may take Shame to my self in the ingenuous Acknowledgment of my Fault or else that thou dost confess thou hast unworthily traduc'd me Rickmansworth the 25th of the 10th Moneth 1672. Great is the Truth and it shall prevail I am therein a Friend to thee and all men W.P. In Answer to which he sent me the following Letter so writ and phrais'd verbatim William Penn IN Answer to a Letter thee sents me I shall acquaint thee how I came to speak of thee and to have thy Book A Friend of thine came to invite me to a Meeting of yours I asked her What moved her to invite me She said the Light in her I asked her What that Light was She told me It was Christ and that the same Light was in me and in every Man and Woman and if obeyed by me was sufficient to save me I asked her What was that that came into the Room when the Disciples were met together the Doors being shut She told me It was a Spirit I asked her How she knew it was a Spirit she told me The Light Christ in her told her so I asked her Whether I should believe the Light she said was Christ or Christ's own words as thou mayst see in the 24th of Luke verse the 38 39. Christ said A Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as yo see me have I shewed to her how grosly the Light in her had erred therefore it could not be Christ for Christ cannot err I might be larger herein but shall forbear After this thy Friend brought me thy Book to read and when perused it returned it again and did say there was Error in it and that thou Contradicts thy self in that Book see page 21. where thou sayst That if God's Unerring Spirit only enables men to walk in his Statues and keep his Judgments to do them then since all are required to walk therein none are exempted from a sufficient measure of that Unerring Spirit in order to it And page 22. or thus If without having the Spirit none can have Prophesie and Vision and both to be and to continue in Christ's Church universally then it will naturally follow that she cannot be without that Unerring Spirit and that such as are cannot in that state be Members of the true Church then consequently thou sayst Hereticks Page 25. thou sayst The World cannot receive the Spirit of Truth Again Page 34. Jude 19 20. These be they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit First thou sayst no man is exempted from a sufficient measure of the Vnerring Spirit and after thou sayst Hereticks and Sensualists have it not nor the World cannot receive the Spirit this judge is Error and Contradicting of thy self See also page 71. where thou chargest God Foolishly compare Romans 9. verse the 17 18 19 20 21 22. Nay but O Man who art thou that replyest against God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus hath not the Potter power over the Clay of the same Lump to make one Vessel unto Honour and another unto Dishonour I hope these few Lines although brokenly pend may prevail with thee whereby thou mayst ingeniously acknowledge thy Error and God shall have the Glory Farewel Wattford the 4th of the 11th Moneth 1672. John Morse To which I make this Reply Rickmansworth the 9th of the 11th Moneth

1672. John Morse MY Religion teaches me no Respect to Persons nor Abilities and therefore I shall willingly Reply to thy Answer that yesterday came to my hand and if thou knew'st my other Occasions thou couldst not but esteem thy self indebted to my Charity for indeed I have no other inducement to send these Lines First then I take notice thou addressest thy self in the stile of a Quaker which for a man so averse from him as an Angry Anabaptist to do with me relishes either of Jeer or Hypocrisie unless thou hadst this Tenderness upon thee thou wouldst not offend me I hope the latter though a Mistake for I would have every thing appear in its proper Colours I love no Apes in Religion and desire that Foxes should appear in their own Skins and Lambs in theirs Next Thou givest me an account of a Passage that fell betwixt thee and one of Anne Stodard's Maids from whence thou collectest that great Error dwells in the Light I perceive how much more willing thou art the Light should be blamed then the Lass But what if so be that an Anabaptist should wickedly kill a man within an Hour after he had been Dipt would it be Reasonable Charitable or Christian to charge that upon his Renouncing the Church of England's Baptism as they call it and receiving of another Would it have been good Arguing That because some of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness Rebell'd against Moses injustly yet as a Tyrant pretending to a better way of Government more easie and just therefore the Spirit God had given them was Erroneous though it was truly grieved thereat If all the Quakers in England should utter the grossest Errors the Light wherewith Christ as the Word-God hath and doth enlightened ought not to be charged with such Defects but rather they for not bringing their Errors to the Light And I affirm There is no true knowing either of Evil or Good but in the Light wherewith Christ hath illuminated Mankind and if thou knowest any thing savingly it is thereby therefore kick not against it neither fling thy Cavils at it I Warn thee from the Lord for if thou seekest to pervert the Right Way of the Lord by thy Night-works against the Light it will certainly be one day thy very woful Condemnation That which concerns me is called First Error and Contradiction and Secondly Foolishly charging of God My Error and Contradiction is this That in one place I make all men to have a measure of the Spirit and in another I say That such as have it not are Hereticks concerning the Faith as also that I quote these Passages John 14.16 17 18 20. again 16.13 where Christ promiseth to send that Spirit which the World cannot receive also that of Jude Sensual not having the Spirit which thou judgest to be Error and Contradiction Did I not know thy Meaning I should take it for granted that what thou callest the Contradiction was also the Error namely That all had not the Spirit but understanding by thy second Carp the narrowness of thy Soul for it is Predestinarian I will take it for granted thou meanest quite contrary namely That God's Universal Love to Mankind is the horrible Blasphemy thou in Words I heard dost charge me with though thou art something more Modest in thy Letter by calling it a Foolish charging of God In short I Answer to this first Cavil In Page 21. It is a Consequent drawn from the place suited to my own Assertion In Pag. 22. it is a Consequent I make their Principle to speak that deny the Vniversality of the Light and Spirit In the one I say all are illuminated or have a measure of that Spirit because all are commanded to keep God's Statutes which it is impossible to do without such Divine Assistance In the other place I make the consequent to be that to be sure the Spirit is the Rule to Believers the thing chiefly aim'd at in the Question because without it there would be no Vision or Prophesie which some Professors confess are to endure till Christ's second Coming personally there by their own Principle they must be Hereticks concerning the true Faith But again it is not said that such Hereticks have not the Spirit at all because they have it not as their Rule For Having has a twofold use in Scripture the one as a Condemner in which sence none is at one time or an other without a Measure of the Divine Light and Spirit to reprove them and secondly the so having it as to enjoy and possess it as a Rule Guide and invisible Minister of Life Comfort and Refreshment in which sense the World has it not that is received it not as saith the Text yet the very next Chapter sayes That it should convince the World of sin A man may hear a Reproof and Instruction yet not follow it so that such as receive not the Spirit that strives with them may be truly said to be sensual not having the Spirit because they receive it not to the ends for which it was or is sent I hope then I shall not be longer charged with Error or Contradiction in this particular The second Part of the Charge is That I should foolishly Charge God which more hiddenly I hear has been styl'd Blasphemy Let us hear my Book speak God Requires all Men strictly to serve and obey him and to work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling or else their End shall be Destruction But this the Almighty with reverence I say it could not justly do unless the Light with which he enlightens Men were Sufficient and Saving I own the Words expresly and will abide their Defence before Men and Angels and before I have done I hope Blasphemy shall not lie at my Door in the sense of every Man that is not principled to make God an hard Master First I say That it is inconsistent with the Rectitude of God's Nature to esteem that naturally Just in himself to Man which by his Law written in the Hearts of all Men is adjudg'd most Unreasonable Cruel and Unjust among Men for since whatever is Holy Good and Upright is deriv'd to us from God and that we are to be Perfect as our Heavenly Father is Perfect it is utterly Impossible that He should be Just in that which is most Unjust in Man For instance That it cannot be consistent with the Nature of God that He should damn any Man for not improving a Talent He never gave him Because a Man commanding his Servant to go so many Miles within such a set time upon pain of Death on foot whilst he either fetters him in a dark Celler or cuts of his Legs is Cruel Injust and Impious Secondly This Doctrine makes God Partial which is Infirmity at best in a Man nay it makes him the worst of Dissemblers which my Soul loathes to think and my Hand almost trembles to write For to what purpose does

he invite saying He delights not in the Damnation of Sinners but rather that they should Repent and yet never gives them any ability whereby to do it Nay if thy Principle may be credited has taken Order by an Eternal provision of Decree that they should not What an Affront nay down-right Lye doth this Doctrine opposit to what I asserted give to the Scriptures which testifie God so loved the World as to give and send his Son that such as believed might have Life and yet from Eternity to provide by Decree that perhaps Nine parts of Ten in the World should have no Light or Spirit to assist them but whether they did well of ill should inevitably be damned though God declares himself to be a Rewarder of Men according to their Faith and Works not according to such De 〈…〉 rees O Barbarous Cruelty and most aggravated Injustice What! tell Men that if they believe they shall be saved and yet hinder them from believing for if the Reprobate should believe God's Decree as they call it would be broak which is impossible Again Warn Men of Damnation professing no delight in their Destruction and for fear they should repent and be saved determine by an irrevocable Decree that they should be damn'd O vile hiddious and Blasphemous Doctrine It renders the most merciful and Just God most cruel and unjust and also turns the Reins upon the Necks of people to commit what they will for indeed who would be bounded that stands upon so good or bad terms as an immutable Decree This Doctrine may perhaps a little influence such affectionate Minds as conceive themselves interested in that Electionated Love of God But do not the most of those who believe it Buoy up themselves above the daily Cross and so live above the holy Chastisements of God for Sin because of this sure Bottom as they vainly imagine it whilst the generality are so far from being reclaim'd who know themselves to be Prodigals that being discourag'd through such a kind of Predestination they quit all hope of returning for Mercy whose ends must needs be Destruction O merciless Faith O injurious Assertion both to God and Men Let my Soul forever beware of such Impiety But because thou seemst to charge the Scripture with having lead thee into this Foolish Charging of God I shall observe thy Quotation of 17 18 19 20 21 22. of the 9th Chapter to the Romans The Apostle begins this Chapter or else they that divided his Epistle into Chapters made it to begin with his great sorrow for his Country-men the Jews He enumerates their Priviledges and could wish himself accurst for their sake yet whilst he lamented that they to whom were the Couenants Glory Adoption and whose were the Fathers and of whom Christ himself came after the Flesh being of the Seed of Abraham should thus barr themselves out of Christ's Kingdom and not be of the true Israel and Circumcision in Spirit read vers 6. So that the being of the Seed of Abraham after the Flesh or Isaac or any other man never so righteous rendered them not Children of Promise albeit it be said in Isaac shall thy Seed be called for then would all Isaac's Seed have belonged to the Promise which in Esau was not verifi'd as testifies this very Scripture Neither because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all Children but in Isaac shall they Seed be called What is this Isaac and what is this Calling that is saith the Apostle They which are Children of the Flesh these are not the Children of God that is They that are carnally descended are not the Seed Isaac is understood mystically as shewing forth One conceived by the extraordinary Power of God in whom all Nations should be blessed with Freedom and Adoption as they come to believe and obey wherefore adds the Apostle The Children of the Promise are counted for the Seed who are they the Jews Inward and the Circumcision in Heart So that here is only the Election of the true Seed mystical Isaac or Isaac in Spirit such as through Repentance Faith and good Works come to be translated into the pure Nature thereof who have been refined in the Refiners Fire purged and clensed and so made chosen Vessels of Honour which Word Chosen or Choice signifies a thing more precious then ordinary and therefore Elected So on the contrary hand when men have sinned away their first Stock God is not bound to recruit them again He may proceed to determinative Judgement if he please Here it is that he will have Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and whom he will he hardeneth And though Pharoah that wicked King was at last hardened by the Lord yet if the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and 9 th Chapters of Exodus be but read it will appear first that God did not harden Pharaoh before Pharaoh had grievously imbondaged Israel rejected his Counsel despised his Visitations and so hardened his own Heart and who with an audacious Contempt asked Moses Who is the Lord that I should obey his Voice c Secondly That God's raising him up was not from an innocent Child to be a wicked King as if God had infused a Cruel and Wicked Quality into his Heart O God forbid But he suffered him not to be quite wasted with the many Judgments that God brought upon him for his Rebellion who after every Judgment still encreased in his Wickedness but raised yet him up again that he might renown his Name and proclaim his Great Power as well to punish obdurate Sinners as ransom his own People Thus God indured this Vessel of Wrath to make his Wonders known So what if God did give over Jerusalem and her Children to Destruction who resisted the Heavenly Invitations of his Son and rather chose the Gentiles Who could impeach him had he not waited long Which of the Prophets had they not slain and did they not cry of Jesus himself Let his Blood be upon our Heads c Wherefore if God would harden them he might since here he might have Mercy on whom he pleas'd to have Mercy and whom he would of such Impenitents he might harden In short Alan was made a chosen Vessel a right Plant but through Degeneration he became a Vessel of Dishonour and a Plant of a strange Vine Those therefore who are Regenerated by the One holy Seed which Seed is Christ Elect and Precious God makes his Vessels of Honour forever and they who have spent their Heavenly Portion defil'd themselves resisted the Heavenly Invitations and are become one Spirit with the God of the World who rules in the Hearts of the Children of Disobedience such Adulterated ones God separates from him as Vessels of Dishonour and Wrath fitted for Destruction but by themselves not from the Lord. Thus much briefly at this time as to the Doctrine of Predestination as it is destructively and extravagantly believed by too many Professors of Religion