will find in the day of the Lord when he comes to Judge righteously and to give every man according to his works and not according to what he may make a shew of and profess in words though all you false daubers with untempered morter heale up the hurt of the Daughter of Sion deceitfully and cry peace peace by a false applying the Promises and words of Christ when God speakes no peace and even you and your false daubed wall will be Whirle-wind of the Lord beat down and destroy utterly and this I assert contrary to thy false doctrine and principles that none are Justified but who hath Christ in them and really partakes of holiness and righteousness and are really cleansed from sin and are born of the spirit of God and is heire of the promise of eternall life And further thou saist Iustification admitteth not of any degree and if a person be Iustified from any one sin he is Iustified from all sin as well from sins to be committed as those that are already commited and who is once a Iustified person is not unjustified upon new sin committed c. Ans. Grace and faith and truth and Christ himself admitteth of degrees or measures which are one and there are severall measures of life of light of grace and faith of sanctification and of Justification also for according as every man hath received Christ so hath he received Sanctification and Justification and no otherwise for Christ is made wisdome and Sanctification and Salvation and every one feels his Sanctification and his Justification according to the measure of the gift of Christ given to him so that there are severall measures of Justification and also a man may be Justified from one sin or some sin and not from all sin for according to every mans Sanctification so is the witness of his Justification to him and no more and if thou knowest any thing by experience thou knowest this and no man is Justified from the evill which he is to commit for that faith gives licence to sin if any committing sin shall beleeve that that sin is long since forgiven and he is Justified from it and if he shall beleeve he is Justified though he commit sin even long before he commits his sin this will be a cause to run into sin and is a gap opened by thee unto all unrighteousnesse Why if people can believe they are justified from the sins which they have yet to commit what should restrain them from running with pleasure into all unrighteousness if new sins alwaies committed do not make persons unjustified then may the sinners rejoice in their sins and take their pleasure in ungodliness this doctrine of thine is pleasant to the wicked and it is the way and principle of liberty in all sin rather then the principles to lead from sin and so thou hast shewed whose work thou art doing by strengthning the wicked in his way so that he cannot turne from sin rather then drawing him from sin and this is the Devils work And thou saist such as are justified are regenerated and sanctified and a little before thou said to be justified is not to be cleansed nor is it to partake of real righteousnesse and persons are justified from sins which they have to commit And these are contradictions and proceed out of darknesse and not from the light and thy folly and ignorance may be read by all men for who are regenerated and sanctified are cleansed and partakes of real righteousnesse and thou further saist that sanctification is a real change from sin to the purity of the Image of God and I say none are sanctified but they are justified so none are justified but who are changed into the Image of God this the trutâ— saith and wherein thou hast said contrary thou hast spoken contrary to the truth and the truth will judge thee Again thou saist sanctification is not perfect in this life the new man the spirit or law of the mind is that grace or imperfect sanctification c. Ans. Then Christ is not perfect in this life for he is made of God unto us sanctification 1 Cor. 1. 30. but we say Christ is perfect and therefore sanctification is perfect and the new man is the Image of God and is created in righteousnesse and in true holinesse but thou saist the new man is imperfect consider of thy principles when they are compared with the scriptures and see the error and wickednesse of them and the spirit and Law in the mind is the spirit of God and the Law of God in which the Apostles served God and so doth all the Saints but thou saist the spirit and Law in the mind is imperfect and this is error in the highest degree to say or signifie that the new man the Image of God that is in righteousnesse and true holinesse and the Spirit of God and the Law of God is imperfect sanctification and grace is the salvation and is Gods sufficiencie and that thou saist is imperfect also and thus thy principles of thy religion which thou walkest in thy selfe and would teach to others are abominable corrupted principles of error and contrary to the spirit of truth and to the scriptures also and no marvel that thy name is concealed for thy work deserves not a good mans name to it much more might be said to lay open further thy folly but this is sufficient to men of understanding and contrary to thee I do assert that the new man the Image of God the Spirit and Law of God in the mind is perfect grace and perfect sanctification and thou hast said the contrary and now whether thy principles of Religion or mine be the more true and whether fals let all sober men judg with the light in their conscience And thou saist the old man the flesh the body of sin the body of death is the sin that remaines in sanctified persons Ans. Who are sanctified are â—reed from the body of sin and death and hath put it off and the Law of the Spirit of life hath freed them from the flesh and from the old man for if the old man the flâ—sh the body of sin and death be in the sanctified personâ— then there is none sanctified at all and what are they sanctified freed and cleansed from if the old man the flâ—sh the body of sin and death be yee remaining in them thou speakest like an unlearned man and one that knowes not the sanctified estate but art erring in thy mind and judgment and in thy words also for we have put off the old man and are Crucified to the flesh and made free from the body of sin and death and this is our sanctification and who are remaining in these things are not sanctified but in the degeneration and hath no part yet in the kingdom of God nor in Christ Jesus but are without him in the world And thou saist the sanctification of the first day hath put an
Supper and are aseal of the Covenant also c. Ans. The supper of the Lord is the bread of eternal life the bodie and blood of Christ and who eats thereof shall never die nor hunger and thurst any more and as for bread and wine visible and carnal that is not the real Supper of the Lord and even the purest institution and practice thereof is but a representation of a thing and not the very thing and the end and substance being come the outward sign may be neglected But as for the manner and institution of that practice in the Church of England and the practise it selfe we deny to be either a sign of good past or to come but in an Idolatrous way it is leld forth and not in any true honour to God for he is thereby dishonoured for the false Church hath gotten the forme of that practice as well as of many others which the true Church once practised without the power and now doth practise many things in meer imitation and vain Idolatry and in form and tradition and without the teaching of the Spirit which sometime the true Church and the Apostles practised in the power and by the leading of the Spirit of God and what the command of God was unto them so that though you may in some things practice the very same which the Apostles did yet having not the same Spirit to lead you nor being guided thereby as the saints and the Apostles were your works are but Idolatry and formal and not accepted of the Lord but stinks in his nostrels and your covenant is outward and your seals outward your Baptism and Supper outward and carnal and while you are with zeal prosecuting your outward proformances and following them you neglect the inward and the substance which is Christ within you the hope of glory which if he be in you then the body of sin is put off and the vail is done away and the representations are done away and the substance and salvation is come and if Christ be not in you you are reprobates notwithstanding all your profession and practises of outward duties unto God without his Spirit And whereas thou hast quoted Col. 3. 10. Gal. 5. 17. Rom 7. 23. to prove that the new man the spirit or Law of the mind is called the imperfect Sanctification Ans. Hereby openly thou hast shewed thy self to be a perverter of the Scriptures and a wrester of them to thy own destruction for let but reasonable men peruse the Scriptures mentioned by thee and see if there be such a thing in them as held forth by thee that the new man the spirit or Law of the mind is called imperfect Sanctification which thou hast asserted and cited those texts to prove it but to as to the thing it self I have answered before onely this is to shew thy manner of perverting Scriptures which is the work of the evil spirit in thee and not the work of the Spirit of God And thus I have examined some part of thy principles of Religion which thou hast put forth into the world for others to learn and the error and falsness of them is laid open and how contrary to the Scriptures they are and in haste as it were I have passed over it not willing to rake into things which gave no just occasion against truth but have onely confuted a few of thy many particulars which had I narrowly sought into other things much unsoundness would have been discovered but what I have said is truly sufficient to discover unto sober persons the error of thy judgement and of thy principles and practices and of thy whole Religion and before ever thou be a true instructor of others in the way thou must first repent and believe and learn the way thy self which yet thou are ignorant of for thou hast shewed no knowledge but what is sensual and devilish and from below and meerly carnal and natural and meeting with thy book and enquiring what the Author was I was engaged to say something to it by way of Answer and to lay it to the line of judgement according to the Scriptures and it hath proved very guilty of error and perverting Scriptures and of corrupt principles and in justice I could not but condemn it and if thou shall receive the conviction of thy error and of thy false doctrines by my answer and repent it shall prove to thy good but if thou shalt be stiff-necked and harden thy heart then shall thy condemnation be the greater and thy Judgement the more just because God hath warned thee and given thee a day of visitation and shewed thee the error of thy wayes and judgement that thou mightest forsake thy transgressions and be converted and live but whether thou shalt harden thy heart and remain in error or repent or turn from it my reward is with the Lord and in him I have peace in this matter whatsoever thy mind shall be towards me in my work for I stand not to mans judgement while I cannot be convinced of error in this business and if thou shalt envy me and have wrath in thy heart towards me because I have dealt to plainly with thee in reproving of thee then thou wilt but add to thy own sin and add more wrath up in store against thy self against the time of thy judgement and a greater burden will lie upon thy conscience wherefore consider of these things and let not the day of thy visitation passe over and be shut up with the night of darkness and thou be everlastingly condemned And if thou shalt vindicate thy own false principles by answering to me again thinking to clear thy self and to reprove me that will not prove thy best way because thou wants the truth and righteousness to stand by thee and to appear bold in a bad cause will shew more wickedness then sign of repentance and if thou do answer a sound reply will further unfold the misterie of iniquitie that lyes hid in thee and be thy greater shame And as for thee and all the false Ministers God hath discovered you and you are made bare and naked and the false woman the Whore your mother her shame is discovered and her judgement is come and God is avenging us on her and great Babylon is now come into remembrance before the Lord to bring her down to the ground and you have long made a prey upon the heritage of the Lord and been spoilers thereof rather then builders of her breach and she hath been troden down and not pittied by you and as for your poor ignorant hearers they lie in thick darkness and loves to have it so and the blind hath led the blind and yet the light is arising out of thick darkness and its appearance shall be glorious to expell all your errors and that mist of darkness that doth now cover them and this light shall arise in mens consciences which shall discover the difference between every false and the right way and all that take heed to the light shall no longer sit in darkness nor in the shadow of death but their steps shall be directed in a perfect way and the glory of the Lord shall shine forth upon them and this will the Lord bring to pass and hasten his work and cut it short in righteousness for his elects sake The 21. of the 3. Mon. 1659. By a lover of thy soul and a seeker of the good and Peace of all men E. B. THE END
end to the sanctification of the seventh c. Ans. Here again thou hast uttered that which thou knowes not for all daies are alike unto God and one sanctified as much as an other and no respect of daies with him but all are holy and pure and good and when the sanctification of any thing is put to an end as as thou saist the sanctification of the seventh day is then the thing is no more good nor holy but become evil and unclean if it be no more sanctified nor holy and in this principle thou hast erred also as for the seventh day it was commanded of God to the Jews to be kept and observed holy to the Lord and all manner of labour to all Creatures were forbiden which thing was a signe and a shadow of a good thing to come the end of which ordinance was Christs the substance of all things and the end of daies and that there was any anulling of that command to the Jews and a command to keep and observe the first day of the week in stead of the other by any outward command this we read not in all the Scriptures and what ground thou hast more then thy imaginations I know not to assert the changing of dayes and to teach the observation of the first day as the Sabbath instead of the seventh day seeing thou hast nothing in the Scriptures to raise such a principle from and so would make exception of daies and respect of times which the Apostles did not after the holy spirit was come for daies and times all are a like to God and who are come to Christ the true rest of the immortal Soul are in the end of daies and out of the respect of times in the substance which endures for ever and in the Gospel ministrations there is no command or injunction by Christ or by his Apostles given to us for the observing any one day more then another And thou saist when it is said swear not at all the meaning is not vainly and unnecessarily Ans. Christ hath not spoken doubtfully but plainly and he hath not left his words to thee to give thy fals meaning upon so thou takest too much upon thee and intrudest into things thou hast not seen and all swearing which is contrarie to the command of Christ is unnecessarie and vain though by such false consequences and perverting of Scriptures thou thy generation hast made the people to err and led the blind by the way for where the Scriptures as they are in themselves doth not made for your turn then it means not thus but otherwise and this is the consequence and it must be interpreted say you and so you pervert the Scriptures to your own destruction and to the undoing of manie others for you that lead the people cause them to err And where is thou speakst of outward seals of the Covenant which is Baptism saist thou which appertaines to grown persons converted and also to children c. Acts 2. 39. Ans. The seal of the covenant of God is the Spirit even the Spirit of promise which sealeth and confirmeth unto God and not any outward thing for the Covenant of God is inward and spiritual and not outward and carnal and the seal and testimonie of it is the spirit of life and no tradition of man and as for Baptism in that way and manner administred and practised as in the Church of England it is wholie an invention of man and not after any Institution and commandement of God and sprinkling of infants which is said to be Baptism is so far from being a seal of the Covenant of God that it is a mark of the whore of Rome and was by her first of all ordained and begun to be practised in her Church and your false Minsters have received it from her and it is a seal and sign that you and you Ministrie and Church is of the whore of Rome and not of the true Church of Christ for the Apostles nor the true Church of Christ never ordained nor practised such a thing amongst them and in the true Church as sprinkling of infants and calling it the Baptism in the faith of Christ and the seal of the Covenant there was no such practice and dostrine amongst them but it is come up since the true Church fled into the wildernesse and since the beast received power over kindreds and Nations and it is an institution of the great whore that hath sat upon the waters for many generations and she hath made Nations drink her cup of fornication and the original of this practice and principle is received out of the whores Cup and not by any commandement of Christ or axample of his Church and Apostles and I cannot but charge thee that thou teaches for doctrine the traditions of men and holds forth for principles of Religion to be believed and learned the institutions of the great whore of whose cup thou hast drunk and would also give it to others that they may drink it also and to accomplish which evil end thou hast perverted the Scriptures Acts 2. 39. for the Scripture hath no such thing intended in it as to the baptising of infants for which end thou hast falsely cited it for though the promise is to as many as the Lord our God shall call yet what is this to the sprinkling of infants which thou asserts as a principle of Religion and would seem to enforce it by vertue of the Scripture mentioned but thou hast abused the Scripture and shewed thy selfe to be disagreeing to the holie Ministers and Apostles of Christ and to be agreeing with the false Church of Rome and this is answer sufficient to thee And thou saist The outward covenant of God is conditionall and the profession of the faith entitles both such as make it and their infants unto it to wit the covenant Ans. The Covenant of God is not outward but spiritual as I have said and it is also free even the free gift of God and the promise and Covenant is freely manifested without the performing any thing by the creature to obtain it from God for it stands not upon condition but upon free love and mercie and many makes a profession of faith which hath not right nor title to the inheritance of Salvation nor to Gods sure covenant neither can anie upon earth much lesse Infants void oâ— understanding have any assurance or title in the Covenant of life eternal but who are regenerated and born of the elect seed for the unchanged and degenerated in that state hath no title nor right in the Covenant but Abrahams seed which is heir of the promise which is born of God and not from below to that is the Covenant so thou hast spoken things thou knowest not and hast manifested thy false principles which thou walkest in and would cause others to receive them also Then thou speakest of bread and wine which saist thou are the outward signes in the Lords