man Reprobate and Saint is not sufficient to lead and guide out of all the wayes and works of this dark world See your letter extant in the Quakers whitest devil unvailed p 1. into the wayes of God without the help or teaching of man confusedly there declaring against and now attesting for the self and the same thing But let me here so far presume on your vitiated patience as to salute you with this one query Is it not as lawful for others as for you to teach and may not their doctrine be as effectual to this end to turn peoples minds from darkness to light as is yours and whether it be not the spirit of Satan in you that cries down that in others which it preacheth up in your self And is it not the spirit of confusion that cries up one while and down another the self and the same thing And are not Scriptures external means and so granted by you to be useless and how then are they means of perfection if they be not useful or doe you mean something not external and so intitle a false thing Scripture But I fear your Ministry is rather misery then mercy for if you had receiv'd the mercy that Paul had you would also renounce the hidden things of dishonesty as Paul did not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully as you do Rom. 10. â—4 And if you look a little further into the very same chapter of Paul to the Rom. you shall find him make it a matter not only of difficulty but also of impossibility that any should believe without hearing or hear without a Preacher by whom Christ is preached even by them that bring the word of God whose feet are beautiful And this is the word nigh us even at our doors not leaving us to travel to Jerusalem as of old to hear the word of the Lord which now is nigh to us though he be in heaven and we on earth by faith in him But if that that light in every individual man and woman be the sure word of Prophesie is there then a Prophetick light in all if so what doth it prophesie of life and righteousnesse for sinners in a Mediator or of death for disobedience and if this be the light that shines in a dark place what is the day-star and the Sun of righteousnesse for though the Apostle hath said 1 Cor. 14.31 1 Cor. 12.29 Num. 11.29 that all may prophecy one by one yet hath he said again are all Prophets no but I wish the Lords people were all such and that Preaching is powerful I believe though you once denied it and I now see truth is no truth till it serve your turn And for every thing that you adde further we know it without your teaching as that every man which comes into the world of nature Christ as God enlightens with the light of nature as reason sense and the like and that he is the Saviour of the world Qu. 5. And if that the external means be useless to what end were those most sacred gifts bestowed upon men Eph. 4.10 11 12. And how the end and intent for which they were given became void Answ 5. The end of those gifts was for perfecting the Saints and bringing all into one faith unto a perfect man which they that teach that none can be perfect by those gifts while they live do set up a faith in people contrary to the end of those gifts and by setting up external things in stead of these spiritual gifts have you lost the gifts and have made them void and so are become enemies to the end and intent of them in others who have them and believe the end of them And thus the end and intent for which they were given are become void to you Eph. 4.10 11 12. Rep. 5. Here also you abuse my intentions wrest my meaning as you doe the Scripture unto your owne will which we are not to query what for that I know as well as you can tell me if not better but if external means were useless and so consequently these gifts how became their end void for which they were given so that you answer not at all to the question but at confused randum and stuffe up lines with lyes First that to teach that none can be perfect in this life by these gifts is to set up a false faith produce a president of one person in all the Scripture that ever was perfect by any meanes whatsoever except Christ if you can or else yeild yourself a lyar Secondly that by setting up external things for those spiritual I have made them void which is another lye and that two-fold First prove that ever I set up external things in stead of spiritual things if you can but have not you and your Ghostly Father the Pope done it in setting up carnal dictates of your own brains for that of the spirit of God Secondly that I have made them void testifie this if thou canst O subtil deceiver Thirdly that I am become an enemy to the end of these gifts in others I declare in the presence of God I honour though you oppose them wheresoever they be which is backed by a fourth lye that the end and intent of them is become void to me when my end is is not yet come but how soon it may God knowes but this I can testifie the fruits of those gifts have I reaped in my measure and by them in others have been both established and instructed in the truth and so I can witnesse the effects though not the end of them as yet But what means Paul by the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven if they were perfect before on earth and whether is Paul or you a lyar herein Qu. 6. If natural light be sufficient without the help of the means what then is become of the work of grace Eph. 2.5 8. Rom. 11.6 and of the growth of faith Luke 17.5 Mark 9.24 The practical use of Ordinances 1 Cor. 11.2 23 24. As Baptism Matth. 8.19 The Lords Supper Reading 1 Tim. 4.13 Preaching Matth. 28.20 and several other places Prayer 1 Thess 5.17 Rom. 12.12 Communion of Saints in publique Assemblies Heb. 10.25 Answ 6. The light of Christ is the gift of the grace of God which brings salvation which teaches to deny ungodliness and worldly lasts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.11 12. And with this light is the work of grace seen but thou that callest this natural light or wouldst make people believe it is not sufficient must needs be ignorant of that spirit whereby that work of grace and growth of faith Heb. 11.6 prayer and communion of Saints Supper and Ordinances is known for without faith in the light of Christ these are not known nor accepted though dark natural imaginations may make an imitation from them in the letter 1 Cor. 2.14 And thus are the
works of grace become to all that deny the light and spirit of Christ within and take up a tradition from the letter without sensual having not the spirit Jude 19. Reply 6. O deceitful sophistry Is this an answering or a baffling Is it a satisfactory resolve when I asked you what was become of the work of grace faith the growth of Faith which is by the natural use of ordinances c. all which we own as did the Apostles though you deny most if not all of them when you wave it and proceed contrary to request to declare though but shallowly what the work of grace is how sin and how the rest are known all which is impertinent to the thing required and therefore it being only a titular answer it scarce deserves a reply so that it resteth as at the first wholly unanswered not on thing being properly cleared Qu. 7. Whether the Bible be the written word of God yea or no if not what means the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.36.37 38. Gal. 1.10 11. 1 Thess 2.13 Answ That is the word which the Bible declares of Psa 119.11 Rom 10.8 1 Pet. 1.23 which is invisible and eternal which they that received it of God and had it in their hearts did speak or write it down which writing they called a declaration Luke 1.1 1 John 1.3 But doth no where say the Bible is the word but God and Christ is the word John 1.1 1 Pet. 1.25 And of this word the Apostle means which was of God and not of man nor by man and the word of God is the name of Christ and not the name of the Bible Rev. 19.13 Reply 7. I must needs confesse though I am loth to use it See your Reply to Harris thine own language best beseems the exordium of this Reply Thou blind Sot canst thou so much boast of the spirit of light and yet be so far blinded in darknes as not to discern between the co-essential and co-eternal word with God the temporal expressive word of God And if they received this word of God as you acknowledge they did how then can it be but it must be the word of God from whence it did proceed and the Scriptures quoted by thee are nothing to the purpose For John 1.1 The word was with God and the word was God And so this temporal word is but the expressive word of that co essential word and so it is a lye to say that this is that word that the Apostle means when he saith For this cause thank we God alwayes 1 Thes 2.13 that when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the word of God This is clear and the Apostle saith that it was not of man nor by man but by the revelation of Jesus Christ and so not the word Christ but the word of Christ who is God And for the other it is so clear speaking plainly of writings that it needs not be discoursed And a learned Author renders that place Rev. 19.13 as being spoken of Christ Fr. Du. Jon. as to his co-essential name and I the rather believe it in respect that the same St. John records and testifies of what he writ as from the mouth of an Angel Rev. 19 9. These are the true sayings of God and makes a distinct difference between the word of God and the testimony of Jesus and such like titles are usually attributed to the holy volume of the Scriptures as the word of God * Mar. 7.13 Acts 13.44.46 Acts 17.13 Acts 8.14 Acts 6.7 the word of the Lord * Mar. 7.13 Acts 13.44.46 Acts 17.13 Acts 8.14 Acts 6.7 the commandements of the Lord and the like Almost every chap. of the Old Testam Jer. 30.2.4 1 Thes 4.15 1 Pet. 1.25 Act. 16.32 Deut. 11.1.27 But that the Scriptures should say that the Bible is the word of God is absurd to imagine because it is a word not there to be found it being a word of Art used to expresse the whole volume of the Scriptures in general but yet that which is therein contained is so called and is so indeed Qu. 8. If the Ministry now established be Antichristian where then and who be Orthodoxal Ans Those Ministers who have their Authority from Chr. are such as abide in the doctrine of Christ and these are they who are hated of the world ever was for crying out against the deceits and filthinesse of the world Priests and people And whereas thou askest where they are I say in Gaoles and Prisons in this Nation many of these are for the same now by means of those who live out of the doctrine of Christ and in the steps of the false Prophets Scribes and Pharisees seeking for their gaine bearing rule by their meanes being call'd of men Masters c. all which are forbidden by Christ Isay 56.11 Rom. 10.8 Matth. 23.9 10. and for bearing witnesse against such much innocent blood hath been shed though they ever call themselves Orthodoxal and the Ministry of Christ establisht by men Reply 8. That these Ministers who are of Christ abide in the doctrine of Christ we know and witnesse and need not you to teach us and hereby are assured you are not of him but of some other And the persecuters in all Ages like you sought to set up a doctrine and way of worship of themselves and yet were sensual having not the spirit though separated as peculiarly sacred such as are you and your Founder the Pope Yet still was it their practice like as you doe now to cry down and as the Eagle to her prey pick forth first the right eye of Christianity to wit Acts 4.12 17 18. the Ministry that they might no more speak uprightly of that name in which onely is Redemption that so the Shepherds being destroyed and the flock dispersed they might with the more ease and the lesse difficulty be devoured by such wolfes as thy selfe and so be made a prey for the deceiver But since you say the true Ministers are in Gaoles and Prisons in this Nation who doe you meane the Romish Priests from whence you sprung and such like if these be they speak out or are they some of those branches which are sprung from that grove of heresie to wit your vagabond fraternity taken up as strayed from their habitations and from their Religion too But that these are for the same now that the true Saints in former times were martyr'd for is a most notorious lye and prove it if thou canst that ever any dyed for this cause wherein you now persevere except Jesuits and you seem to accuse us as being out of the doctrine of Christ as also saith Rome because we are not one with you and them And you seem to alledge that they seek for their gaine from their quarter speaking of our Ministry of which
in easing himselfe of natures courses he disburdened himselfe of his bowels and the same opinion is now upheld by his Successor Biddle a man no lesse obstinate then erroneous Page 59. The Turkish Mahomet and Sabellio likewise held the word Trinity in derision as doe you and many more of your Society and I fear in many more of your Tenets concurre with them Qu. Whether Jesus the Son of Mary incarnated in the flesh Godman in one person who dyed at Jerusalem upon the Crosse rose from the death to life the third day and ascended on high into the highest heavens and sitteth on the right hand of God be the true Messias that you own and say is within you Answ Jesus the Sonne of God and Eternal Word which came downe from God became flesh borne of the Virgin God and man who dyed at Jerusalem rose againe ascended and sitteth at the right hand of the Father the true Messias which Christ we own to be within us which no carnal minde which denies his light can comprehend and Christ in you except ye be Reprobates 1 Cor. 10.4 Reply 13. This is in some sort more then any of the rest satisfactory but that the true Messias is within you I have not faith to beleeve it because I see such opposite actings to him or any thing of his spirit That I apprehend them rather congruant to Antichrist then the true Messias And as no natural minde that either denies the true light or sets up a new light in its stead cannot apprehend these things so neither can they in that state distinguish between the spirit of Christ and that of Antichrist 2 Cor. 11.13 14 15. And this inded is the reason why you and your Society are so deluded and take that for the true Messias which is rather something crying crying Loe here and loe there is Christ in you which is onely the spirit of delusion and the rather I beleeve it because it so much opposeth Christ Jesus the true Messias in his Institutions And for what you adde further the Text I have cleared elsewhere already Qu. 14. Whether the soul of man be mortal or immortal if mortal for what then did Chr. Jesus suffer to purchase eternal glory And what profiteth holiness in life If immortal where then shall it abide after death since you say there is no heaven nor hell but in a mans conscience Answ The first part of this Quere I answer the soul is immortal but the latter part being made up of a lye I returne it back into thy Fathers bottle from whence it came till thou hast prov'd that ever I said there is no Heaven nor Hell but in a mans Conscience Reply 14. Since it is usual with thee O secret deceit to speak that in one breath which thou wilt deny in an other I wonder the lesse to see you stil uphold your lying practice else you might remember the superscription of my Queries were thus For the Speakers plurully not for you their Speaker singularly of that Society called Quakers neither did I know who was to speak at that time when I brought them with me whether you or another yet resolved to deliver them to him I should there finde when probability gave me good reason to expect Hoberthorn rather then your self to exercise there at that time because he was there the Lords day then last past and I think not before and then durst not own his own name and practices And though I confesse I cannot prove it against you in particular though perhaps others may See Rosse his view of Reli. p. 383. See Baxter against you p. 25. yet is it commonly known to be the opinion of the Quaking Faction and so of them to whom my Queries were directed and therefore you here lay under the guilt of a two fold lye First in denying that which is truth to wit that it is not the doctrine of your Fraternity that there is neithet heaven nor hell but in a mans conscience pure Familists Secondly in giving me the lye when I spoke the truth but I see you bear in minde your old profession your bottle and so your plow though you have now changed it for a lesse laborious yet diabolical employment fomention of Heresie Qu. 15. If you are perfectly free from sinne as you assert you are what then is the sting of death or are you in the flesh immortal on earth Answ The former part of this Query I returne thee back with the latter part of thy foregoing being both of one root but to the latter part I answer where the new birth is witnessed which is not of corruptible seed but incorruptible 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. partakers of the Divine Nature the life of Christ made manifest in mortal flesh and where life and immortality is brought to light there the sting of death is seen to be abolisht on earth but this Cain's generation knows not where death reignes and therefore would murder such as are translated from death to life Reply 15. Now O incomparable hypocritical lyar let us try the contest whether you or I in this be the lyar nay let thy own writings decide the controversie which thus asserts expressely them who say they have faith and yet their life is not the life of Christ and say they cannot be saved from their sinnes in this world but in part Them and their Faith we deny and as I told you in publick dispute so say I now againe if this be not perfect perfection what is or was the life of Christ imperfect And is not perfect purity from sinne perfect perfection in righteousnesse But you then reply'd though I denyed it in others said you yet thou liest plaine English to say I own it in my selfe but if it be not hypocrisie to disown that in another to wit imperfection if thou thy selfe art not perfect 1 Tim. 4.2 and is not this the Character Paul gives of a false Prophet Teaching lies saith he in hypocrisie But let us see if you lye not here againe for you further adde in the same page speaking of that light in every man this light we beleeve and follow observe that and by this light are led out of all the wayes works and worships of this dark world and if this be not perfect perfection then is light darknesse so that it is proved not onely to be taught and upheld by your society which had been sufficient but also by you in particular so that here you lie under the guilt of a double lye againe as before and that others of your Society have taught and upheld the same I need not stand to repeat it being so clearly proved against you and Hoberthorn affirmed the same the Lords day before I delivered my Queries in Now my Querie being thus justified it rests wholly unanswered in the least and therefore your pretended answer might be justly cast by without any further reply but out of charity take
and the same he doth at this day and none can limit him nor doe I resist what meanes he uses but such as resist his works deny his light and would limit him Gen. 3.15 Gen. 9.9 Gen. 17.7 Luke 3.20 Luke 2.10 Gal. 2.11 12. Reply 19. O blind Sophister could probability have rendred such absurdity as possible to be in any especially one so much pretending peculiar and sacred knowledge as to bring the meanes as a testimony against it selfe as you doe and as absurd would it be to imagine that any should preach the Gospel of Christ as from themselves though I dare presume to say you doe for then would it be of man not of God And I meane thus whether ever God by promise or by practice intended or did make publick his Gospel but by the use of the meanes to wit man which it could not be but it must be first reveal'd to man and so be by man but not of man as you falsly affirm it is which meanes was Enoch who preached the Gospel in publick which had been revealed unto him in private Jude 14.15 2 Pet. 2.5 and Noah the eighth person was a Preacher of righteousnesse and so was Isay insomuch that I have heard it made a question whether he were most properly a Prophet or an Evangelist and so were the rest of the Prophets Preachers of the same Gospel and therein were those meanes which you seem to deny Mat. 3.1 2. Mark 1.4 Luke 3.3 Gal. 1.11 12 Col. 1.25 1 Thes 2.4 and the like was John the Baptist a Preacher of the Gospel and therefore a meanes and a Minister of it and so was Paul also a Preacher of this Gospel who received it by the revelation of Christ Jesus and declared what he had so received so that though it were of Christ yet was it by man still deny this if thou canst But tell me hath that man any one spark of grace or truth in him that cannot see you are truthlesse or hath he the least faith in Jesus that is so faithlesse to his cause as to beleeve in and be besotted with your false delusions and erroneous heresies and is not he blinde with errour that sees not your wayes are erroneous and may not any whose eyes are not wholly darkened see Antichrist in your Doctrine and that man of sinne in your practises Prove what you say by Gospel or else be silent An Answer unto 14. Queries subscribed JAMES NAYLER By me JOHN DEACON Quere 1. NOw seeing you so much oppose the light within and spirit and sets up the letter for the light I say seeing it is plaine all the Saints had a light in spirit to guide them in wayes accepted in all Ages before the Letter was if you be spiritual men give it in writing what that light was where is was and how they came by it when they had no letter or was it sufficient before the letter is it the same now or when or how was it changed and the letter set in its stead An Answer to the first Query Mr. James Naylor what that Fabrick will be whose Foundation is a lye may easily be discerned by an impartial eye and what the Exodiam will be of that Epistle whose exordium is an untruth the fruition of this discourse will demonstrate and a thing beyond the limits of my faith to beleeve it is that when I see Satan as the Porter stand in the porch that in that Palace should be inhabiting one spark much lesse the whole of the spirit of God for a most incomparable lye it is to whisper in a corner much more to sound on the point of your pen to the world that horrid falshood that I oppose the spirit or light of Christ 2 Thes 1.4 1 Cor. 3.17 far be it from me to oppose it in the meanest of his Saints and farther be it or at least as far from me to own that for the light spirit of Christ which indeed is onely and alone the spirit of Antichrist which as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God That the Saints in all Ages had a light within them and now have the same by faith in Jesus Christ in you Colossians the hope of glory Mark 13.22 Mat. 24.24 Mat. 2â— 5 Mar. 13.21 22. Luke 21.8 Deut. 5.22 This I own and will rather cease to be eternally then deny but would be as loath to own every thing for Christ which shall take on it the name of Christ But since the latter part of this Query consists of an examination of the original being and authority of the Scriptures the unity and difference of the Law heretofore written in mans heart and now in the letter I shall be the more large in my answer because it is one of the most principallest controversies betwixt us Christians and you Quakers When Adam stood in his created state of innocency there was then an exact Law engraven not then in Tables of stone as afterwards but in the fleshly Tables of his heart this I suppose you grant But then when he fell from that state of blisse unto wretchednesse he also fell from the Image of God unto the effigy of Satan and so became so far from accomplishing that command which called for exactness in moral righteousness that he was wholy alienated from Sanctity and nativitated in or to sin so that by continual increase of transgression the ingression of sinne wrought the exgression of sanctity insomuch that this Law became abbreviated if not extinguished Gen. 6.6 Gen. 7 at large Gen 6.5 7 for so much did sinne exâ—perate notwithstanding the Reliques of this Law or book of natural conscience that God repented that ever he had made man yea and so far repented as to destroy them utterly except a few And the Lord seeing how fraile man struck saile unto the pride of Satan in the turbulent Ocean of this transitory world and sinne by its subtilty aspired that soveraignty as to subdue and extinguish for the most part that Law once written in mans heart Joh. 8.58 1 Pet. 1.10 11. Matth. 1. Gen. 12.1 2 Isa 51.2 Deu. 7.7 8 Gen. 46.5 6. Rom. 9.7 8 9. Exod. 2.9 10. and God having determined by an eternal purpose to redeem wretched man from that lost state wherein he stood chose in his due season Abraham from amongst all the men on the earth that he might raise from his Posterity a Messias and a deliverer unto his Israel and it so happened in the dayes of Jacob the great Sonne of Abraham the Sonne of Isaac the child of promise that by reason of the Famine that was in Canaan Israel was driven into Egypt where they sojourned till God in his good pleasure hearkning unto the groanes of their oppressions willing to deliver his Israel from their unsufferable bondage sent his servant Moses one of their brethren by a strong hand to conduct them into the Land of Promise and in their
as Theodorus and Ignatius c. and in Q. Maries dayes Cranmer Latimer Hooper Ridley Farrar Mat. 12.3 Bradford Philpot Saunders Glover Taylor and many others of the same profession or wherein did they differ or were they false Ministers and so died as evil doers and were they not called Masters took tithes and preached upon Texts and in Pulpits and doe not you justifie their murders in condemning their cause and so joyn with their persecuters and condemn those afresh and is not the spirit in you a truth-opposing and Rome-upholding one Q. 18. Is Baptism and the Supper Sacraments yea or no or whether there can be any Sacrament without some outward signe or whether a Sacrament is consistent in words or an Element or of the one or of the other or of both or of neither and how there can be any Sacrament without an Element speak plainly to the purpose Q. 19. And since you say I am damned where is that pious charity spoken of by Paul 1 Cor. 13. or is it to be owned by and practised of a Christian yea or not if yea after what sort and in what measure and why do not you use it if no when was it made void and whether it be the spirit of Christ or of something that cals it selfe Christ that saith Judge not lest ye are judged or of Satan which seeketh to drive men into desparation without cause as thou art damned when and at what time were you made privy unto Gods determinate will to know that I am damned or to his secrets that I believe not or sauours not this of a diabolical censorious envious spirit in you and how comes it to passe that I must believe James Naylor and then be faithful and though I believe in Christ yet be faithlesse is there more objects of faith then one in unity and what be the degrees and what the effects what the grounds of a saving and sanctifying faith and how known Q. 20. Whether the power that worketh in you and in the rest of your quaking Fraternity be divine or diabolical if divine prove it by Scripture or may we not know the Tree Antichrist by its fruits heresies in you if diabolical then cease like Simon Magus to seem to be some great one to draw disciples after you and resist this spirit in your self better repent then perish Q. 21. Whether it be by the spirit of Satan or the power of God say you that worketh by charms whereby some of your Proselytes have been possessed with devils as Gilpin Mary White and others and whether Peter or Simon Magus be the Apostle of Christ or whether it be the work of the spirit of God to inspire with the holy Ghost or with Satan and hereby let us know whether you be Saints or sorcerers make it out upon a Gospel account Q. 22. And since you so much rail against superiority dignities 2 Pet. 2.10 11. Heb. 13.7 17 1 Cor. 4.1 Tit. 1.7.11 Tim. 3. Cor. 3.10 Act. 14.15 Eccl. 12.11 1 Pet. 3.6 Act. 20.25 Act. 26.2 27. Act. 16.30 when as the very Angels in heaven bring no railing accusations againg them and wherefore did our Saviour speak against being called Masters and upon what occasion and why may not Ministers be called Masters as well as Rulers and what is the difference between a Master and a Ruler and is the title of Ministers of Christ the Stewards of the Mysteries of God Embassadors of Reconciliation Bishops Overseers inferiour to the word Master did Paul transgresse or was he no Minister because he called himselfe a wise Master-builder or did the holy Ghost erre when he called teachers Masters of Assemblies or did the spirit erre when it commends Sarah for calling Abraham Lord or Paul who called Festus most noble Festus and Agrippa O King Agrippa did not Paul and Silas own the title Sirs from the Gaoler or doe you not stumble at a straw and run over a mountain and see a mote in anothers eye but not a beam in yours Q. 23. Did not your spirit speak in Corah Dathan Num 16.3 Abiram and their adherents and did not they raile against their Ministers ye take too much upon you and say not you the same in effect and said not they all the Congregation is holy and so themselves in their own eyes and you say you are pure said not they The Lord is among us and so say you The Lord Christ is within us 2 John 9. and is not the same spirit in you that was in Diotrephes who rejected the Epistles of the Apostles And did ever any more presumptuously boast of and yet act more contrary unto the Spirit of God or did ever any generation shew such audacious arrogant impudence in opposing the Doctrine for which Martyrs holy men of God have spent their blood for the testimony thereof and yet take unto themselves the justice of their cause for a defence of their basenesse and is not this spiritual presumption if not abomination Q. 24. Is a lye the fruit of an infallible or a fallible spirit and may not a true Church erre and so be fallible or may it erre and yet still be infallible or is pretence of infallibility an assurance that that Church so pretending it is a true Church or did any of the Apostles boast of infallibility as doe you or are you more infallible then they were And if you have the same spirit why then what hinders that you doe not the same miracles is it that the spirit is now lesse able then it was then and so is not the spirit fallible or is it not rather that there is in you a deceivable spirit that calls it selfe infallible and did ever any besides your selfe and the Church of Rome your Founders stand upon so presumptuous a score of infallibility and yet acted with more fallibility in doctrine and opinion and is it not hellish darkness in you and them that calls it selfe pure light J. DEACON FINIS
and when they have a spirit of delusion and whether the light of the Spirit alone be sufficient without the letter to reveale the Sonne of God the Father and all truth and judge of all spirits whatsoever without any addition to it An Answer to the Fourth Query The New Birth or Regeneration is a repairing of the Image of God once in the first Adam through the effectual working of the Spirit and grace of God John 3. Gen. 1.26 27. Eph. 3.5 8 Rom. 5.18 19. 1 Cor. 2.14 Gen. 3.1.5 Gen. 3.23 24. 2 Cor. 5.20 21. 1 Cor. 1.2.30 2 Thes 2.13 Eph. 5.26 Act. 26.18 1 Pet. 1.2 Tit. 3.5 Act. 5.3 4 1 Cor. 3.16 1 Cor. 6.19 by faith in the second Adam which they that looke unto the first Adam and in their own strength endeavour to renew cannot comprehend for it is spiritually discerned though the policy of the Serpent may so far prevaile as to cast them into a kinde of pleasing slumber of Security and so pretending to lead them back unto that earthly Eden by personal obedience which they lost by disobedience like lambs led to the slaughter they may passe a Celestial Paradise by and perhaps arrive at a perilous disconsolate place of eternal sorrow or if you will it is a remission of sinne and a renewment of sanctity called Sanctification on the whole Doctrine whereof to insist at large would require a greater volume then either I intend to trouble you to peruse or my selfe to compose but for the satisfaction of them among you or elsewhere whose intentions are to be informed out of sincerity not curiosity I shall speak a little unto some particulars of it In brief man hath no hand at all in this work but the spirit of God for even as in the compositure or making of any thing there must two things concurre First the Agent or Workman which giveth the forme shape or being to the Work Secondly the matter whereof the work must be made or formed the which cannot be said to work it selfe but onely to suffer the operation of the Worker This is the summe of Regeneration First the the spirit of God is the workman in this work he is the begetter of this new man the framer of this new creature and the re-builder of this sacred Fabrick 1 Cor. 12.4 5. 2 Cor. 6.16 Isa 6.19 Act. 28.25 John 3.6 Mat. 19.26 John 3.8 Secondly the minde and will of man is the matter whereof this new creature or image of God in man is made not working together with the Spirit of God but onely suffering the operation of the holy Ghost this is the Epitomy of this whole work for Regeneration is nothing else but a sanctified minde and will so the begetter of this new man is God even the Holy Ghost For that which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit So that this New Birth is the work of the Spirit and although by the Ministry of man as the matter yet not any thing that men or Angels are able to conceive but onely the finger of God 1 Pet. 1 13. is able to accomplish it as the worker for with man it is impossible but not with God for though we may heare the word of God sounding in our eares as a whistling wind yet cannot we comprehend the secret motions of it in our hearts and therefore not understand the depth of this unsearchable Mystery In a word the begetting or fashioning of this New Creature the Ministry of the word of God by man is but the instrument whereby the spirit of God worketh without the which it is no more able to form this new creature 2 Pet. 1.21 Gal. 1.11 12. 1 Joh. 4.3 then are the tools belonging to any work able to bring the same to passe without the hand or guidance of the Artificer and he that knoweth it by the Letter of Scripture knowes it not without the light for the Scripture was written by man but revealed by the true light and therefore the words of him from whom it proceeded and God is pleased to reveal himself but two wayes to the best of my knowledge and that either ordinary by his written Word by which we may try and in some sort judge of spirits too that hee which denies Christ as come in the flesh is a lyar and an Antichrist and he that denies the use and ministration of Ordinances mentioned there resists that power that instituted them and he that resists receiveth unto himself damnation a sad word or extraordinary by his spirit which is not commonly usual but still with this limitation he never reveales himselfe to any by his spirit to oppose his commands in the letter And since your spirit is such a one I leave it unto you to examine whether it be a spirit of delusion or no for Christ never resisteth his own will and ordinances and if it seems so unto you remember Satan hath transformed himselfe into an Angel of light and if you be his Ministers as the tree Antichrist is known by his fruits heresie in Doctrine cease to call thy selfe the Minister of Christ 2 Cor. 11.13 14 15. Mat. 7.15 and pull off the sheeps cloathing of your faire pretences that so we may discerne you in your colours and see the Pope in your wolvish shapes Quere 5. Whether the least measure of saving faith in Christ Jesus be not present power above the Devil and all the powers of darknesse which if it be then what is the cause that men must be captivated to commit sin while they live whether it is want of faith or that there is not power in faith to overcome the evil one or hath any faith in Christ further then they have power over sinne and the world or is there any rest to a beleever short of that power An Answer to the Fifth Quere The least measure of saving faith in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.33 34 35.36 37 38 39. 1 Pet. 1.4.5 is sufficient to support us from everlasting misery and from the condemnation which the Devil would by his power bring us under and to build us up to that inheritance immortal which fadeth not away but is reserved in heaven for us and it is present power above the destructive powers of the Devil and darknesse but not against the disturbative power of sinne whose policy hath in the first Adam purchased an interest in all his posterity unlesse that with the second Adam we became one in unity and glory with him and if it were present power to conquer Satan and all the powers of darknesse and by its puissance to wholly subdue him presently Eph. 6.10 11 12 13 14 15 16. this were present victory which is the end of war when as a Christians pilgrimage to heaven is a continual warfare the victory whereof is onely sealed perfectly in death Gal. 3.22 for though by faith in Christ we are free from the
Query which deserveth rather censure then answer or at the least to be turned back without either yet since you endeavour to render me odious in the eyes of your Proselytes I shall answer according to truth and returne thee thy lyes according as thou sentest them to me and yet be so far from revenging thy injurious slanders that I shall passe them by with an honourable scorne And whereas you say that I affirm that none can be the Ministers of Christ but such as are called of men is a branch of thy old root a most impudent lye for that were all one in effect to assert all that are called of men are the Ministers of Christ and none else and this were by consequence to affirm James Naylor that grand fomenter of Heresie to be a true teacher of Divinity because unto me he appeares as called of mâ—n or of himselfe and so by man or else goeth not being sent and runs when the Lord bids him not goe for called of Christ he cannot be because he opposeth his commands and belyes his Institutions in general and he that preacheth downe Christ in any thing so much preacheth up Antichrist and therefore is his servant whom he obeyes Rom. 6.16 and it is want of learning among the vaine praters of your Society that errours so much predominates as to exuperate in them who being ignorant of the truth speak evill of the things they doe not understand and for Paul he was a true Minister and one who was faithful in the distribution of that Gospel whereof he was made a Minister Gal 1.1 1 Cor 3.10 Tit. 1.5 1 Tim. 3. c. Tit. 1.7 8 9 not of man nor by man but of Jesus Christ as a wise Master builder who did not erre though you may suppose he did when he transmitted of his Authority to Titus to ordaine Elders in every City of Crete and for which end he was left there and directed Timothy whom to make Bishops who himselfe had received the gift of Prophesie by the laying on of the hands of the Presbyter And that Pauls doctrine was not after man but by Revelation of Jesus Christ proves thee a lyar and a seducer too that saith It is the words of men and therefore not Jesus And Peter and John were true Ministers of Christ and though that the high Priests and Rulers perceived them to be unlearned and ignorant men Acts 2.6.7 8 9 10 11 12. yet this is most sure that they spake with all manner of tongues none excepted and if this be ignorance void of learning I speak of humane learning I would gladly be informed what learning is and for Divinity if they were unlearned and ignorant woe unto them who build on their writings and ignorant indeed was Paul who saith The Scriptures are able to make a man wise unto salvation but this I am bold to say 2 Tim. 3.15 16. that if they were ignorant I would we were all so and such fooles as by our foolishnesse we might become exceeding wise and thereby obtain eternal Redemption and there is nothing lets but that God may doe what he will for he cannot be limited with whom all things are possible and therefore nothing impossible but yet this I dare boldly assert that God never did nor never will use any extraordinary meanes to destroy the ordinary standing meanes as you endeavour to doe neither did he or ever will send any though he may permit them to preach up Antichrists doctrine of Heresie as doe you neither did ever any except false Prophets come to claime credit unto the words that he spoke unto the best of my knowledge but he was to give proof of it either by the mighty operations of the spirit of God by him or by the testimony of them who before had come with such works for the spirits of the Prophets are subject unto other Prophets or else if he were a Prophet the event was to declare whether he was of God or no and yet still if the matter of his exhortation were to withdraw us from the known will of God as is yours and the rest of your praters of the Quaking Society though the signes and wonders should come to passe as the man of Sinne shall abound with such deceivablenesse 2 Thess 2.9 10. Pro. 14.15 Deut. 13 1 2 3. yet we ought not to hearken unto it though the simple beleeve every word for the Lord by such as you proveth us whether we will be faithful to the death that we may inherit a crown of life by keeping his commandements Quere 8. What eye is that which the god of this world hath blinded how he hath blinded it and how it is opened and by what and whether the Letter can open it yea or no An Answer to the Eighth Quere This seems unto me a Fiction of your own braines for to the best of my knowledge I remember not that ever I read any such phrase as that eye which the god of this world hath blinded and therefore till you produce the proofe this might suffice but I shall freely inlarge to tell you that Paul speaks to this effect if the Gospel be hid 2 Cor. 4.3 4. it is hid to them that are lost and then he adds whose minde the god of this world hath blinded and for minds I suppose you will grant that there is no more but one in general and them whose minds are so blinded to them also is the Gospel hid and it is hid from them onely who are lost and therefore I leave it to you to examine with unexpressible feare and trembling whether it be not hid from you since you see it not as it is the word of God but of men and thus he that is most blind may see it for no one can see it in a lower degree and for the manner how blinded by unbelief and how open'd by faith of which more at large in my Answer to your fourth Query and whether the Letter can open it yea or no the question is absurd for though it be a material it is not the sole and absolute meanes of it for though faith be by hearing yet is hearing not unto them to whom God hath given eares that they may not hear but unto them properly whose eares are sanctified by the grace of the spirit for though Paul may plant and Apollo water yet it is God must assist to give the increase or else it is unsufficient but I might as well ask thee the question whether your plow would accomplish its proper end tillage without you or some other wrought with it or the tooles of any Artificer form the work intended without the Workman give it motion and direct guidance which to imagine is simplicity but yet as wise arguing as is yours Quere 9. Whether the true Ministry of Christ be the same now for matter meanes and maintenance that it was in the Apostles time or when was it changed into