hath not received the spirit nor the power which the Scriptures declare of such wrangles and contends with the words and opposes the life and the power the Jews had the Scriptures and knew by them where Christ should be born and knew by them what his works should be when he was manifest and yet rejected him unto whom all the Prophets bore witness from Moses to Samuel and from him to John and they were never intended by God as to be set up as Judge and Guide to wit the words without the power and Spirit of God yet notwithstanding though I cannot set them up in the place of God and Christ and the Spirit nor contend ignorantly as some have done that they are the author of true faith and that they are the eternal word of God which the world was made by that they are the light and the way the truth and the life and that they are the desider of all Controversies and sole and absolute and only Judge of all matters of faith and of all matters that ever hath been or ever shall be in controversie to the end of the World without the spirit of God neither am I of that ignorant mind as some are that the Letter and the Spirit is unseparable as that whosoever hath the Scripture must needs have the Spirit or whosoever hath the Scripture must needs be infallible without the Spirit all that are of the aforesaid Judgment are but wranglers for the most part about words and contenders against the power of God and godliness and brings the words to oppose the life and them that have the spirit and walk in it for a Natural man may read the Scriptures and yet not perceive the things of God neither perceive the mind of the spirit but wrest to their own destruction as Peter saith because they are unlearned untaught by the spirits teaching though otherwise learned enough in Languages Tongues and Speeches Secondly Yet I cannot detract from them neither undervalue them or disesteem them as uncertain or of no use or of little use but what ever themselves declare themselves to be that I own them to be to wit the Words of God the words of Christ the words of the holy Prophets and Patriarkes and Apostles who were endued with the Holy Ghost and spake forth the Scripture as they were moved thereby in several ages of several things and unto several states and conditions as they were led thereunto by the holy Spirit and they are a certain declaration of things that were done and believed and practised by the Jewes under the first Covenant and by the Apostles and Primitive Christians in the New Covenant and contain many precious and holy precepts and commands doctrines examples exhortations admonisions reproofs and instructions and are as lively examples and holy patterns for all the Saints in light to follow by which we are given to understand what Faith what Hope what Patience what Love what mercy what long sufferings what consolation and what vertue and what inheritance the Saints in light were made pertakers of through faith in Christ Jesus Likewise what Doctrines were held forth and what practice they used in the Primitive times when they walked in the order of the Gospel and had fellowship with God the Father and the Son and one with another in the light of the Gospel which is the power of God through which they witnessed Salvation and remission of sins and published it unto others that they might believe Thirdly The Scriptures testifies of Christ and were written that they might be believed and received and read that there by every one that believed might be made wise to Salvation through faith in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3. and instructed in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished with all good works and whosoever doth teach any Doctrines contrary unto the holy Men of God who spake as they were moved by the spirit of God which dwelt in them the Scriptures are witnesses against such that they have not the Spirit of God but are led by another spirit which brings forth contrary Doctrine and another faith then once was delivered among the Saints and whosoever brings in sets up other precepts constitutions orders and practices in point of Worships in opposition and contrary unto those practices which were held forth in the Primitive times and would set up other Traditions then the Apostles delivered either by word or writing such are manifest to have the spirit of error and are innovaters and bringers in of other things as necessary in point of Worship among Christians which the Apostles and Ministers of Christ did not see necessary then and yet they wanted no part of the Councel of God for Paul said he had declared the whole Councel of God and further more they said we have the mind of Christ and Christs mind is not variable Fourthly Though divers of the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles be lost doubtless as is evident by divers places of Scripture yet blessed be God that there are those preserved which do bear witness of the one thing absolutely necessary unto Salvation and of the Ministrations that were appointed of the Lord for the Church of God to observe both in the first and second Covenants so that Christians of this last age are not left without example and president which all ought to have an eye unto and a diligent regard and though there be divers Coppies of that which is called the Original Tongues and divers Translations yet he unto whom the Spirit of God is given and waiteth in the measure of Christs Light shall receive it doth see and shall see the mind and will of God in every age and the mind and intent of the spirit in them that spoke forth the Scripture and can receive the matter therein contained as though they had heard them speak that spoke it at the first and though the Translaters were Men yet I have such an honourable esteem of their labour that I believe they have not varied wittingly and willingly from the best Coppies that was extant in their age neither that they were altogether void of the Spirit of God in such a good work which conduced to the benefit of Mankind but were assisted by it for so good a work and there be many figures and trophes improprieties of speech mysteries and difficulties yet all these comes to be made easie and plain to them that are witnesses of the same spirit that gave them forth and though there be deversity of judgments and professions of Religion one clashing again another and thwarting another and contradicting another and all will seem to bring the Scripture for their proofe which yet canuot maintain and prove every thing good especially when their Doctrines contradict one another This is granted it is only their private interpretation and not the Scripture and for want of that Spirit that gave it forth for that alone gives the true
own profit and their own bellies who mingled their own Inventions and traditions with the Doctrine of Christ and brought the Scripture for a Cloak and the Apostles practice for a president and could say falsly as the Apostles said in the truth It seems good to us and the Holy Ghost that these our Decrees be observed for God hath placed us as Judges and directers as them that are appointed of God himself To which all Christians are to submit and none to question and if any do question or will not obey it is the Kings and Princes duty in every Country to cause all to submit to these our Decrees and orders or else to be punished as Hereticks with death for we are the Apostles successors and we are the elders of the Church and we have the infallible Spirit and though we make Decrees contrary to what the Apostles made in their day yet none is to question that the Church was but in its Infancy then as unwasht and unswadled and in Persecution but now she is grown up to a greater stature and power and indowed with greater privilege and that may be necessary now that was not necessary then and last of all called themselves the Clergie which signifies the Heritage of God and so excluded all others but themselves And these things are true and certain and have been made good by many sufferers for Christ and this kind of Clergie or Heritage made the Heritage of God indeed to fly into the Wilderness who had the infallible spirit and the witnesses to prophesie in sackcloath and then Mystery Babylon began to sit a Queen and to gild her Cup and to fill it full of abomination and brought in Judaisme and the practise of the Apostles and their own Inventions and patched up an endless kind of worship and service consisting of out-side things in a great part in postures and gestures and meates and drinks and dayes and times and vestures and Bonnets and Caps and Coules and such other like trumpery which they made the Nations drunk with and greedy after and if any scrupled at any of those things or any other the Holy Catholick Church hath decreed it and she cannot erre for she is infallible though the errors thereof cannot be numbered and this R. E. thou rests satisfied in as thy only rule and judge and director and thou hangs all thy faith here and saith thou shall not scruple to believe what authority teacheth thee to be revealed by God no more then if thou heard God himself speaking I say unto thee as the Apostle said the Serpent hath beguiled thee as it beguiled Eve and further say as the Prophet said thou must arise and get thee hence for this is not the rest for thou wilt see thy self plunged into such a layborinth of uncertainties as thou never was before if the Lord ever open thy eye And R. E. gives an account that after his reading of some contravertal Books hath made some Collections as to himself and also declares that all dissenting judgments grants there must be a way and a rule appointed to teach us to deside all doubts to judge of all matters and to teach us the true way to Heaven with certainty but who this rule or judge is is not agreed upon by all which he hath collected into four heads First some sets up the spirit to direct them and to be this means Secondly another will have every mans own natural reason to be this rule and judg Thirdly others will set up sole Scripture and the fourth assignes the Holy Catholick Church to be that Judge and Directer Other then these he saith he never heard of any for he saith he always esteemed the Quakers Light to be either the Spirit or Natural reason but which R. E. doth not know and all the four before mentioned he saith he hath examined and treateth largely upon them all wherein he goeth about and giveth grounds and divers reason and divers Iuterpretations of Scriptures he layes wast all the former three and establisheth as he thinks the fourth as to be that way and rule and Judge and governing power to deside all doubts as that whereby all are obliged to submit unto as to Christ himself and this was that question which he was to gain satisfaction in and therefore he saith he ceased to enquire of their Doctrine or this or that article of faith and hang altogether upon this point before mentioned Answ. 'T is true it is granted by all that there must be a way and a rule as the means appointed of God to answer all doubts and to give satisfaction to every man of the certainty of that which he believes and who this way and judge and rule is every one ought to be satisfied and the four heads into which thou hath collected the whole Controversie of all dissenting Judgments in Christianity takes up the whole as to this particular which have ordinarily been holden forth among Christians But I judge thou dealt not wisely in thy Inquisition and search for satisfaction to hing all on this pin but rather to have examined further as concerning matter of Doctrine and matters of Faith held forth most especially of this party to whom thou was so much inclined and see how thou could have swallowed down that Doctrine of Purgatory and sacrifice for the Dead and Justification by a Man 's own works and of Bread and Wine after the words of Consecration by the Priest is Transubstantiated into the very body and blood of Christ and becomes whole God their Saviour and Redeemer for these are principal things either greatly necessary to Salvation or greatly unnecessary and when thou had tryed and found these to be so repugnant unto the Doctrine and faith once delivered among the Saints in the first Plantation of the Gospel this might have put a stop unto thee that thou could not so easily close with their judgment and pretended infallibility who pretends to be only guids and yet leads into the greatest errors in matters of greatest moment But as to the four particulars mentioned I shall not stand to trouble either my self or the Reader as to speak much what of that which is no part of my faith or judgment but only to vindicate the truth against the many false conceptions of changable men And first of all R. E. begins to treat of the spirit and perverts the Scripture at his first on-set and saith as touching the spirit bearing witness in secret with our spirits or as he saith in plainer terms the private spirit this saith R. E. I considered could not be the means to convey faith unto the World nor the rule guide or judge which I enquired after nor indeed the true spirit of God which he promised to his Apostles Secondly Those who pretend this guidance do not believe God but themselves only and their own perswasions which tell them they have the spirit of God but they can give no other account but they
all the Saints and would teach all Infidels to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live godly and righteously and soberly in this present evil world Howbeit all are not so taught because they heed it not and because they receive it not and so they make the free gift of God of no effect as to life to them but it is their condemnation yet however herein appears the equal merciful and universal love of God who is no respecter of persons but hath distributed a measure of this unto all to the intent that they might have power to fulfill his will and keep his Statutes and so the fault is not in God but in them who slight and dispise his gift and so condemnation is just of every one that doth not believe and is of himself and this reprehends that false erronious narrow pinching spirit which would shut it up in a corner and tye it to one sort of Men or Sect or opinion and the masters thereof would assume it to themselves as though the Spirit of God and Grace of God were only among them and must be conveyed from them to other people before they have it and the direction and guide of every man must be sought from their mouths as though God had not given a measure of his Spirit unto every man to profit withal and to be led and taught and guided by it into all truth out of error according to Christs promise and according to the Lords promise in the days of old that though his people might eat the bread of adversity and drink the water of affliction yet their teacher should not be removed into a corner and from this quieking enlightening enlivening spirit of God the Saints of God and Ministers of Christ in the Primitive times received power and authority to propagate Righteousness and to judge deceit and the mystery of Iniquity where ever it appeared and in this their ability stood for they were made able and fit Ministers by it not of the Letter nor of Mens traditions nor of foolish fopperies which hath been introduced since and shuffled in among Christians under the name of power and authority of the holy Church and the Church of God that had received this spirit walked in it and brought forth the fruits of it whereby they were a good savour in the nostrils of the Lord and by which they adorned the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by a holy Conversation which did manifest them to be of God and convince and stop the mouths of gain-sayers And thus we are bold to tell thee all that the Spirit of God which is given a measure of it to every man and more fulness of it to them that believe that it is the rule and the way and the means whereby all the actions words and works of all Men are weighed tryed measured and judged and Objections answered and is the alone Judge of all matters and answerer of all doubts and giveth only true and perfect satisfaction and therefore R. E. may blush and be ashamed to ever publish such a thing abroad in the World as to say that the Spirit of God is not a sufficient directer teacher and Judge but calls it a private spirit opinion humour and fancy to make the eyes of them blind who wait for its appearance only to trust to Men who pleads antiquity and power without verity And further he goes on and sayes in 22 th page of his said Epistle There is neither Jew Turk Pagan or Christian but he may put on confidence enough affirming that he is taught by the spirit of God many of all sorts doth this and yet teach contradictions and further saith that it hath no effect among them who pretend to it and that they can no more satisfie another that they are guided by the spirit of truth then many who are cast into Bedlam Answ. 'T is true many are confident and impudent enough but confidence without ground and impudence proves but little and he that saith he is a Jew and is not but of the Synagogue of Satan will soon be found out by his Doctrine and fruits and he that saith he is a Christian and led by the Spirit and keeps not the commands of Christ neither brings forth the fruits of the spirit is soon discovered to be a deceiver and deceived and such are like to teach contradictions but all such are denyed shut out with the spirit of truth but them that have the spirit of God witness a blessed effect among them for they are turned from Satans power unto God and doth witness remission of sin and reconciliation with God and are not at difference but at unity one with another and are brought out of the obstinate and perverse estate which all pretenders are in and as for contradictions they are more to be seen in the Church of Rome then many wheres else they who are but pleased and hath leisure to view over the Decrees and Constitutions of several Popes and Councils since he was elevated to be Universal Bishop over all Christian Churches by that heathen and cruel Emperour Phocus who slew his Master Mauritius to obtain the Empire he did gratifie the Pope so far that he might be cryed up as Emperour as that he should be Vniversal Bishop and this proved a better plea for the Pope because the Emperour had power to defend him and to compell all to receive his Decrees then that he was Peters Successor I say who will but look into the Constitutions and Decrees shall find such seting up and throwing down and such decreeing and such disanulling as twenty such Champions as Robert Everard will never be able to free his Catholick Church from contradictions although he is very forward to charge others though he is but a new Convert but let him not boast till he have put off his armour and it is that mad Bedlam spirit of thine that saith that among all the Nonconformists there is no one that can satisfie another that he hath the spirit of God I tell thee yes there are thousands satisfied in one another that they have the spirit of God besides he that hath it can speak to the witness of God in another which shall testifie the same and moreover their works and fruits shall and doth manifest unto others that they are born of the spirit because the fruits of it are seen as they are manifest to be born of God that do the works of God and thou must first know the spirit of God in thy self if ever thou look for it there and not hang all together upon others belief as thou doth upon thy Catholick Church before thou can know it in another and first be convinced by it and judged by it for thy ill deeds and ill thoughts and hypocrisie and time-serving and flattery and men pleasing before thou can be convinced of others Righteousness and also be convinced of the unbelief of thy own heart before thou can
believe others but thou hath been so busie abroad in quareling and contending about words and names and empty shews without substance and life that thy mind is all over grown with thorns and briers scrawling and scratching and entangling thy self and others so that that which should savour the things of God is over grown in these and it s buried and to them that are like heaths in a desart knows not when good comes neither doth know what they enjoy that dwell in the fat Vallies and the Pharisees had such unbelieving hearts though Christ was the express Image of God and did the works that never man did yet being without faith and without reason they said he was a Blasphemer and all his works was done by Belzebub and would never be convinced that any thing he did was of God and that spirit is near thee which would represent the fruits of the Spirit to be delusion and them that bring them forth like them in Bedlam and what though Turks Jews Pagans Mahomet and the false Christians do pretend to the spirit and guidance by it and yet bring forth the fruits of the flesh doth this make the spirit of God void or the certainty of it to them that believe or do make their fruits of none effect God forbid thy ignorance is manifest but here thou ceases not thy tongue being thy own and thou being at liberty and speaks thy own words which in the end shall become thy burden Thou vapours and vaunts over them to wit all the Nonconformists and saith what can you say for your selves any of you which these Enthusiasts who have gone before you to maintain their errors but the rule and judge and then thou concludes that which God hath appointed to be rule and judge to all the world and capable of being known and heard by all and cannot contradict it self nor must be contradicted by any under pain of damnation if you cannot shew it to have been your rule you ought to lay aside your folly as destructive to humane society and them that hath pretended the spirit the strongest party and sword upon the vote will prove it self the most convincing spirit and force the weaker spirits to submit or cry for thou concludes the Nonconformists have no other Testimony to try your contradicting spirits in matters of greatest moment but force and success if you have I pray you inform me what it is Ans. If the wind had not turned into another door divers Nonconformists believes we should have had another song from thee if time had but favoured thee so far as to have granted thee the privilege of thy Troop to be Captain which name thou holds up yet i' th pride of thy heart though thou have lost thy force success and pay which was the greatest plea when time was with thee and not long since too which makes thee measure every Man's foot by thy Last and thou might have received information before thou had made a conclusion had been the part of a wise man before thou had set thy self as Judge over all thy former fellowships which thou fainedly pretends so great love to and before thou had discovered their nakedness if it be nakedness to all the world in such a publick insulting bravado as this like Goliah of Gath and as for what some Nonconformists both to the Church of Rome and to the Church of England too which thou creeping and sneakingly flatters and saith its established and therefore thou will not meddle thou might have said dare not for thy spirit is well enough seen by them only to have the spirit of a slave and not a free member of the true Church of God and it s no part of vertue nor honour for thee to insult and glory over them who are in suffering and adversity when as thou dare not meddle with them who are as contrary to thee as the former this is but the spirit of a Coward and is ignoble and base and ever so to be accounted by all the Children of Light who dare put all to venture which they do enjoy on this side of Immortality and to suffer the loss of all visible things for their Testimony and the truth which they believe and for bearing witness against that which is contrary unto their faith as did the valiant Primitive Christians of old and that which some Nonconformists can say is more then thou can believe although demonstrated in the evidence of the spirit of God with sound reason and evident example from the Scriptures of truth and though thou and thy former fellowships then and thy new fellowships now have made this vapour which for ought I know might lay your hands upon your mouths all considering what contradictory Doctrines and fruits hath been brought forth since the night of Apostacy entered in and all the World wondered after the Beast some hath this to say he that pretends to the Spirit and the thing cometh not to pass that they speak or prophesie let him be accounted a false Prophet again they that pretend guidance of the spirit as some formerly have done and yet bring forth the fruits of the flesh as variance hatred emulation strife contention heresie false Doctrine persecution force and violence let them he counted as truly they are deceivers and deluders which have gone out into the world and deceived a great part of Mankind of which Rome hath not had the least share clear it when thou can Moreover he that pretends to have the spirit of God and layes down another foundation to build upon in matter of Faith in matter of Rule in matter of Judgment in matter of Doctrine then that which the Lord of Life and Glory hath laid down he is a Deceiver and an Antichrist but R. E. hath laid down another rule another way another Judge another foundation for Faith and let himself make the Conclusion if he once dare joyne to true Judgment other Foundation can none lay then that which is already laid to wit Christ Jesus the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and of the Church of God by which they were all builded up as a holy Habitation for God to dwell in through the spirit Again the Apostle saith All Judgment is committed to the Son both in Heaven and Earth and again he saith himself I am the Way the Truth and the Life and none can come to the Father but by me and again the Spirit of Truth shall lead and direct his Disciples into all truth and sealeth unto them their Justification Redemption and Salvation And this R. E. would lay all wast and void and why because many hath pretended to it and hath fallen short therefore all the aforesaid things must be laid aside as uncertain and not to be trusted unto and a certain sort of Men called the Apostles Successors who have sought their gain and worldly Interest and to enlarge their Dominions and to make themselves Lords over Mens faith and over Mens
And as for all thy Collections out of the Prophets of the promise of God to his Church Isaiah 54. and 56. and of its indowments and glory and excellency and of his puting his spirit in them and of his word in their mouthes and that it should not depart from the seed nor the seeds seed for ever this is granted and the promise is not to Men as Men but to the seed which is not many but one but Israel was this true Church then in the time of this Prophesie though it have relation to future ages also and if R. E. looks that this promise should be to Israel after the flesh the Church then visible and in being he mistakes himself and he egragiously errs and contradicts the Scripture in sundry places which saith your house is left unto you desolate their Sacrifices ceased the Glory of God departed from them their Prophets prophesied a divination of their own brain and their visions were as visions of the night and the Lord spake not to the most of them yet they said falsly thus saith the Lord in their revolted estate for they were erred from the spirit and gone from the seed and joyned to another seed and their holy flesh was departed from them though as men they had the same flesh still go learn what that means and yet notwithstanding all this the promise of God was not violated neither unfulfilled on Gods part for the promise was not then neither now is to Natural Generations or that which is born after the flesh or to men as men and Creatures but as they are the seed and as they are Men of God and as they are born again and new Creatures and if thou will have an intailing here it is intailed which cannot be cut off for the Covenant stands not to Men in such a place that carries the name of Office or Authority but as they are led by the Spirit the infallible Judge rule or guide as they walk by this and in this they cannot err and they erring from this they are subject to be deceived and to be mistaken in all things and every thing of which there is evident examples in the Scriptures of truth in divers ages of them that professed themselves members of the Church of God and so visible as R. E. speaks of yea and the greater part too that have erred and their paths hath been reckoned by the Lord as crooked and perverse and their Habitants full of cruelty and this is given for an instance the visible Church of the Jewes did err and go aside notwithstanding all the promise of God to them and as they looked that it still belonged to them because they were invisible profession though they had turned their backs upon the Lord and their hearts too and violated his Covenant yet still as I said the promise of God and the Covenant of God is not made of none effect nor broken on Gods part but stands with the seed for ever who are circumcised in heart and who worshipes God in spirit and truth and in uprightness of heart and hath no confidence in the flesh nor fleshly privileges nor external performances but only trusts unto the gift of Righteousness manifest in them by which Justification comes upon all that believes and the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ and the fulness of the promise of God but these things I know though they be holy faithful and true are a sealed Book and hid from all eyes living in the flesh who hath not been baptised into the death and suffering of Christ. Fourthly That Christ by his own mouth and the mouthes of the Apostles did promise that there should be a Church which the Gates of Hell should not prevail against and this Church was established upon the Everlasting Foundation and the Rock of Ages and was indued with power from an high and with a great measure of the spirit of God according unto Christ's promise which more plentifully was poured forth after Christs departure and after his Ascension and great gifts were given unto them the word of Knowledge the word of Wisdom the Interpretation of Tongues the gift of Tongues the gift of Prophesie the gift of discerning Spirits healing the sick working of Miracles c. and all these foresaid gifts were given for the work of the Ministry for the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and unto a perfect man and to the measure and stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes. 4. 11 12 13. And all these were instrumental through the Spirit of God which was with them and in them the only means to bear witness unto those things that they had learned and believed and to publish the word of faith abroad unto the World and for all these aforesaid ends above mentioned which though R. E. and his Catholicks will need lay claim to the succession by way of office yet by their Doctrine denies in part the very end wherefore such gifts were given to wit the Doctrine of Purgatory for if they did perfect the Saints or were brought up to the knowledge of the Son of God and to perfect men in Christ Jesus and to be without sin what need had there been of raising up this damnable Doctrine out of the pit to purge from sin after they be dead seeing they were to be perfect men while they were alive and the Ministry was given for this end but yours it seems cannot have these effects on this side of the Grave and therefore they must perfect them in the grave and so be Ministers in another World And this Church thus gathered and endued before mentioned with the infallible Spirit of God if any that did sometime believe and were joyned unto it did walk disorderly as not becoming the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ they were to be admonished and exhorted and if they persisted in their disorder it was to be told to the Church or the whole body and if such a one would not hear the Church he was to be reckoned as a Publican or a Heathen and to be denyed as to have any fellowship with him till manifest repentance was shewn but we never read that this Church did shed any mans blood or burn any or give consent to destroy any instance if thou can though obstinate and Hereticks too and in this amongst many other things the spirit of your Church is seen to be contrary to the Primitive Church and you out of Christs Doctrine but R. E. argues further and saith but if Christ by his Spirit doth not preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching error instead of truth I may receive such errors as may damn me unto which I say Christ by his spirit doth preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching error if they continue in the guidance thereof and err not
in himself that his reasons or arguments should be of that weight to convince or convert any seeing he hath rendered himself and they that knows him can testifie he hath always been a changable man and unstablt in all his ways tossed up and down like the Waves of the Sea and now at last fallen into the black gulf of darkness but it seems by his own writing in his Epistle that it hath been his former method being filled with a scribling humour in the days of his ignorance as he saith when the vail of pride and folly hung between his eyes which appears to hang there yet for any thing I can see having condemned himself and also repented as he saith for being in the head of a Troop of the rebellious Army a Captain and yet after Conversion and illumination and repentance as he saith subscribes himself Captain Robert Everard argues both pride and folly and gives but a small shew of repentance but rather argues fanedness and flattery and him to be a time-server and a man-pleaser And whether he intend by his Epistle to all the Non-conformists to the Church of England or all the Non-conformists to the Church of Rome is doubtfull for then the Church of England hath to conform in part as well as others though I believe the Church of Rome will claim a good part of her Discipline to be theirs only it wants the formality of Language something might largely be spoken as in return of answer to the things contained in the said Book but that it may be supposed some of those people with whom he hath formerly conversed which he now calumnates with notorious error will not receive his Epistle as an infallible and Heavenly Oracle but rather will return him some publick answer for the vindicating of their own Principles and also shewing him his weakness how soon he was turned aside with and for a thing of nought and also that he should be so bold as to turn in a moment their Instructer and Teacher when he hath but newly learned within a year or two the Principles of his own Religion which he saith he adores God in and so is but a novis and unskilfull in the word of righteousness though his web be very long of Linsie Woolsie and his words be many which will pass away as wind and have small effect I hope of gaining many Proselites to be Members of that visible Church which hath ruled over Nations Kindred and Tongues which are the Waters upon which the great Whore sits I take my self little concerned or that people with whom I am joyned in the fellowship of the Gospel of Christ Jesus who are Non-conformsts to the World and ever resolves to be according to the Apostles Doctrine and to all Hypocrites and Time-servers and them that serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies of which this Generation is full who will transgress fon a morsell of Bread and conform to any thing and every thing for the smiles of the World ease and liberty in the flesh but the followers of Christ-hath not so learned Christ for who so will raign with him must suffer with him Neither should I have said much if the quarrel had been personal or about some circumstantial matters which a Man may be with and without and they neither add to nor diminish from his goodness and vertue but seeing it is a quarrel not only against us that are alive but against the faithful sufferers who laid down their lives in flames of Fire and the very Foundation of God which is the most sure thing is struck at and the spirit of God turned out of doores in regard of its office of certainty and infallibility and the Scriptures of truth laid aside as an insufficient thing except the Interpretations of Men be added to it for its authority and the constitutions of fallible and erring Men set up for rules and Men as Men set up as Law-givers and Judges over Mens Conscientes and Lords over Faith and to be the most certain thing for any Christian Man to rely upon and to believe as the old phrase is as the Church believes to pin ones faith upon others sleeves and to hang ones hope of anothers shoulders to put ones eye out that God hath given them to see with and then see by anothers may be led into any hole or ditch and this to be published with such confidence as the only infallible guide to which all Christians are to submit world make a Man half dumb to speak and stammer forth some thing as a testimony against such palpable error and manifest darkness put off with such confidence and usher'd in among Christians in such an age as this when Light and life is broken forth as a morning without Cloudes in Goshen where Israel the true Seed Inhabits I could not but say something in vindication of that certain sure everlasting truth which the Devil is out of by which the Saints are made free indeed in their inward man from sin and Non-conformists to the World its error wayes and worship and also to shew the mistakes of the Author and how easily he hath been drawn aside to lean upon a broken Read all his particulars which are of any weight or moment shall be considered and weighed in the righteous Ballance of equity and answered in their due place for the confirmation of them that do believe and for removing the stumbling blocks out of the way of them that doubt or stagger least they fall in such dark Pits as these viz. as to deny the spirit of God to be a sufficient guide and take away its infallibility and place it in Men that have erred do erre and may erre and call them the only sure infallible guide for all Christian men to follow But to speak something to the seeming weighty matter which weighed down R. E. his Judgment and cast the Scales so far as that all his hope faith foundation religion was weighed down at one draught and by such feeble things as put him to silence which he heard from his Laycatholick as he cals him argues a very weak a poor foundation a sandy which was so soon driven away but one thing is to be minded because he hath minded it himself of his Conversion as to matter of time this Conversion hath happened to fall out since the happy Restauration of our Gracious Soveraign to his Crown and Dignity as he saith this to some will render his Conversion somewhat suspicious whether he name this time as only accidental or the Restauration of the King the cause somewhat of his Conversion I shall not determine but however he having been behind before in Conformity resolved to make a good step to before the next time to avoid suffering loss and reproach But to speak a little as to the Discourse which R. E. hath published as the weighty matter whereby he was convinced their Judgments now it seems becoming
one the Lay Gentleman he mentions and himself speaking to one speaks to both First Whether that any can be certain that the Christians in general is more true then the Turkes Jewes or any other and whether any can be infallibly assured of this that it is not possible for one to be mistaken in this and again the answer amounting to no more then this you conceive you are in the right you hope and believe you are not mistaken but it is possible you may be mistaken in this for every Man is a Lyer and every Man and all Men and every Church is fallible and subject to error and with these and the like words R. E. was extreamly troubled as he saith and knew not how to answer without shuffling Answer The true Christian Religion stands not only in name nor in words nor in conforming or transforming to this or that outward practice which the Disciples of Christ were exercised in which divers in the latter days in their old corrupt minds not having their hearts renewed have taken on the outside and have got the form and wants the life and the power and are not partakers of the Divine nature of Christ and such a bare profession as this has no certainty nor infallibility in it neither the assurance but that they may be mistaken and may be subject to err as well as Turkes or Jewes or any other but the true Christian Religion indeed whom Christ will own as true Worshippers of Him stands in power in life and in being obedient unto his living commands and precepts which he giveth forth unto his Disciples and manifesteth by his Spirit his Sheep hear his voice and know it from the voice of a stranger And he giveth the knowledge of his will to all that believe in the measure of his eternal Spirit which he hath given every one a measure of to profit withal and by it to be guided into all truth out of all error and this Spirit is infallible and gives certain assurance to all that receive it that they are in that way which is acceptable to God and they feel comfort unto their souls coming daily from the presence of Christ who is the Rock of Ages and the sure foundation upon which his holy Church is founded which is the pillar and ground of truth and they that are living members are not grounded upon a fallible certainty or upon a conjectural supposition or a vain hope which is without bottom but upon that which is sure and stedfast lasting and everlasting and all men in the unregenerate estate are lyers but they that are born from above are of the truth and lie not and are not subject to mistakes because the seed remains in them and walkes in the pure Religion which keeps unspoted of the World and they that have no other ground for their Religion but only without them and from the report of others are short of the true foundation for that may be truth in it self indeed which is not true to another nor he truly partakes of it and here is all the supposing conjectures and mistakes and fallible certainties which it seems R. E. and his lay Gentleman too when the axe is laid to the root of the tree indeed and not withstanding all the laying claim to infallibility and certainty its but grounded upon a report without and the traditions of men from Generation to Generation For them that believe but only because of the true report without and cometh not to witness the thing assured in their own hearts by the Spirit of the Lord these will not be long of that faith 't is true many did believe because of the Apostles Declaration and report but at last came to feel the witness of God in their own hearts testifying the self same in so much that they could say and truly too though we have believed through your words at the first yet now we have heard him our selves and that which giveth perfect assurance which admits of no doubts nor fallibleness for such evidence all true Members of Christ's Church have in themselves which carries divine authority and satisfaction in it to every particular Believer and so I say with R. E. in this it seemes unreasonable to perswade any to receive this or that for a truth when they that so perswade are uncertain in themselves neither dare say their judgment is infallible which is that old Protestant Principle indeed and also the Principle of many Sects who differs from the pretended Catholick Church of Rome who persecuted one another about outward things even as the Heathen about their Idols and yet will need sit as Judge in Mens Consciences with their fallible spirit though I speak not of every individual person neither can I justifie the Roman Catholick Church so called who layes claim to infallibility and whatsoever they judge to be Heresie must be reckoned as such though never so manifest a truth and to place infallibility in men that may err and have erred from the spirit I like not neither for this is to give that to men that belongs to God and to make the Judgment of fallible men above the Judgment of the infallible spirit of God and this I look to be great ambition and pride in any to lay claim to the greatest things as infallibility and certainty of assurance and the most free of error and yet falls the shortest of it of any as hath been made appear by many learned and grave Men of former ages and also if a necessity were might be made appear that the Church of Rome who saith she cannot err have been as uncertain both in their Doctrine and Worship as any yea more one Pope contradicting and throwing down that which another did establish and one Council decreeing and another disanulling as I could easily make appear but that I would not be tedious to the Reader in things that have been so manifest neither do I desire to wade out into diversity of matters in so short a Discourse But that which R. E. and his Catholick instructer calleth late wild and loose opinions that men of different faiths may be saved and this countenanceth schisme and breeds rebellion as it is said 't is true faith is but one which is saving and there is no differance in that for the difference is among Men where that is wanting and only have the words and name of faith and want the life and power Neither am I so narrow spirited as R. E. and his Catholick as to exclude all out of the faith who may differ in their perswasions in some Circumstantial things if yet they hold Christ the head and what makes R. E. so verilent as to judge all in error and to be out of the true faith seeing the Protestants and all sorts of separates professe Justification and Salvation only through faith in Christ Jesus as well as the Church of Rome and it were unreasonably judged in me if I should conclude
are verily perswaded so or no other answer but I am sure it is the spirit of God and I am a good man and an honest man and I believe my self but other reasons or evidence can they give none Thirdly This pretending of a private spirit is against 2 Pet. 1. 20. That no prophesie of Scripture is of private interpretation Answ. This Man beats all together beside the Anvil what ever the matter is but that he is blinded and confounded in himself he sets but up a shadow and then fights with it for instead of proving the Spirit of God not to be a competent rule judge and guide and instructer in all matters of Faith necessary to Salvation he goes about to prove a private spirit a pretended spirit a spirit of error is not a sufficient guide and Judge and in this he fights without an adversary and fills the world with noise and darkness and the air with smoak and would cloud peoples understandings with multitudes of words that tend not to edification with a quareling wrangling spirit which is not for peace but I see he hath delighted in contention and sported it self in varience and like the son of the bond-woman his hand against every man Secondly I wonder why R. E. quotes so much Scripture as for the proofe of his matter in hand seeing that it is one of his great pleas that it is insufficient as to be a rule or a guide or a judge as to answer any doubts or give any satisfactory solution to him that is enquiring and seeing he hath given in so many reasons against it as insufficient and as much as in him lay to invaluedate and set it at nought and hath laboured to set it at oddes and to make contradictions in it as to render it insufficient for matter of probation in any thing which is in controversie or how he can judge that others should receive them and his sometimes false rendering of them or his own interpretations upon them seeing he denies them as uncertain as they are translated and insufficient and not fit to be a rule and who this man hath conversed with I know not that should ever affirm a private spirit or their own spirits to be a sufficient rule or guide to walk by such I deny and leave them and thee to quarel together about your imaginations and thoughts and conceptions or else the conceptions of other men who are as uncertain and fallible as the first and shall assert the sufficiency of the spirit of God teaching ruling guiding and judging all true Christian men in that certain everlasting infallible truth which is necessary and satisfaction to the souls of all them that do believe in it and shall deny all the pretenders to it who run into heaps and heads and quarels and fights one with another about shadows and can give no other account or manifestation then I am sure I have the spirit of God and I ought to be believed and I am a good man and the like which thou saith thou could never receive any other evidence or testimony and what though many have pretended to the spirit and the guidance thereof and in the mean while have brought forth the fruits of the flesh and their own imaginary false conceptions and hath put on confidence enough to say so as thou thy self it may be hath had a share in in times past shall this make the Spirit of God insufficient and uncertain in its teachings to them that believe in it and have received and bring forth the fruits of it and have the deeds of the flesh mortified by it God forbid Thirdly Why hast thou perverted the Scripture as I said at the first onset Rom. 8. 16. The Spirit it self bears witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God and this thou hath put in in a distinct Character to be taken notice of as though it were Scripture and renders it thus the Spirit being witness in secret with our spirits or in plainer termes the private spirit Thou must repent of this and take heed how thou calls the spirit of God a private spirit for it was that publick spirit which manifested it self among all the Patriarks and Prophets and by which they spoke forth the words and mind of God unto the people and prophesied of things to come and through it alone is the deep and weighty things of God revealed and was and is the only way and means by which Christ promised after his Ascension to lead guide instruct and comfort his Disciples in all truth and that it should bring to their memory whatsoever he had spoken that they were to be without care or thought for through it the Father should give them what to speak and what to answer before Rulers and Councils for his Names sake And here the sufficiency of it is proved to any reasonable man who hath the least savour or discerning of the things of God and this is that publick spirit by which the Apostles published the Everlasting Gospel of peace and which Christ the head of the Body his Church had received without measure and this is a private twyning creeping spirit of thine who hath been lost in thy own imaginations and following thy own forward rash spirit and hath found no certainty in thy self of Gods spirit to stay thy mind upon nor no patience to wait upon it but reaching grasping at things in thy dark mind last of all hath brought in thy verdict for the devil against the sufficiency of the holy spirit of God its guidance amongst his people in the later days that is thy fond conception as to say that the Spirit of God is expressly against the 2. of Pet. 1. 20. which thou calls a private spirit all along 't is true no prophefie of Scripture is of private interpretation but the holy Men of God spoke it forth as they were moved by the holy spirit which was publick and conversant among them with them and in them and they that have it can receive them as they are written and can read them and understand them as they were spoken and doth see the intent of the Holy Ghost in so speaking unto different states and conditions notwithstanding the many Copies thou tells on and diversions and different translations which thou would make a great Mountain on and raise it up so high to make the Scripture uncertain and low as not fit to be taken notice on as to answer any doubt or to be any rule or guide or any example or president for any thing that I can perceive by the course of thy Spirit which in the truth is fathomed and comprehended though it is as uncertain as the way of a Serpent upon a Rock yet they that have the spirit of God sees beyond all and hath unity with the words and minds of the Spirit of God notwithstanding the many corruptions and defects in translations and the many foul hands it hath
passed through Fourthly The spirit of Christ is the gift of God which he giveth unto all that wait for his appearance and his Sheep have it and they that are Christs have it for they that have not the spirit of Christ is none of his and it is that which is every way sufficient and no way insufficient and it is every way sufficient to lead into all truth according unto Christs promise and to convince the World of sin of righteousness and of judgment again it is that which Christ promised for a director which was with them when they healed the Sick and cast out Devils and which was in them to consolate them and comfort them in the midst of affliction as it did Peter and John and made them bold who were yet illiterate Men and had not that sufficiency which many looks upon now they have to wit natural Tongues and Languages yet it was sufficient in them to give them wisedome to declare the things of the Kingdome of God to the salvation of many that did believe through their words it was sufficient to comfort Paul and Silas when they were shut in the inner Room and their Feet fast in the Stocks when there was no outward cause of joy but rather of sorrow yet they were made to sing and rejoyce because of the great comfort and joy that the spirit of God filled their hearts with again it was sufficient in the midst of great conflicts and tribulations which Paul and the rest suffered for the Gospels sake and for Christs sake and yet as suffering did abound it was sufficient to make consolation to super abound to ballance the suffering and to make it easie Fifthly It is that everlasting Covenant which the Lord promised by the mouth of his Prophets in former dayes that he would fulfill in the latter dayes or after times that he would write his Law in their hearts and put his spirit in their inward parts and that they should not teach every Man his neighbour saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest and again in another place I will power upon them the spirit of prayer and supplication and they shall see him whom they have pierced c. and again I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and my Sons and my Daughters shall prophesie c. and this was fulfilled at Pentecost in Jerusalem when the Disciples met together and the promise of the Father came to be fulfilled and the Unbelievers said they were filled with new Wine and the Lord hath a care of his people through ages and hath not left them comfortless nor without a guide and a certain and a sure one too which spirit is manifest among some Non-conformists whom thou takes liberty to call Sects and the sufficiency of it is witnessed praised be the Lord in our Assemblies both as to convince to convert to save to judge to guide to instruct to comfort and is that alone in which all true Christian men can worship God in the silence of all flesh and fleshly motions and thoughts it 's that that giveth assurance also of acceptation with God and is that which makes the Prayers of the Saints as sweet insence in the Nostrils of the Lord it is that which makes the words of him like Butter as pleasant as Hony or sweet Oyle who speakes by it through it and from it whereby the hearts of many hath been pricked and the thoughts of many hearts hath been revealed and many hath been comforted with joy unspeakable and filled with pure love from the sensible feeling of the sufficiency of its power opperating in the inward Man even as when the harvest had been gatheredin and the Press been full of Grapes and the Fattes had over-flowen with abundance so that they could have rejoyced and sung and danced for joy as sometimes David did when the Ark of God was brought from the House of Obed-Edom and placed in Jerusalem when David danced for joy and all Israel was filled with gladness what might I say for the certainty sufficiency and all-sufficiency of this holy spirit of God I might fill my mouth with arguments and time might fail me in speech to speak of the excellency certainty and infallibility thereof against all opposers and quarellers In a word it is that alone meanes through which God conveys eternal life to all man kind and it is that rule by which all the Sons of God were led Rom. 8. 14. It is that only sure Guide Judge Way Rule in which there is certainty and assurance of the love of God to Man kind it is that by which the deeds of the flesh are mortified and Men quickned and enlivened unto God in their hearts in which the Saints are accepted by which they are regenerated and through which they become Heires of the promise what shall I say but this let all flesh be confounded before it and all deceit stop its mouth and all the sons of Men bow before it all Councils and Churches all Rulers and Elders all Reason and Comprehension all Words and Writing of Men and holy Men yea of the Scriptures of truth it gave them all a being it was it is and is to come and will remain when all visible things are past away it is that by which God will plead with all flesh and bring a Consumption upon all the honourable of the Earth and burn up the Mountains and make the hills to melt and make all a plain before Him therefore make room make room make way ye potsheards and cease all your contending and babling and bow to it and learn of it in your hearts which R. E. like an ignorant man calls a private spirit that your souls may be saved in the day of the Lord and you my escape his wrath which is to come against all resisters of it Sixthly Your Catholick Church falsely so called who hath erred from the spirit the infallible Guide though you much boast of it both in doctrine and practise abundantly insomuch that your faces seem altogether to look another way and your course to arive at another Haven then the Apostles and all the primitive Christians attained unto to wit everlasting Happiness and rest for their souls and acceptation with God in their performances and sacrifices which they offered unto him in the spirit of which they and all that believe in it and have received it received perfect assurance in their hearts by the immediate spirit of God and likewise the Protestants in general whether Lutherins or Calvins or other Sects known by denomination are of so narrow and a pinching spirit as that you would pinch and shut-up the universal love of God unto all Mankind into a narrow corner and monopalise the free grace of God that hath appeared to all Men that teaches all men that receives it to deny all Heresie falshood opinions and humours private spirits and spirits of error which leadeth from
all these and is sufficient to lead out of all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to do that which is acceptable in the sight of God and this all sects since the Woman cloathed with the Sun fled into the Wilderness viz. the true Church and all parties hath laid claim to and excluded all others that were not of their opinion as from having any share in it as though it were given only to such a company of men that succeeded the Apostles and by arts and parts and natural Language in the course and term of years and at such and such places as the Apostles were sometime conversant at and other sects besides you who have kept more nearer in Conformity in Doctrine and Worship and unto the Apostles then you have done they have laid claim to the spirit of God and to the free Grace of God only extending it self to them under such a quallification as though the Spirit of God and free and saving Grace of God had come by Generation or by succession or because of such and such a quallification or conforformity in outward practice as I said as though the free Grace of God and the infallible Spirit of God had been given to you and had been bequeathed and intailed to you or any of you under such and such a denomination and because inhabiting at such a place and thus you would limit the holy one of Israel and to stop the wind to blow where it listeth and circumscribe the infallible means which God hath given unto all Mankind for a direction and a guide a rule and a judge and pinch it up into a narrow corner and yet shut up all under condemnation who do not believe and yet exclude all but your selves from the sufficient meanes and guide and way whereby they may believe away away with this narrow partial pinching spirit for God will not be limited neither can be either to Men time or place but as they keep in Covenant with him and keeps their first love and integrity in the certain truth revealed in the first publication of the Gospel which the Roman Church above all other hath wonderfully apostatised from especially in this one thing which she can never clear her self of to wit Persecution in taking away the lives of many under the name of Hereticks and suppose any had been so as doubtless there are such yet we never read that it was Christ or the Apostles way to kill them and destroy them but on the contrary denyed them and warned others to beware of them and to have no fellowship with them and so left them to the World neither that they exhorted or stired up either Kings or Princes to take away the lives of any who did believe or not believe what as they declared to be truth but on the contrary when the Disciples in the days of their infancy would have commanded fire to have come down from Heaven as did Elias Christ rebuked them and told them they knew not what spirit they were of and again love your enemies and do good to them that hate you How your Catholick Church hath kept this precept I leave all Nations to judge where your power hath been known suppose real Schismaticks and Hereticks as some such there hath been in the world how you have done good to them and how you have loved them is manifest except you judge that shuting them up in Prisons racking tortering and cruel torments and at last of all death was in love to them and in doing good to them which methinks any reasonable man should blush and be ashamed to think or say But an old Plea comes to my mind which some of the members of the Church of Rome hath alledged to me in the days of my youth when I was conversant with them and among them in a friendly neighbourly and sober discourse of things of this nature before mentioned it was said unto me the Roman Catholick Church is that Church whereby Christianity hath been conveyed to all Nations and the great Oraccles thereof delivered unto us and the Scriptures also came from us by which you know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God and the knowledg thereof came unto all and all her Children ought to be subject unto her as the true mother that brought them all forth and if any went astray either into Heresie or Schisme which might not only hurt themselves but also others ought not the Mother in natural love to her Children to correct them and ought not they to bear her correction and submit unto it and hath not she power to correct her Children when they go astray unto which is answered Christianity that which is truly such and them whom God will own to be Christians was dispersed through the Nations by the power of God and we say that the Church of Rome hath begotten Christendom into that mould and frame into which they are now cast more by force and awe then any sound Doctrine and as for the Scriptures coming from her that we deny We know they came from the Apostles and from the Primitive Christians according to the will of God and have been preserved to this day though through many polluted hands they have come and we know how much your rage was kindled that ever it should be Translated into the English Tongue and many felt the effect of it to the loss of their Lives as I hope many in England doth well consider But suppose a true Mother have many Children and suppose some do swerve and go astray from her precepts and under pretence of correcting of them she shut them up in Goals and nasty holes and afflict them with sundry kind of torments and at last of all kill them and destroy them what Judgment will be given by reasonable Men of such a Mother but this that she is become unnatural and cruel and hard hearted and degenerated from the nature of a loving and tender Mother and deserves not to have or ever to have had any Children and such a kind of Mother hath your Church been to all that have dissented from her that I may say of her as the Prophet Jeremiah said especially in these latter ages the Sea Monsters and Dragons of the Wilderness draw out their breasts to feed their young ones but the daughter of my people is become cruel Seventhly and lastly We know that God willeth that all Men should be saved and come to the knowledg of the truth and hath given that and doth give that unto every man that is come into the World whereby every man that doth receive it is capable of fulfilling the will of God and this gift comes not by the will of Man nor is received in the will of Man but in its own will even in the will of the giver and this free gift of God is the free and saving Grace of God which hath appeared unto all Men to wit every man that is come into the World which teaches
largly of by other hands and pens so that I need not say much But Miracles be not evermore undoubted proofes of a true Doctrine nor such absolute signes of a true Church nor such infallible arguments as from Heaven as R. E. saith his is and so I shall conclude with that which Austin said unto Faustus the Manicha Ye work no Miracles and yet if ye wrought any at your hands we would take heed of them and Jer. 23. saith the false Prophets have deceived my people by their lies and by their lightness and by their dreams and Miracles And so hath this false fained pretended Catholick Church done deceived The Nations and bewitched them with such lying fabulous stories and false and ridiculous miracles and sorceries and inchantments as is above mentioned and many more of the like nature might be mentioned but that I would not be tedious to the Reader which if they were summed up all would hardly make up a Heavenly argument and proof as R. E. saith it doth that their Church is the only true Church and fit to be the rule and judge of all matters of faith and now Reader view over their Miracles before mentioned and see if thou can receive them because the Church of Rome saith they are true and must not be questioned for if thou do thou art like to come under a hard censure by the verdict of R. E. and his Catholick Church first to be reckoned as an unbeliever secondly to be a hater of God and thirdly in not believing these Miracles or whatsoever else shall be declared unto thee by the said Church or else thou comes under no les penalty then eternal damnation as R. E. saith in the 80. page of his Epistle but it is a small thing to be judged by man and especially such a man who hath gaded abroad and changed his way so osft so that he hath forgotten the true path of Righteousness to walk in or else never knew it and hath turned and wheeled about and now at last doth as the poor Indian doth with his Deer skin hangs it upon one shoulder and so upon the other shoulder to shelter him from the wind and tempest that comes of that side But the day is dawned and mens spirits are discovered beyond their words and all the turnings and wheelings of things upside down is but as the Potters Clay for God measures every man not by his words but by his heart and spirit and works and will judge every one in Righteousness according to their deeds And R. E. goes on as confident that his arguments and reasons laid down hath prevailed and almost takes it for granted that it must needs be evident to all that the Roman Church is the true Church and saith he knows but one single point between the Catholicks and them that stand devided from them and that is saith he that we follow a several rule to guide and judge in the great affaires of faith for all sides are bound to believe all truths sufficiently propounded to them to be revealed of God and therefore if the presence of Christ in the Sacrament Purgatory worshipping of Images Invocation of Saints and prayer to the Dead and for the Dead if these or any other point of faith be sufficiently propounded by denying them Gods varassaty is denyed and God thereby made a lyer The difference stands betwixt you and them that are devided from you in more particulars then thou art aware of or ever will be able sufficiently to propound them to be revealed of God though it is true some are but devided from you in Circumstantials and Ceremonies and some others in some points of Faith and Worship yet some deny you in the very ground though 't is true the different rule by which each party are directed is a great and a main thing thou saith this Church Catholick is the rule but I say and am not alone that Christ is the way to the Father and the way to the Kingdom and the rule and means by which his Church is governed and he is the Lawgiver and the judge and all Judgment is committed to the Son and it is he alone that propounds truth sufficiently and they that are in him are new Creatures and that which is the new Creatures rule guide and judge is the rule guide and judge of the Church of God and Christ is the author of faith and it is nothing that availes any thing with God but the new Creature and as many as walk according to this rule peace is to them Gal. 3. 16. and Christ hath not left his people without guide for he said lo I am with you to the end of the world So as to commit the guidance thereof to fallible men who may assume authority without his power and to fasten those things upon God as to be revealed from him when the Lord hath spoken nothing and we are so far from looking that the main grounds that thou lays down to prove your Church to be this rule and guide and the many Doctrines propounded by you are not sufficiently propounded to be revealed of God but rather they are the imaginations of your own brain and things packt up since the Apostles days by different Popes and different mutations and alterations in your Church for filthy Lucres sake and so to deny them is not to deny Gods varassaty neither to make God a lyer as thou falsly saith but thou and you are the lyers as to propound those things to be revealed from God and to be received by all under pain of damnation when God hath revealed no such thing but the contrary and so thy own words at last shall turn to be thy burden because thou saith the Lord saith and hath revealed and sufficiently preposed the real presence of Christ in your Sacrament of the Alter as a devine Revelation worshipping of Images Prayer to the Dead and for the Dead and all the foolish imagination which you have brought in and intruded and thrust upon people by force and these are sufficiently propounded as thou saith as devine Revelations and the Father Son and Holy Ghost or the Incarnation of Christ silence deceit and for shame blush so to say the Prophets who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and prophesied of things to come they declared of the Father Son and Holy Ghost all and prophesied long before that a Virgin should bring forth a Son whose name should be called Emanuel God with us and the Government should be upon his shoulders this the Pope hath usurped and you put it upon his Shoulders but your invented Doctrines aforesaid are meerly the imaginations of your own brain which neither the Prophets nor Apostles bore witness unto but against and therefore it is thy and your great presumption to make God Christ and Apostles the foundation of all this rubbish straw and stuble which thou would put off as devine revelation and as sufficiently preposed as the