Children and yet that its impossible for them to discharge that Duty or be found in that Practice 2. Man of himself or by his own Strength and Ability is not able to do any thing that is good or well-pleasing to God which every true Christian must acknowledge because Christ hath said to his Disciples without me ye can do nothing Yet those that through Faith and Obedience become Christ's Disciples and God's Children are through that Grace and Truth that came by Jesus Christ and hath appeared to all Men taught and enabled to fear God and keep his Commandments which is the whole Duty of Man and is that Allegiance which I esteem we all owe unto Jesus Christ the great King of Heaven and Earth and the mighty Ruler of Princes And I desire B. Bird his Friend and all to whom this may come seriously to consider the evil Consequence of such Doctrine viz. That 't is impossible while Men are here to keep God's Commands From whence I observe I. It 's contrary to Christ's Saying Matth. 19.26 and Mark 9.23 If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth II. It renders the End of Christ's giving himself not sufficient or possible to effect it viz. That he might redeem us from ALL iniquity see Tit. 2.14 III. It contradicts Paul's Exhortation to Titus v. 15. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority What Things One of which was That Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from ALL iniquity IV. And it s directly contrary to what the Spirit of God hath declared John 1.7 viz. If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from ALL sin V. And it contradicts what B. B. quotes and the Apostle declares 1 John 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness VI. It renders People unfit to enter God's Kingdom or going where Christ is as appears by Christ's own Words and the holy Scripture-Testimony John 8.21 Then said Jesus again unto them I go my way and ye shall seek me and shall dye in your Sins and whither I go ye cannot come See also v. 24. And in 1 Cor. 6.9,10 it appears that the unrighteous cannot inherit the Kingdom of God and if it s not possible to be righteous while we are here it s not possible to enter God's Kingdom for it s said 1 John 3.7,8 Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous he that committeth sin is of the Devil c. And 1 John 5.17 all unrighteousness is sin and so is the Breach of God's Law and holy Commandments VII And lastly this Doctrine of its being impossible to keep God's Commands or for Christians to live here without transgressing God's Laws renders the Devil more powerful to lead and keep People in sin than Christ Jesus to whom all Power both in Heaven and Earth is given is to lead and preserve People out of sin and bespeaks all those unreasonable Men that will oblige Persons to promise and vow in the Children's Name when baptized as they call it those things which they do not believe its possible should be performed viz. That the Child will renounce the Devil and ALL his Works and constantly believe God's holy Woâ—d and obediently keep his Commandments See the Common Prayer concerning the Ministration of Baptism when the Priest saith to the Sureties unscripturally called God-fathers I demand therefore Dost thou in the Name of this Child renounce the Devil and all his Works the vain Pomps and Glory of the World with all covetous Desires of the same and the Carnal Desires of the Flesh so that thou wilt not follow nor be led by them Answer I renounce them all See also the 3d and 4th Answer in the Catechism in the Common-Prayer-Book I desire B. Bird and his Ingenious Friend may seriously consider these things and these Covenants and Promises and whether its reasonable and just that B. Bird should take Mony of People and oblige them to PROMISE AND VOW on this wise that which he declares it's VNPOSSIBLE to perform and yet in the Common Prayer and Collect on Innocent's Day prays O Almighty God mortifie and kill ALL Vices in us and so strengthen us by thy Grace that by the Innocency of our Lives and Constancy of our Faith even unto DEATH we may glorifie thy Holy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord. And in the Collect of the Circumcision of Christ its said Almighty God grant us the true Circumcision of the Spirit that ALL our Hearts and ALL OUR MEMBERS being mortified from ALL worldly and carnal Lusts we may in ALL THINGS obey thy Blessed Will through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Surely if Benj. Bird doth not believe it possible while People live here to keep God's Commands or lâ—ve without transgressing God's Law he doth not pray in Faith or believe its possible to have ALL Vices killed in him and ALL Carnal and Worldly LVSTS mortified or that in ALL THINGS its POSSIBLE for him to obey God's blessed Will through Jesus Christ If he doth let him blush and be ashamed of venting and publishing such Doctrine in Print for what greater Perfection ever did any Quaker teach or pretend unto in this Life than what 's implyed in what 's afore-quoted And what a Man of Sense this Benj. Bird is that terms Jasper Batt and me nonsensical and how concurring or contradictory he writes and what excellent sense for a conclusion of this Head take his own Words p. 2. Gods Commands are not grievous to good Men THEY KEEP THEM WITH ALL THEIR HEARTS tho' by Reason of human Infirmities THEY FAIL IN THE KEEPING OF THEM Mark they keep them with all their Hearts tho' they fail in the keeping of them Is not this egregious Nonsense And he farther saith in the said Page And we may keep our Allegiance to Christ altho' we cannot live without transgressing Gods Law Answer I deny that we can keep in Truth and Faithfulness to Christ which I account Allegiance and yet live at the same time in transgressing against God's Law And how agreeable this is to what the Minister is to read in the Commination after he hath pronounced the Unmerciful Fornicators and Adulterers Covetous Persons Idolaters Slanderers Drunkards and Extortioners cursed and the People have said Amen I desire him and the Reader to examine and consider and also how agreeable it is to what is said in misere mei Deus viz. Wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin Thou shalt purge me with hysop and I shall be clean thou shalt wash me and I shall be whiter than snow In Page 3. he saith Secondly John Feild calls the Author of the Sauciness of a Seducer rebuked a Scribling
plain Proof to make it appear if they can which I know they are no more able to do than to hinder the Sun from shining nor the Wind from Blowing And therefore the Teachers amongst the People called Quakers exhort People to mind love and receive to believe and walk in this divine Light that will do that for them which no other can it will shew them their Thoughts discover their Conditions let them see they are Sinners and that they cannot save themselves And as they believe in this Light are truly sorry for their Sins and unfeignedly repent of them and come to walk in this Light they will have the Benefit of the Death and Sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ that dyed for our Sins and rose again for our Justification and experience his Blood to cleanse them from ALL Unrighteousness and may come to find Peace be fitted for God's Kingdom and know Salvation to their immortal and never-dying Souls But those that rebel against it do evil and hate it and will not receive nor believe in it nor bring their Deeds to it if they were as wise as Achitophel as learned as Gamaliel and could live to the Age of Methusalem they can never know true Peace nor enter into God's Kingdom But will be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power 2 Thess 1.9 and will be turned into outter Darkness where the Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth is Mat. 8.12 Therefore let all have a care they do not hate it nor rebel against it nor continue in any thing that this Light manifests to them to be contrary to the Will of God but believe in it that they may receive Power to do that which it shews them they ought to do and become the Sons of God And if B. Bird will but diligently and reverently read the Gospel in the Common-Prayer which is to be read on Christmas-day he may find this Doctrine throughly proved and this Exhorration in the Commination viz. Let us while we have the Light believe in the Light and walk as the Children of the Light that we be not cast into utter Darkness where is Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth The next thing I observe is his quarrelling about the Scriptures concerning which he saith page 5. which was p. 9. of my former viz. That Christ's Light is to be preferred because it was before the Scriptures Answer Yes so it is and so doth B. Bird confess for he saith they were given us by Christ then Christ was before them and is worthy to be preferred above the Scriptures which B. B. saith were given us by Christ See p. 6. and will he prefer the Gift before the giver And in p. 6. he saith I charge those that take the Scriptures for their only Rule of Faith and Obedience as if they did set them above the Spirit and above Christ But he quotes no page of my Book However B. Bird saith This is a false Charge for they are given us by Christ Answer Then Christ was before the Scriptures as aforesaid and B. Bird grants it Where then is the Falsness of the Charge And why is he Angry if he prefers the Spirit of God for the first great or supreme Rule of his Children I 'll grant him that the Holy Scriptures that were wrote by Holy Men as they were moved by the Holy Spirit are the secondary and subordinate Rule What false Doctrine is there in this And in p. 6. B. B. saith Christ sends us to the Holy Scripture to search for him and not to the Light that is within and therefore we have reason to hearken to him and not to those that would draw us from them to something better in our own Hearts and Consciences which we should keep close to Answer The first part relating to what Christ said John 5.39,40 I grant that Christ's Words Search or ye search c. do not carry any Reproof in them for their Searching the Scriptures but for their not coming to him the true Light and thinking to have Eternal Life in the Scriptures For said he They are they that testifie of me and then blamed them that they would not come to him that they might have life so that he did principally desire they might come to him the true Light that shines in their Hearts and Consciences and which is something better than the Scriptures that testifie of him altho' B. Bird is not willing to hearken to them that would draw him to something better than the Scriptures O strange is this the Man that saith we should keep to John 5.39,40 and yet will not come to Christ which is something better than the Scriptures for altho' they he spoke to thought to have Eternal Life they were mistaken And if B. B. thinks so he is mistaken for he cannot have Eternal Life till he comes to Christ the true Light and believes and walks therein which is the some thing better than the Scriptures which B. B. saith he hath more Reason to hearken to And I heartily wish B. B. did so and that all People did practise and believe according to Holy Scriptures And in p. 7 he saith He i. e. John Feild finds Fault with many saying we cannot tell whether we have the Spirit of God in us but by the Scripture but can he or any one else tell how we shall know the Spirit of Truth to be in us but by the Scriptures of Truth Answer Yes by its own Evidence and Work in our Hearts because that is not wanting to do that in us which Christ who is the Truth promised it should see John 16 7-13 He did not say the Scriptures should convince of Sin c. but the Spirit of Truth which those that wrote Scriptures were moved by and by this Spirit and the Light thereof those that never see or hear the Scriptures may know Good and Evil see Rom. yea God and the Things of God as well as those did that were before the Scriptures were as Adam Enoch Abraham and Moses who my Antagonists grant to have had immediate Converse with God And sure that must be by the Spirit and as God and his Spirit changeth not so he can and doth by his Spirit let us know we are of God as Primitive Christians did and that the whole World lies in Wickedness In p. 6. he saith I asked what damnable Errors the Quakers hold And B. B. saith Let him read John Faldo's Book called Quakerism no Christianity and Thomas Danson's The Quaker's Folly and his Synopsis of Quakerism Answer Observe how he recommends me to our Adversaries Books for Proof would he have me refer him to those Books that Papists or Presbyterians have writ against the Church of England for proof that their Doctrines are Erroneous and Damnable This shews his Folly as well as Enmity and that he is not wise but otherwise in that he would have Judgment against us by false Accusations